Tacrolimus versus Cyclosporine after Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation for Acquired Aplastic Anemia

Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2015 Oct;21(10):1776-82. doi: 10.1016/j.bbmt.2015.05.023. Epub 2015 May 30.

Abstract

Combinations of cyclosporine (CSP) with methotrexate (MTX) have been widely used for immunosuppression after allogeneic transplantation for acquired aplastic anemia. We compared outcomes with tacrolimus (TAC)+MTX versus CSP+MTX after transplantation from HLA-identical siblings (SIB) or unrelated donors (URD) in a retrospective cohort of 949 patients with severe aplastic anemia. Study endpoints included hematopoietic recovery, graft failure, acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), chronic GVHD, and mortality. TAC+MTX was used more frequently in older patients and, in recent years, in both SIB and URD groups. In multivariate analysis, TAC+MTX was associated with a lower risk of mortality in URD recipients and with slightly earlier absolute neutrophil count recovery in SIB recipients. Other outcomes did not differ statistically between the 2 regimens. No firm conclusions were reached regarding the relative merits of TAC+MTX versus CSP+MTX after hematopoietic cell transplantation for acquired aplastic anemia. Prospective studies would be needed to determine whether the use of TAC+MTX is associated with lower risk of mortality in URD recipients with acquired aplastic anemia.

Keywords: Aplastic anemia; Cyclosporine; Graft-versus-host disease; Hematopoietic cell transplantation; Immunosuppression; Tacrolimus.

Publication types

  • Multicenter Study
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Age Factors
  • Anemia, Aplastic / therapy*
  • Cyclosporine / therapeutic use*
  • Drug Therapy, Combination
  • Female
  • Graft Survival
  • Graft vs Host Disease / epidemiology
  • Graft vs Host Disease / prevention & control*
  • Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / adverse effects*
  • Humans
  • Immunosuppressive Agents / therapeutic use*
  • Living Donors
  • Male
  • Methotrexate / therapeutic use
  • Proportional Hazards Models
  • Retrospective Studies
  • Tacrolimus / therapeutic use*
  • Transplantation Conditioning / methods
  • Treatment Outcome

Substances

  • Immunosuppressive Agents
  • Cyclosporine
  • Tacrolimus
  • Methotrexate