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Allografting

Allo-hematopoietic cell transplantation for Ph chromosome-positive ALL: impact of imatinib on relapse and survival

Abstract

The utility of imatinib in either the pre- or post-transplant period for Ph chromosome-positive (Ph+) ALL is uncertain. In addition, there have been recent concerns regarding imatinib and cardiac toxicity. We investigated the outcome of 32 patients with Ph+ ALL who received an allo-hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) at the University of Minnesota between 1999 and 2006. The median age at HCT was 21.9 years (range: 2.8–55.2). All patients were conditioned with CY and TBI. GVHD prophylaxis was CsA based. Of the 32 patients, 15 received imatinib therapy pre- or post-HCT (imatinib group) and 17 patients received either no imatinib (n=11) or only after relapse (n=6) (non-imatinib group). Overall survival, relapse-free survival and relapse at 2 years was 61, 67 and 13% for the imatinib group as compared with 41, 35 and 35% for the non-imatinib group (P=0.19, 0.12 and 0.20, respectively). Cardiac toxicity and TRM at 2 years were similar between groups. Thus, patients treated with imatinib in either the pre- or post-transplant setting had trends toward improved outcomes and no increase in cardiac toxicity. We suggest that imatinib be included in the peri-transplant management of all patients with Ph+ ALL.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Children's Cancer Research.

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Correspondence to M J Burke.

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Burke, M., Trotz, B., Luo, X. et al. Allo-hematopoietic cell transplantation for Ph chromosome-positive ALL: impact of imatinib on relapse and survival. Bone Marrow Transplant 43, 107–113 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2008.296

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