Source: American Society of Hematology.
Date: July 1, 2010
Summary:
(WASHINGTON) – Allogeneic (donor-derived) stem cell transplant (alloSCT) may be a promising option for patients with treatment-resistant chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), regardless of the patient’s underlying genetic abnormalities, according to the results of a study published online today in Blood, the journal of the American Society of Hematology.
In alloSCT, blood stem cells are collected from a donor and then infused into the patient where they travel to the bone marrow and begin to produce new blood cells, replacing those that have been affected as a result of the disease. This type of treatment can pose serious complications, some of which are potentially fatal. In this prospective phase II study, a total of 90 patients with treatment-resistant CLL received alloSCT, and stem cell donors were either healthy siblings or unrelated, but matched, volunteers.
Prior to the transplant, patients in this study received conditioning, a standard therapy administered immediately before a stem cell transplant to help prepare the body to receive and accept the transplanted cells. The research team used a reduced-intensity conditioning approach with two common chemotherapies (fludarabine and cyclophosphamide) to reduce complications and allow the donor stem cells to fight the disease themselves.
After treatment with alloSCT, more than 40 percent of participants with this otherwise fatal disease enjoyed long-term freedom from relapse. These findings suggest that alloSCT is a feasible and potentially curative treatment for patients with high-risk CLL and should be considered for this patient population.
