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Author response: comparative efficacy of HSCT strategies in pediatric aplastic anemia

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 61, pages 104–106 (2026)Cite this article

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TO THE EDITOR:

Aplastic anemia (AA) is a severe condition that leads to bone marrow failure in children, marked by a decrease in peripheral blood and bone marrow cells [1, 2]. Children with severe aplastic anemia (SAA) and very severe aplastic anemia (VSAA) experience fast progression of the disease, which greatly affects their long-term well-being, and also have a high risk of fatality. Currently, the two main treatment options are hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and immunosuppressive treatment. Allo-HSCT with a matched sibling donor (MSD) is recommended for patients under 40 years old due to limitations of immunosuppressive therapy.However, less than 30% of children have HLA-matched siblings [3], making unrelated donor HSCT (UD-HSCT) a viable alternative. Unrelated donor HSCT (UD-HSCT) is an alternative, but finding a suitable unrelated donor for HSCT can take several months due to various challenges. Haploidentical donor HSCT (HID-HSCT) is a promising third option that is suitable for most patients and offers advantages of speed, accessibility, and long-term sustainability [4].

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Fig. 1: Transplant outcomes stratified by different donor type.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Hematology and Oncology, Wuhan Children’s Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430010, China

    Zuo-Feng Li, Hao Xiong, Zhi Chen, Fang Tao & Lin-Lin Luo

  2. Laboratory of Children’s Blood Diseases, Wuhan Children’s Hospital, 430010, Wuhan, China

    Li Yang, Ming Sun, Wen-Jie Lu & Shan-Shan Qi

Authors
  1. Zuo-Feng Li
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  2. Hao Xiong
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  3. Zhi Chen
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  4. Li Yang
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  5. Ming Sun
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  7. Shan-Shan Qi
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  8. Fang Tao
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Contributions

XH is responsible for researching the overall design and project supervision; LZF leads data collection and first draft writing; CZ and YL participated in data collation and analysis, and LWJ, QSS, TF assisted in the discussion of results; LLL, SM participate in manuscript revisions; All authors jointly review and approve the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Hao Xiong.

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Li, ZF., Xiong, H., Chen, Z. et al. Author response: comparative efficacy of HSCT strategies in pediatric aplastic anemia. Bone Marrow Transplant 61, 104–106 (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-025-02741-9

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