A Phase II Trial of Fludarabine/Melphalan 100 Conditioning Therapy Followed by Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation for Patients With Lymphoma.

Conditioning therapy with fludarabine and melphalan 140 mg/m(2) has been widely used before allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) for lymphoma. A lower dose of melphalan might result in lower mortality and morbidity without compromising engraftment. In our phase II trial, we investigated a conditioning regimen of fludarabine (30 mg/m(2)/day for 5 days on days -6 to -2) and melphalan (100 mg/m(2) on day -2). Antithymocyte globulin was added to fludarabine and melphalan for unrelated or mismatched familial donor HCT. The present study included 26 patients with lymphoma (B-cell in 10, T-cell in 11, and natural killer/T-cell lymphoma in 2). An objective tumor response after HCT was observed in 18 patients (75.0%; complete in 14 and partial in 4). Acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) occurred in 23.1% and 55.0% of the assessable patients, respectively. The 5-year overall survival, nonrelapse mortality, progression-free survival, and event-free survival rate was 40.4%, 21.6%, 39.2%, and 30.8%, respectively. Donor lymphocyte infusions were given to 3 patients who had developed a relapse or progression after HCT, and 2 of whom had a showed partial response. Patients with severe chronic GVHD had greater overall survival than those with no, mild, or moderate chronic GVHD. Conditioning therapy with a lower dose of melphalan, combined with fludarabine, appears to be promising in allogeneic HCT for lymphoma. The Clinicaltrials.gov identification number for the present study is NCT00772811.

Lee JH ，Lee JH ，Kim DY ，Seol M ，Lee YS ，Kang YA ，Jeon M ，Lee KH ... -  《-》

Reduced toxicity conditioning and allogeneic stem cell transplantation in adults using fludarabine, carmustine, melphalan, and antithymocyte globulin: outcomes depend on disease risk index but not age, comorbidity score, donor type, or human leukocyte ant

Slack JL ，Dueck AC ，Fauble VD ，Sproat LO ，Reeder CB ，Noel P ，Khera N ，Betcher JA ，Klein JL ，Leis JF ，Adams RH ... -  《-》

Fludarabine/Melphalan 100 mg/m(2) Conditioning Therapy Followed by Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation for Adult Patients with Secondary Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis.

Our previous research indicated that a reduced-intensity conditioning regimen (fludarabine and melphalan at 100 mg/m2) was useful in allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) for patients with lymphoma. This retrospective study evaluated the reduced-intensity conditioning regimen in allogeneic HCT for adult patients with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH). Sixteen patients with HLH were evaluated, including 6 patients who were enrolled in a prospective clinical trial (NCT00772811) and 10 patients who received the same conditioning regimen (fludarabine at 30 mg/m2/day on days -6 to -2 and melphalan at 100 mg/m2 on day -2). The median age was 42 years (range, 18 to 64), and 12 patients had Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-associated HLH. Donors were an HLA matched sibling for 10 patients, an unrelated matched volunteer for 4 patients, and a mismatched family member for 2 patients. After excluding 3 patients who died soon after HCT, 12 patients achieved an engraftment (neutrophil median, day 12; platelet median, day 16). Five patients experienced acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), including 1 case of grade II and 4 cases of grades III to IV. Chronic GVHD occurred in 3 patients (moderate, 1 case; severe, 2 cases). After a median follow-up of 33.8 months 1 patient progressed, 3 patients relapsed, and 9 patients died. Five deaths were unrelated to relapse or progression and were caused by infection (n = 3), bleeding (n = 1), and GVHD (n = 1). No deaths or relapses were observed at >124 days post-transplant. The overall survival rate was 48.6%, and significant differences were observed according to pretransplant ferritin level (P = .007) and cytopenia lineage (P = .021). Before allogeneic HCT 10 of 12 patients still tested positive for EBV DNA: 6 patients tested negative for EBV DNA after HCT, 2 patients had persistent EBV DNA, and 2 patients were unassessable because of early death. Conditioning therapy using a lower dose of melphalan combined with fludarabine appears to be promising in allogeneic HCT for adults with HLH. However, strategies are needed to reduce the risk of early death.

Park HS ，Lee JH ，Lee JH ，Choi EJ ，Ko SH ，Seol M ，Lee YS ，Kang YA ，Jeon M ，Lee KH ... -  《-》

Reduced-intensity conditioning with fludarabine and busulfan versus fludarabine and melphalan for patients with acute myeloid leukemia: a report from the Acute Leukemia Working Party of the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation.

Fludarabine plus busulfan (FB) and fludarabine plus melphalan (FM) are 2 widely used reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) regimens for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT). The current survey compared transplantation outcomes for a cohort of 394 acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients given bone marrow or peripheral blood stem cells from human leukocyte antigen-identical siblings after FB (n = 218) or FM (n = 176). Patients given manipulated grafts and those given T-cell-depleting agents (anti-thymocyte globulins or alemtuzumab) were not included. At the time of transplantation, 266 patients (68%) were experiencing their first complete remission (CR), 69 (18%) were experiencing a later CR, and 59 (15%) had advanced disease. The incidences of acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease were similar in the 2 groups of patients. The 2-year relapse incidence (RI), nonrelapse mortality (NRM) rate, leukemia-free survival (LFS) rate, and overall survival (OS) rate were 31% ± 3%, 18% ± 3%, 51% ± 4%, and 54% ± 4%, respectively, for FB patients and 20% ± 3% (P = .007), 20% ± 3% (P = .4), 60% ± 4% (P = .08), and 62% ± 4% (P = .2), respectively, for FM patients. Among FB patients given intravenous busulfan (n = 81), the 2-year RI, NRM, LFS, and OS rates were 26% ± 5% (P = .43 vs FM patients), 25% ± 6% (P = .18), 49% ± 7% (P = .07), and 54% ± 7% (P = .13), respectively. In multivariate analyses, FM was associated with a lower RI (hazard ratio [HR], 0.5; P = .01) and a trend toward higher NRM (HR, 1.6; P = .1) with similar LFS (HR, 0.8; P = .2) and OS (HR, 0.9; P = .6). These results suggest that although FM provides better AML control than FB as an RIC regimen for allo-SCT, the 2 regimens provide similar survival. Multicenter randomized studies are needed to confirm these findings.

Baron F ，Labopin M ，Peniket A ，Jindra P ，Afanasyev B ，Sanz MA ，Deconinck E ，Nagler A ，Mohty M ... -  《-》

Fludarabine/Busulfan versus Fludarabine/Melphalan Conditioning in Patients Undergoing Reduced-Intensity Conditioning Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation for Lymphoma.

There is at present little data to guide the choice of conditioning for patients with lymphoma undergoing reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT). In this study, we compared the outcomes of patients undergoing RIC SCT who received fludarabine and melphalan (FluMel), the standard RIC regimen used by the Spanish Group of Transplantation, and fludarabine and busulfan (FluBu), the standard RIC regimen used by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Brigham and Women's Hospital. We analyzed 136 patients undergoing RIC SCT for lymphoma with either FluBu (n = 61) or FluMel (n = 75) conditioning between 2007 and 2014. Median follow-up was 36 months. The cumulative incidence of grades II to IV acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) was 13% with FluBu and 36% with FluMel (P = .002). The cumulative incidence of nonrelapse mortality (NRM) at 1 year was 3.3% with FluBu and 31% with FluMel (P < .0001). The cumulative incidence of relapse at 1 year was 29% with FluBu and 10% with FluMel (P = .08). The 3-year disease-free survival rate was 47% with FluBu and 36% with FluMel (P = .24), and the 3-year overall survival rate was 62% with FluBu and 48% with FluMel (P = .01). In multivariable analysis, FluMel was associated with a higher risk of acute grades II to IV GVHD (HR, 7.45; 95% CI, 2.30 to 24.17; P = .001) and higher risk of NRM (HR, 4.87; 95% CI, 1.36 to 17.44; P = .015). The type of conditioning was not significantly associated with relapse or disease-free survival in multivariable models. However, conditioning regimen was the only factor significantly associated with overall survival: FluMel conditioning was associated with a hazard ratio for death of 2.78 (95% CI, 1.23 to 6.27; P = .014) compared with FluBu. In conclusion, the use of FluBu as conditioning for patients undergoing SCT for lymphoma was associated with a lower risk of acute GVHD and NRM and improved overall survival when compared with FluMel in our retrospective study. These results confirm the differences between these RIC regimens in terms of toxicity and efficacy and support the need for comparative prospective studies.

Kekre N ，Marquez-Malaver FJ ，Cabrero M ，Piñana J ，Esquirol A ，Soiffer RJ ，Caballero D ，Terol MJ ，Martino R ，Antin JH ，Lopez-Corral L ，Solano C ，Armand P ，Pérez-Simon JA ... -  《-》