HLA-C mismatch in unrelated donor's hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) has been associated with poor patient outcome. However, the impact of HLA-C mismatch in the context of HSCT combined with in vivo T-cell depletion remains unclear. We therefore performed a single-center, retrospective analysis of the clinical outcome on patients with hematological malignancies treated with allo-HSCT, who underwent T-cell depletion. The majority of the patients (n=276) received a HLA-A, HLA-B, HLA-DRB1-matched graft that were either also HLA-C matched (n=260), or patients with the permissive HLA-C*03:03/03:04 mismatch (n=16), while the remaining patients (n=95) received a HLA-C-mismatched graft (excluding HLA-C*03:03/03:04 mismatches). We did not observe any significant differences between the HLA-C-matched patients (including the permissive HLA-C*03:03/03:04 mismatch) and the HLA-C-mismatched patients regarding cumulative proportion surviving, graft failure, relapse-free survival, relapse, or acute graft-versus-host disease. Our data suggest that in the context of high dose T lymphocyte-depleting agents, HLA-C matching is not essential for patients with hematological malignancies.
Keywords: HLA mismatch; HLA-C; T-cell depletion; allogeneic stem cell transplantation; graft-versus-host disease.
© 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.