Abstract
Ruxolitinib has been approved for the treatment of adults and pediatric patients ≥12 years with steroid refractory graft-versus-host disease (GvHD). However, real-life studies are needed to confirm the results of clinical trials and further assess its efficacy in special populations. We performed a descriptive, retrospective, multi-center study of 352 adults and 42 pediatric patients treated with ruxolitinib for steroid-refractory acute or chronic GvHD. Among 119 and 233 adult patients with acute and chronic GvHD, overall response rate (ORR) was 58.8% (CR 33.6%) and 65.7% (CR 18.5%), respectively. Corticosteroids were withdrawn in 59.2% and 40.1%, and ruxolitinib in 47.2% and 34.8% in the acute and chronic groups of responders. Among 29 and 13 pediatric patients with acute and chronic GvHD, ORR was 82.7% (CR 51.7%) and 100% (CR 23%), respectively. Among responder patients, corticosteroids were withdrawn in 72.7% and 50%, and ruxolitinib in 75% and 30.7% in both groups respectively. Ruxolitinib in the real world setting, showed similar results as compared to clinical trials. Its efficacy is maintained in subsequent lines of treatment. In the pediatric population, the data are more favorable. In the long-term follow-up, corticosteroids, ruxolitinib and other inmunosuppressive drugs could be eliminated in a remarkably proportion of patients.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 12 print issues and online access
$259.00 per year
only $21.58 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on SpringerLink
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout



Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
References
Jacobsohn DA, Vogelsang GB. Acute graft versus host disease. Orphanet J Rare Dis. 2007;2:1–9.
Socié G, Ritz J. Current issues in chronic graft-versus-host disease. Blood. 2014;124:374–84.
Zeiser R, Blazar BR. Acute graft-versus-host disease — biologic process, prevention, and therapy. N Engl J Med. 2017;377:2167–79.
Martin PJ, Rizzo JD, Wingard JR, Ballen K, Curtin PT, Cutler C, et al. First- and second-line systemic treatment of acute graft-versus-host disease: recommendations of the American Society of Blood and Marrow Transplantation. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2012;18:1150–63.
Jagasia M, Zeiser R, Arbushites M, Delaite P, Gadbaw B, Bubnoff N. Von. Ruxolitinib for the treatment of patients with steroid-refractory GVHD: An introduction to the REACH trials. Immunotherapy. 2018;10:391–402.
Westin JR, Saliba RM, De Lima M, Alousi A, Hosing C, Qazilbash MH, et al. Steroid-refractory acute GVHD: predictors and outcomes. Adv Hematol. 2011;2011:1–8.
Hamilton BK. Updates in chronic graft-versus-host disease. Hematology. 2021;2021:648–54.
Flowers MED, Martin PJ. How we treat chronic graft-versus-host disease. Blood. 2015;125:606–15.
Heine A, Held SAE, Daecke SN, Wallner S, Yajnanarayana SP, Kurts C, et al. The JAK-inhibitor ruxolitinib impairs dendritic cell function in vitro and in vivo. Blood. 2013;122:1192–202.
Braun LM, Zeiser R. Kinase inhibition as treatment for acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease. Front Immunol. 2021;12:1–23.
Assal A, Mapara MY. Janus kinase inhibitors and cell therapy. Front Immunol. 2021;12:1–10.
Schroeder MA, Choi J, Staser K, DiPersio JF. The role of Janus kinase signaling in graft-versus-host disease and graft versus leukemia. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2018;24:1125–34.
Zeiser R, von Bubnoff N, Butler J, Mohty M, Niederwieser D, Or R, et al. Ruxolitinib for glucocorticoid-refractory acute graft-versus-host disease. N Engl J Med. 2020;382:1800–10.
Zeiser R, Polverelli N, Ram R, Hashmi SK, Chakraverty R, Flowers MED, et al. Ruxolitinib (RUX) vs best available therapy (BAT) in patients with steroid-refractory/steroid-dependent chronic graft-vs-host disease (cGVHD): primary findings from the phase 3, randomized REACH3 study. Blood. 2020;136:22–4.
Przepiorka D, Luo L, Subramaniam S, Qiu J, Gudi R, Cunningham LC, et al. FDA approval summary: ruxolitinib for treatment of steroid‐refractory acute graft‐versus‐host disease. Oncologist. 2020;25:328–34.
Locatelli F, Kang HJ, Bruno B, Gandemer V, Rialland F, Faraci M, et al. Ruxolitinib in pediatric patients with treatment- naïve or steroid-refractory acute graft-versus-host disease: primary findings from the phase I/II REACH4 study. Blood. 2022;140:1376–8.
Locatelli F, Antmen B, Kang HJ, Koh K, Takahashi Y, Kupesiz A, et al. S245: ruxolitinib in pediatric patients with treatment-naive or steroid-refractory chronic graft versus host disease: primary findings from the phase II REACH5 study. HemaSphere. 2023;7:e54405ff.
Locatelli F, Antmen B, Kang HJ, Koh K, Takahashi Y, Kupesiz A, et al. Ruxolitinib in treatment-naive or corticosteroid-refractory paediatric patients with chronic graft-versus-host disease (REACH5): interim analysis of a single-arm, multicentre, phase 2 study. Lancet Haematol. 2024;11:e580–92.
Marcuzzi A, Rimondi E, Melloni E, Gonelli A, Grasso AG, Barbi E, et al. New applications of JAK/STAT inhibitors in pediatrics: current use of ruxolitinib. Pharmaceuticals. 2022;15:1–14.
Yang W, Zhu G, Qin M, Li Z, Wang B, Yang J, et al. The effectiveness of ruxolitinib for acute/ chronic graft-versus-host disease in children: a retrospective study. Drug Des Devel Ther. 2021;15:743–52.
Wang YZM, Teusink-Cross A, Elborai Y, Krupski MC, Nelson AS, Grimley MS, et al. Ruxolitinib for the treatment of chronic GVHD and overlap syndrome in children and young adults. Transplantation. 2022;106:412–9.
Khandelwal P, Teusink-Cross A, Davies SM, Nelson AS, Dandoy CE, El-Bietar J, et al. Ruxolitinib as salvage therapy in steroid-refractory acute graft-versus-host disease in pediatric hematopoietic stem cell transplant patients. Biol Blood Marrow Transpl. 2017;23:1122–7.
Uygun V, Karasu G, Daloğlu H, Öztürkmen S, Kılıç SÇ, Yalçın K, et al. Ruxolitinib salvage therapy is effective for steroid-refractory graft-versus-host disease in children: a single-center experience. Pediatr Blood Cancer. 2020;67:1–6.
González Vicent M, Molina B, González de Pablo J, Castillo A, Díaz MÁ. Ruxolitinib treatment for steroid refractory acute and chronic graft vs host disease in children: Clinical and immunological results. Am J Hematol. 2019;94:319–26.
Baccelli F, Gottardi F, Muratore E, Leardini D, Grasso AG, Gori D, et al. Ruxolitinib for the treatment of acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease in children: a systematic review and individual patient data meta-analysis. Bone Marrow Transpl. 2024;59:765–76.
Fan S, Huo WX, Yang Y, Shen MZ, Mo XD. Efficacy and safety of ruxolitinib in steroid-refractory graft-versus-host disease: a meta-analysis. Front Immunol. 2022;13:1–16.
Hui L, Qi L, Guoyu H, Xuliang S, Meiao T. Ruxolitinib for treatment of steroid-refractory graft-versus-host disease in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Expert Rev Hematol. 2020;13:565–75.
Zhang M, Zhao P, Zhang Y, Wang J. Efficacy and safety of ruxolitinib for steroid-refractory graft-versus-host disease: Systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised and non-randomised studies. Palaniyandi S, editor. PLoS One. 2022;17:e0271979.
Harris AC, Young R, Devine S, Hogan WJ, Ayuk F, Bunworasate U, et al. International, multicenter standardization of acute graft-versus-host disease clinical data collection: a report from the Mount Sinai Acute GVHD International Consortium. Biol Blood Marrow Transpl. 2016;22:4–10.
Rowlings PA, Przepiorka D, Klein JP, Gale RP, Passweg JR, Henslee-Downey PJ, et al. IBMTR Severity Index for grading acute graft-versus-host disease: Retrospective comparison with Glucksberg grade. Br J Haematol. 1997;97:855–64.
Jagasia MH, Greinix HT, Arora M, Williams KM, Wolff D, Cowen EW, et al. National institutes of health consensus development project on criteria for clinical trials in chronic graft-versus-host disease: I. The 2014 diagnosis and staging working group report. Biol Blood Marrow Transpl. 2015;21:389–401.e1.
Inamoto Y, Lee SJ, Onstad LE, Flowers MED, Hamilton BK, Jagasia MH, et al. Refined National Institutes of Health response algorithm for chronic graft-versus-host disease in joints and fascia. Blood Adv. 2020;4:40–6.
Lee SJ, Wolff D, Kitko C, Koreth J, Inamoto Y, Jagasia M, et al. Measuring therapeutic response in chronic graft-versus-host disease. national institutes of health consensus development project on criteria for clinical trials in chronic graft-versus-host disease: IV. The 2014 response criteria working group report. Biol Blood Marrow Transpl. 2015;21:984–99.
Shulman HM, Kleiner D, Lee SJ, Morton T, Pavletic SZ, Farmer E, et al. Histopathologic diagnosis of chronic graft-versus-host disease: National Institutes of Health consensus development project on criteria for clinical trials in chronic graft-versus-host disease: II. Pathology working group report. Biol Blood Marrow Transpl. 2006;12:31–47.
Escamilla Gómez V, García-Gutiérrez V, López Corral L, García Cadenas I, Pérez Martínez A, Márquez Malaver FJ, et al. Ruxolitinib in refractory acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease: a multicenter survey study. Bone Marrow Transpl. 2020;55:641–8.
Inamoto Y, Storer BE, Lee SJ, Carpenter PA, Sandmaier BM, Flowers MED, et al. Failure-free survival after second-line systemic treatment of chronic graft-versus-host disease. Blood. 2013;121:2340–6.
Vogelsang GB. Order out of chaos. Blood. 2013;121:2170–2.
Glanville AR, Benden C, Bergeron A, Cheng GS, Gottlieb J, Lease ED, et al. Bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome after lung or haematopoietic stem cell transplantation: current management and future directions. ERJ Open Res. 2022;8:1–16.
Hachem R, Corris P. Extracorporeal photopheresis for bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome after lung transplantation. Transplantation. 2018;102:1059–65.
Zeiser R, Socié G, Schroeder MA, Abhyankar S, Vaz CP, Kwon M, et al. Efficacy and safety of itacitinib versus placebo in combination with corticosteroids for initial treatment of acute graft-versus-host disease (GRAVITAS-301): a randomised, multicentre, double-blind, phase 3 trial. Lancet Haematol. 2022;9:e14–25.
Penack O, Marchetti M, Aljurf M, Arat M, Bonifazi F, Duarte RF, et al. Prophylaxis and management of graft-versus-host disease after stem-cell transplantation for haematological malignancies: updated consensus recommendations of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation. Lancet Haematol. 2024;11:e147–59.
Zeiser R, Polverelli N, Ram R, Hashmi SK, Chakraverty R, Middeke JM, et al. Ruxolitinib for glucocorticoid-refractory chronic graft-versus-host disease. N Engl J Med. 2021;385:228–38.
Lebon D, Dujardin A, Caulier A, Joris M, Charbonnier A, Gruson B, et al. Ruxolitinib-induced reactivation of cytomegalovirus and Epstein-Barr virus in graft-versus-host disease. Leuk Res. 2023;125:1–7.
Acknowledgements
This project has been carried out through the GETH-TC (Spanish Group for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy—Grupo Español de Trasplante Hematopoyético y Terapia Celular) and funded by Novartis.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Consortia
Contributions
VEG, VGG and JAPS contributed equally to this work. They were responsable for designing the review protocol, writing the protocol and report, conducting the research, screening potentially eligible candidates, collect data in the eCRF, extracting and analysing data, interpreting results and writing and review the paper. PAM, BAM, ACR, LLC, MAG, MKTO, ABB, LGP, TZR, MGV, AB, IIG, PAC, JM, FMMD, GO, DV, MIBC, CD-H, EC, CF, IGC, SR, LS, APM, AM, LGM, MDPPM, PAGS, MJ were responsable for screening potentially eligible candidates, collect data in the eCRF and review the paper. GETH-TC provided the electronic data base and served as an intermediary among investigators. Moreover, all the researchers belong to the aforementioned consortium.
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The study was funded by Novartis Company. VGG and GETH-TC received support from Novartis Company. The rest of the authors declare no competing financial interests.
Additional information
Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Escamilla-Gómez, V., García Gutiérrez, V., Alcalde-Mellado, P. et al. Ruxolitinib in acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease: real life long-term experience in a multi-center study for adult and pediatric patients, on behalf of the GETH-TC. Bone Marrow Transplant 60, 353–362 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-024-02483-0
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-024-02483-0