Background: Reduced-intensity conditioning allogeneic transplantation for myeloma is associated with lower non-relapse mortality and higher relapse rates in comparison with myeloablative conditioning transplants.
Patients and methods: We have retrospectively audited 19 patients with myeloma or primary plasma cell leukemia who received allogeneic transplantation with a uniform alemtuzumab-based reduced-intensity conditioning protocol. These patients had not been treated with bortezomib or lenalidomide before transplantation.
Results: The treatment-related mortality at 1 year was (4/19) 21% with low incidence of graft-versus-host disease (6%) and 2-year progression-free survival and overall survival rates of 35% and 42%, respectively.
Conclusion: Progression-free survival in this cohort of patients is comparable to previously published data of reduced-intensity conditioning allogeneic transplantation in myeloma. However, there is no plateau observed on the survival curves with a significant transplant-related mortality of 21%. Therefore, alemtuzumab-based allogeneic transplantation cannot be recommended as standard practice outside of clinical trials for treatment of myeloma.
2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.