Ruxolitinib: a potential treatment for corticosteroid refractory acute graft-versus-host disease

Introduction: Allogeneic transplantation represents a potentially curative procedure for various lethal conditions; however, it is associated with serious immune mediated complications. The most serious complication is graft-versus-host disease (GVHD). Acute GVHD (aGVHD) is unresponsive to initial corticosteroid therapy in ~40% of cases. Corticosteroid-refractory aGVHD (CR-aGVHD) represents a significant unmet need with nearly 60% mortality in patients developing this state.

Areas covered: We review landmark trials which led to the US FDA approval of Ruxolitinb for the treatment of CR-aGVHD. Ruxolitinib phosphate is a Janus Kinase 1 and 2 inhibitor which inhibits pro-inflammatory signaling, and modulates T-cell subsets to an anti-inflammatory phenotype. Ruxolitinib was recently prospectively studied for the treatment of CR-aGVHD in the REACH1 trial, which added Ruxolitinib to corticosteroid therapy. This trial demonstrated favorable results with 73% of patients ultimately responding. Among responders, over 70% remained alive at 6 months. These results led to the US FDA to approve ruxolitinib as treatment for CR-aGVHD, the first approval of its kind.

Expert opinion: Ruxolitinib represents the standard option for CR-aGVHD. Future studies should identify patients less likely to respond to ruxolitinib and/or focus on a more targeted approaches to reduce infectious complications and cytopenias seen with this drug.