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Aggressive forms of multiple sclerosis (MS) represent a limited group of demyelinating diseases that rapidly progress to severe disability. Currently available therapies are poorly effective against these clinical entities. Recently, it has been demonstrated that intense immunosuppression followed by autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) can affect the clinical course of individuals with severe MS and completely abrogate the inflammatory activity detected by MRI. We report the result of the Italian phase 2 GITMO study, a multicentre study in which 21 MS patients, who were rapidly deteriorating and not responding to the usual therapeutic strategies, were treated with this procedure. The clinical effect of the treatment is long lasting, with a striking abrogation of inflammation detected by MRI findings. These results support a role for intense immunosuppression followed by ASCT as treatment in rapidly evolving MS cases unresponsive to conventional therapies.

The importance of donor-recipient human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DPB1 matching for the clinical outcome of unrelated hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is controversial. We have previously described an algorithm for nonpermissive HLA-DPB1 disparities involving HLA-DPB1*0901,*1001,*1701,*0301,*1401,*4501, based on T-cell alloreactivity patterns. By revisiting the immunogenicity of HLA-DPB1*02, a modified algorithm was developed and retrospectively tested in 621 unrelated HSCTs facilitated through the Italian Registry for onco-hematologic adult patients. The modified algorithm proved to be markedly more predictive of outcome than the original one, with significantly higher KaplanMeier probabilities of 2-year survival in permissive compared with nonpermissive transplantations (55% vs 39%, P = .005). This was the result of increased adjusted hazards of nonrelapse mortality (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.74; confidence interval [CI], 1.19-2.53; P = .004) but not of relapse (HR = 1.02; CI, 0.73-1.42; P = .92). The increase in the hazards of overall mortality by nonpermissive HLA-DPB1 disparity was similar in 10 of 10 (HR = 2.12; CI, 1.23-3.64; P = .006) and 9 of 10 allele-matched transplantations (HR = 2.21; CI, 1.28-3.80; P = .004), both in early-stage and in advanced-stage disease. These data call for revisiting current HLA matching strategies for unrelated HSCT, suggesting that searches should be directed up-front toward identification of HLA-DPB1 permissive, 10 of 10 or 9 of 10 matched donors. (Blood. 2009; 114:1437-1444) RI Porfirio, Berardino/I-1988-2012

BONE MARROW TRANSPLANT

We evaluated the impact of World Health Organization (WHO) classification and WHO classification–based Prognostic Scoring System (WPSS) on the outcome of patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) who underwent allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT) between 1990 and 2006. Five-year overall survival (OS) was 80% in refractory anemias, 57% in refractory cytopenias, 51% in refractory anemia with excess blasts 1 (RAEB-1), 28% in RAEB-2, and 25% in acute leukemia from MDS (P = .001). Five-year probability of relapse was 9%, 22%, 24%, 56%, and 53%, respectively (P < .001). Five-year transplant-related mortality (TRM) was 14%, 39%, 38%, 34%, and 44%, respectively (P = .24). In multivariate analysis, WHO classification showed a significant effect on OS (P = .017) and probability of relapse (P = .01); transfusion dependency was associated with a reduced OS (P = .01) and increased TRM (P = .037), whereas WPSS showed a prognostic significance on both OS (P = .001) and probability of relapse (P < .001). In patients without excess blasts, multilineage dysplasia and transfusion dependency affected OS (P = .001 and P = .009, respectively), and were associated with an increased TRM (P = .013 and P = .031, respectively). In these patients, WPSS identified 2 groups with different OS and TRM. These data suggest that WHO classification and WPSS have a relevant prognostic value in posttransplantation outcome of MDS patients.

The main aim of this paper was to compare results of Genescan and real-time PCR methods in order to detect contamination in harvests from patients with follicular lymphoma. The secondary goal was to evaluate the efficacy of Rituximab as an in vivo purging agent. A total of 23 patients had been treated with CHOP followed by either high-dose therapy (12 patients) or high-dose plus Rituximab (11 patients), both followed by autologous transplantation. Results show that 86% of harvests from patients treated whith Rituximab were PCR-negative compared to 14.3% from controls. Real-time PCR was more sensitive than Genescan PCR; quantitative analysis revealed a correlation between the amount of contamination in the harvests and relapse after transplantation. Whereas all patients reinfused with negative aphereses achieved complete remission and showed a significantly better 5-year PFS (100%) compared to those reinfused with contaminated samples (41%), a very low amount of contamination does not appear to negatively affect outcome, suggesting that determination of a cutoff in the contamination level of harvests could be useful. Results suggest that real-time PCR is superior to Genescan PCR to select transplantable harvests and confirm the ability of Rituximab as an in vivo purging tool for follicular lymphoma.

Abstract 334 Background: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating disease believed to be mediated by autoreactive lymphocytes that invade the Central Nervous System and cause oligodendrocyte, axonal and neuronal damage as well as glial scarring.to and resulting in demyelination, neuronal death and brain atrophy. Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation (HSCT) has been tried in the last 15 years as a therapeutic option in patients with a poor prognosis autoimmune disease not responding to conventional treatments. Worldwide ≥600 patients with MS have been treated with HSCT, most of them having been recruited in small, single center, phase 1–2 uncontrolled trials. Clinical and MRI outcomes from case series reports or Registry-based analyses suggest that a major response is achieved in most patients; quality and duration of response are better in patients transplanted earlier in the relapsing-remitting phase. The intensity of the immunosuppression from transplant treatment may be determined by several factors, such as the use of chemotherapy in the mobilization regimen, the intensity of the conditioning regimen and ex-vivo T-cell depletion. Methods: We report here the Italian multi-center experience on 74 MS patients treated with AHSCT between 1996 and 2008, all mobilized with Cyclophosphamide/G-CSF and conditioned with BEAM and rabbit ATG. Clinical and MRI outcomes were reported to the Italian Registry; the median follow-up is 48.3 (range 30–210) months. All patients clinically deteriorated in the year prior to HSCT, with an increase of Extended Disability Scale (EDSS) of at least one point (average EDSS change=1.5 points, range=1–9), Results: Two patients (3.3%) died for transplant-related causes. At 5 years after the transplant, 66% of patients remained stable or improved. Progression free survival (PFS) was slightly better in relapsing-remitting (RR) (5 years PFS=71%) than in secondary-progressive (SP) forms (5 years PFS=62%, p=0.28). Amongst patients with a follow up longer than 1 year, 8 out of 25 RR subjects (31%) had a 6–12 months confirmed EDSS improvement > 1 point as compared to 1 out of 36 (3%) SP patients (p=0.009), Figure 1. Out of 18 cases with a follow up longer than 7 years, 8 (44%) remained stable or had a sustained improvement whilst 10 (56%), after an initial period of stabilization or improvement with a median duration of 3.5 years, showed a slow progression of disability. Conclusions: This study shows in a large cohort of patients with a long follow-up that AHSCT with BEAM/ATG conditioning regimen has a profound effect in suppressing disease progression in aggressive MS cases, unresponsive to conventional therapies. Indeed it results in a sustained improvement of the disability, free of immunosuppression, in a significant amount of RR patients. Clinical improvement is scarcely reported in MS literature as it is rather infrequent with conventional treatments; nevertheless it results in a stable increase of the quality of the life in this subset of young patients and should be considered in the choice of a therapeutic strategy in the early phase of MS. Disclosures: Cuneo: Roche: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau.

Background Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria is an acquired clonal disorder of the hemopoietic stem cells for which the only curative treatment is allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.Design and Methods The aim of this retrospective study was to assess the long-term clinical and hematologic results in 26 paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria patients who received hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in Italy between 1988 and 2006. The patients were aged 22 to 60 years (median 32 years). Twenty-three donors were HLA-identical (22 siblings and one unrelated) and 3 were HLA-mismatched (2 related and one unrelated).Results Fifteen patients received a myeloablative conditioning consisting of busulfan and cyclophosphamide (in all cases from identical donor) and 11 were given a reduced intensity conditioning (8 from identical donor and 3 from mismatched donor). The cumulative incidence of graft failure was 8% (4% primary and 4% secondary graft failure). Transplant-related mortality for all patients was 42% (26% and 63% for patients transplanted following myeloablative or reduced intensity conditioning, respectively). As of October 31, 2009, 15 patients (11 in the myeloablative conditioning group and 4 in the reduced intensity conditioning group) are alive with complete hematologic recovery and no evidence of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria following a median follow-up of 131 months (range 30–240). The 10-year Kaplan-Meier probability of disease-free survival was 57% for all patients: 65% for 23 patients transplanted from identical donor and 73% for 15 patients transplanted with myeloablative conditioning. No thromboembolic event nor recurrence of the disease were reported following transplant.Conclusions The findings of this study confirm that most patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria may be definitively cured with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.