Bone marrow transplantation in thalassemia.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to D Baronciani.
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This study compares the efficacy of 2 posttransplant immunosuppressive regimens for prevention of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Forty-four patients, ages 8-15 years, with homozygous beta thalassemia received marrow allografts from HLA-identical siblings following an ablative regimen of busulfan and cyclophosphamide. Twenty-two patients received cyclosporine (CsA) alone and 22 received cyclosporine, cyclophosphamide, and methotrexate for prophylaxis against GVHD. Two who received CsA alone have died (1 of graft rejection and 1 of acute GVHD) as did 4 patients who received 3 drugs (1 of rejection, 1 of acute GVHD, 1 of infection and cardiac failure before engraftment, and 1 of acute respiratory failure before engraftment). One patient in each group rejected the transplant and survives with thalassemia. The probability of developing acute GVHD was 41% for the CsA group and 15% for the 3-drug group (P = less than 0.05). Patients receiving CsA alone had a probability of event-free survival of 86% compared to 77% in the group receiving 3 drugs (P = 0.40) with a followup of 209-706 days. Although the study showed a decrease in the incidence of GVHD in recipients of the more intensive prophylactic regimen, this study was terminated since it was apparent that even if larger numbers of patients were studied it would be difficult to demonstrate a significant survival advantage with the use of this drug regimen.
One hundred patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) submitted to bone marrow transplantation (BMT) were included in a cooperative cytogenetic study. Relapse (defined on the basis of hematological and cytogenetic findings) occurred in 24 (24%) patients at different intervals after BMT. In 18 of these patients (studied on average 3.3 times between BMT and relapse) no Ph-positive metaphases were detected before relapse. Sixteen (75%) of the patients relapsed with the same chromosomal pattern as that seen before BMT; eight patients, of whom five relapsed in blast crisis, showed additional chromosomal abnormalities resembling those seen in non-transplanted patients. One of these patients relapsed in cells of donor origin. After recognition of relapse, various hematological and cytogenetic patterns were observed. Four patients showed spontaneous reversion to normal (donor-type) chromosomes and hematology. Two other patients were followed for prolonged periods with hypercellular marrows with more than 50% Ph-positive cells but with normal peripheral blood values. The majority of patients proceeded to clinical relapse and required treatment with chemotherapy. We conclude that the isolated finding of a minority of Ph-positive metaphases after BMT should not be classified as relapse; for patients who do relapse, the sequence of cytogenetic and hematological events thereafter is variable.
In a study of the outcome of marrow transplantation in patients with advanced thalassemia, 40 patients with homozygous beta-thalassemia who were 8 to 15 years of age (median, 10) received HLA-identical allogeneic marrow after treatment with busulfan and cyclophosphamide. Twenty-eight of the 40 patients were alive and free of disease 260 to 939 days after transplantation, and 2 patients were alive with thalassemia 372 and 1133 days after transplantation. The actuarial probabilities of survival and of disease-free survival at two years were 75 percent and 69 percent, respectively. Ten patients (25 percent) died. Three died of cardiac failure, interstitial pneumonitis, or septicemia within 14 days of transplantation. Three died of infectious complications associated with acute graft-versus-host disease at 46 to 97 days, and two died of infectious complications of chronic graft-versus-host disease at 249 and 290 days. Two patients had transplant rejection and died with marrow aplasia 115 and 192 days after transplantation. One patient had rejection after four months and while the marrow was aplastic underwent a successful second transplantation; the patient was alive without thalassemia 624 days after the first transplantation. The actuarial probability of grade 2 or higher acute graft-versus-host disease in the 32 patients with initial sustained engraftment was 35 percent. Three patients had chronic graft-versus-host disease, which was fatal in two and still active on day 710 in the third. We conclude that bone marrow transplantation can potentially save patients with advanced thalassemia from an otherwise inexorable progression to death from the complications of blood transfusions. The ultimate outcome in this group of patients must await a longer follow-up.
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The authors report the results of 113 patients who underwent bone marrow transplant for acute nonlymphoblastic leukemia, acute lymphoblastic leukemia and chronic myeloid leukemia in complete remission and relapse after different conditioning regimens.
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30 patients with homozygous beta-thalassaemia aged 6 months to 7 years received allogeneic marrow transplants following busulphan (Bu) and cyclophosphamide (Cy). Post-transplant immunosuppression was with methotrexate (MTX) or MTX and Cy. The first 6 patients received 16 mg/kg Bu and 200 mg/kg Cy. 3 died of transplant-related complications and 3 survived without thalassaemia 701-762 days after transplantation. The subsequent 24 patients received 14 mg/kg Bu and 200 mg/kg Cy. 1 died on day 28 without engraftment and 23 survived 64-624 days after transplantation. 19 of the 23 surviving patients are without thalassaemia while 4 patients with initial engraftment became thalassaemic again in 32-46 days and survived 253-624 days after transplantation. The latest death was 50 days after transplantation. The probability of developing grade 2 or greater acute graft versus host disease (GVHD) in patients with sustained engraftment was 23%. 5 patients had chronic GVHD which is still active and causing disability in 3 patients 358, 456, and 477 days after transplantation. The actuarial survival was 86% and the actuarial disease-free survival was 73%.
The studies described herein were undertaken to help define the effects of certain cyclophosphamide derivatives that have been used for selective removal of leukemic cells from marrow samples used for autologous transplantation. We have tested the effect of 4-HC and another cyclophosphamide congener, ASTA-Z 7557, on pluripotent stem cells (CFU-S) and committed progenitor cells (CFU-GM) in mice. The CFU-S were evaluated by the spleen colony assay at eight days and 12 days after transplant. The eight-day colonies are transient in nature, rapidly growing, mainly erythroid, and lack pluripotential precursors. The 12-day colonies are believed to provide a measure of hemopoietic stem cells as they slowly grow and do contain primitive precursors. Our data show that at the maximum dose levels tested, both drugs caused a 100% loss of CFU-GM and about 80%-95% inhibition of early transient CFU-S. In contrast, about 70% of the pluripotent 12-day CFU-S were spared. These data appear to explain the hemopoietic recovery seen in man after transplantation with marrow cells treated with 4-HC despite their relative absence of hemopoietic progenitor cells.
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Early trials of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) for homozygous beta-thalassemia and the analyses of results of transplantation in patients less than 16 years old have allowed us to identify three classes of risk using the criteria of degree of hepatomegaly, the degree of portal fibrosis and the quality of the chelation treatment given before the transplant. Patients for whom all three criteria were adverse constituted class 3, patients with none of the adverse criteria constituted class one and patients with one or various association of the adverse criteria formed Class 2. Most patients older than 16 years have disease characteristics that place them in class 3 with very few in class 2. For all the patients with an HLA identical donor we are actually using two Protocols for BMT to whom the patients are assigned on the base of the class they belong to at the time of BMT and independently on the age of the patient. For class 1, class 2 and for class 3 the probabilities of survival and of event-free-survival are respectively of 98% and 94%, 87% and 84%, 100% and 67%. For those patients that were older than 16 years at the time of the transplant, the probabilities of survival are 82% and the probabilities of event-free survival are 79%. Bone marrow transplantation is a new form of radical treatment of thalassemia in those patients with an HLA identical donor.
Fiberoptic phototherapy is a new technique for treatment of neonatal hyperbilirubinemia; in comparison with conventional phototherapy this new technique shouldn't increase body temperature during treatment. We have recorded body temperature of 13 term newborns with hyperbilirubinemia during 18 periods of treatment and compared the records with physiologic body temperature in the same babies. No increase over normal value during treatment nor significative difference during and after treatment has been observed.
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The authors report their experience on allogeneic bone marrow transplant in an HIV seropositive thalassemic child. Before transplant a treatment with Azidothymidine was performed with the aim of reducing the viral load. Engraftment took place but, later, an explosive upsurge of viral disease occurred with encephalitis, positivation of the P24 antigen, proliferation of opportunistic infections and an increase of the IgG level. Furthermore the failure of CD4+ cell recovery was also observed. This case underlines that bone marrow transplantation can have a successful engraftment in HIV seropositive patients, but this doesn't modify the course of the infection.
Since the administration of cyclophosphamide and busulfan can cause hemorrhagic cystitis and changes in urothelial cells, an investigation was carried out to see whether patients undergoing bone marrow transplantation (BMT) who were treated with these drugs showed such urothelial changes and whether exfoliative urinary cytology can contribute to the early diagnosis and monitoring of such changes. Morphologic and morphometric analyses were performed on cytocentrifuged, Papanicolaou-stained preparations of 700 samples from 107 patients. Various degrees of urothelial cell changes were found in 30.8% of the cases. These changes consisted mainly of a considerable increase in the size of the nucleus and of a cytoplasm that was often bizarrely shaped. Even the structures of the nucleus and the cytoplasm changed. The results of this study showed that exfoliative urinary cytology permits an early diagnosis and monitoring of urothelial cell changes related to the administration of busulfan and cyclophosphamide in connection with BMT.
Thirty patients with malignant hematological disease underwent allogeneic bone marrow transplantation following Busulphan (Bu) and Cyclophosphamide (Cy). The diseases were chronic myelogenous leukemia, acute lymphoblastic and non lymphoblastic leukemia, myelofibrosis and multiple myeloma in complete remission and in relapse. A sustained disease-free survival (DFS) was achieved in 0/5 acute leukemia patients transplanted in relapse, in 5/7 acute leukemia patients transplanted in remission (600-1550 days) and in 6/9 CML patients transplanted in the chronic phase of the disease (500-950 days). A sustained DFS was also achieved in one 2nd BMT for relapsed CML. The data suggest that the Bu-Cy protocol combines high tumor ablative capability with toxicity comparable to previously described conditioning regimens for allogeneic BMT, particularly in diseases involving a great expansion of the bone marrow.
The Aarskog syndrome is characterized by short stature, hypertelorism, cryptorchidism, typical scrotal fold, clinodactyly and brachydactyly. From the available data the prognosis about definitive stature and fertility is good. In our case the anomalies of the testis are severe and we think that infertility is probable.