Background: There is a lack of clinical information regarding the usefulness of plasma Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA load kinetics analyses in the management of EBV infections in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) recipients. Namely, it remains unknown whether this type of analysis can help physicians to anticipate the development of high-level EBV DNAemia episodes requiring rituximab treatment or predict the risk of recurrent EBV DNAemia or post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders (PTLDs).
Study design: Unicentric, retrospective, observational study including 142 consecutive patients undergoing T-cell replete allo-HSCT. The plasma EBV DNA load was monitored on a weekly basis using the artus® EBV PCR kit.
Results: Fifty-five of the 142 patients (38.7%) developed at least one episode of EBV DNAemia; 13 of the 55 initial EBV DNAemia episodes (23.6%) were preemptively treated with rituximab, 7 patients had a recurrent episode of EBV DNAemia, and biopsy-proven PTLDs were diagnosed in 4 patients. The initial plasma EBV DNA load was not significantly different (P=0.269) in episodes of self-resolving EBV DNAemia, those requiring rituximab treatment, or those leading to PTLDs. The plasma EBV DNA load doubling times were similar across all the groups (P=0.799), and the EBV DNA-load half-life was not associated with the occurrence of recurrent EBV DNAemia (P=0.550).
Conclusion: Plasma EBV DNA-load kinetics analyses are unlikely to be useful in predicting the occurrence of high-level EBV DNAemia, PTLD, or recurrent EBV DNAemia.
Keywords: Allogeneic stem cell transplantation; EBV DNA doubling time; EBV DNA half-life; Epstein-Barr (EBV); Plasma EBV DNA-load; Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease.
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