The results of our single-center retrospective analysis including 213 patients with AML and MDS show no significant differences in OS and PFS but significantly higher NRM after haploHCT performed with ptCY compared to HCT from MRD and MUD performed with conventional immunosuppression. We demonstrate higher NRM is driven predominantly by a higher cumulative incidence of fatal infections, with most fatal infections occurring early after transplantation. Meanwhile, rates of death due to progression or other transplant-related causes, such as fatal GvHD, were comparably low in all groups. Our findings are important because they provide real-life confirmation of what has been shown in reference studies9,11,13 and therefore support the efficacy of this widely adopted regimen for haploidentical HCT. Our results appear to be representative since median OS and cumulative incidence of causes of death among groups are similar to those recently published by Mehta and colleagues13. However, unlike us, they demonstrate significant differences in OS between haploHCT and matched donor transplantation in an overall larger cohort.
Although other analyses have not come to the same conclusions9,11,23, higher rates of NRM and fatal infections after haploHCT have been demonstrated in several studies12,13 and it’s reasons and mechanisms are a widely discussed topic.
One important factor may be impaired infection control due to slower donor-derived CD4 + T-cell reconstitution after haploHCT. Compared to ptCY-based transplantation from MRD, McCurdy et al. demonstrated slower recovery of CD4 + T-cells early post-transplant but not of CD8+, B- or NK-cells after haploHCT25. Furthermore, in our population, ptCY was administred only after haploHCT resulting in further T-cell suppression 13, 26–28.
Second, as supported by our analysis, another major reason may be the longer time to neutrophil engraftment. Although only incompletely understood, delayed engraftment is thought to lead to an increased risk of early bacterial and fungal infections13,23,29. Notably, delayed engraftment was observed in our analysis even though the proportion of PBSC grafts was high in all groups, suggesting that graft source is not the major cause for slower engraftment, as hypothesized by others9,23,30. Furthermore, although MUDs were slightly younger than haploidentical donors, we also cannot clearly associate delayed engraftment with higher donor age, since similar age differences between MRD and MUD did not result in the same trend. This is relevant because several studies have suggested an adverse outcome after transplantation from older unrelated donors31–34.
Third, as a higher rate of GvHD has been historically attributed to HLA-mismatched transplantations2,3,35, the reluctance to decrease systemic immunosuppression post-transplant may have led to delayed weaning in our cohort, thereby promoting infectious complications. Among possible implications of our findings, we hypothesize that a less intensive immunosuppression protocol after haploHCT could lead to an even better outcome through lower NRM. Although previously suggested, until today this concept has only been tested rigorously in matched donor transplantation36–39. Since the rate of fatal GvHD was low in all groups of our analysis, the study of earlier IS cessation could be justified also after haploHCT.
Furthermore, antimicrobial prophylaxis regimens could be modified to more effectively prevent infections, most importantly early post-transplant. However, as no universally applicable infection control protocols have been published to date and regimens vary considerably between centers worldwide, there are no universally accepted recommendations due to lack of comparability14. These efforts are further complicated by the different microbial resistance profiles in different parts of the world.
We conclude that haploHCT is safe and effective in the treatment of AML and MDS with similar rates of OS and PFS. The higher NRM is caused mainly by a higher incidence of fatal infections which could be favored by the longer time to neutrophil engraftment after haploHCT.
The strengths of our study lie in the homogenous patient cohort with its focus on AML and MDS as well as the long observation period. In contrast to reference studies9,11,13,23, the majority of patients we compared underwent transplantation with PBSC grafts, which allowed us to minimize a potential confounder of outcome measures.
Limitations
Apart from the above and the fact that this is a single-center, retrospective analysis, this study has several other limitations. Importantly, non-lethal infections were not systematically recorded. Within groups, different conditioning regimens were used and baseline characteristics of included patients vary slightly between groups. Furthermore, no systematic GvHD assessment after day + 100 was documented, making it impossible to report GvHD-free survival as others have. In addition, fewer patients with MDS were included in the haploHCT group possibly altering its outcome, presumably because more time was available to find a MUD in these patients.