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Infants are subjected to hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) due to malignant and non-malignant diseases. However, specific data concerning the outcome and transplantation-related complications in infants, as a separate age group, are limited. Our aim was to evaluate the impact of infancy on the outcome, toxicity, and complications after HSCT.We retrospectively analyzed data of 55 infants that underwent HSCT in our unit from May 1997 until February 2020, emphasizing on the probability of overall survival (OS) and the cumulative incidence (CI) of transplantation-related mortality (TRM) and complications.We report a probability of OS of 61%, a CI of TRM at day 100 and 365 post transplantation of 22% and 30%, respectively, and additionally a CI of graft failure, acute graft-versus-host disease (GvHD), and infectious complications, 18%, 44%, and 39%, respectively. No statistically significant association was detected between the above mentioned parameters and diagnosis, the use of myeloablative or non-myeloablative/reduced toxicity conditioning regimens or the type of donor.We conclude that HSCT in infancy is associated with significant mortality and morbidity. This is possibly attributed to endogenous, age-related factors. More specifically, infants may be at a higher risk of toxicities due to the immaturity of developing vital organs and the deficiency of the newly adopted immune system that predisposes them to infectious complications. The development of GvHD further augments the danger of infections, in a potential vice-versa relationship. Moreover, there are few data on pharmacokinetics of chemotherapy agents, making safe and efficacious drug administration hard.

Congenital sideroblastic anaemias (CSA) are a rare group of disorders characterized by the presence of pathologic iron deposits within the mitochondria of erythroid precursors (ring sideroblasts) in the bone marrow due to heterogenous germline mutations leading to defects in mitochondrial heme synthesis, iron-sulfur (Fe-S) cluster biogenesis, or protein synthesis. Patients present with anaemia and relative reticulocytopenia, and systemic iron overload secondary to chronic ineffective erythropoiesis, leading to end-organ damage. The disease is heterogenous underlying the genetic variability and the variable response to treatment. Although a number of CSA patients have received a bone marrow transplant, the outcomes and toxicities are not known. This status makes it very difficult to understand the role of BMT in the management of CSA. A search in the EBMT database identified 28 patients receiving a HSCT for CSA between 1998 to 2018 by 24 participating centres. The median year of transplantation was 2014 (IQR 2004-2016). The distribution was equal between males (n=14) and females (n=14). The median age at transplantation was 7 years of age (3-10 years). Fifteen patients had a sibling HSCT (88%), one a family matched donor HSCT (6%) and one an unrelated matched (6%), the type of transplant being unknown in others (n=11). The source of stem cells was bone marrow in 20 cases (74%), peripheral blood in 4 cases (15%), cord blood in 2 (7%) and combined bone marrow and cord in one (4%). Five cases had a Bu/Cy based conditioning regimen, 4 had Bu/fludarabine based regimen and three fludarabine/treosulfan based conditioning with the rest having a variety of approaches. Eighty-six percent of cases had serotherapy with ATG or alemtuzumab. The median follow-up was 31.6 months (95% CI, 12.2-74.1%). The overall survival at 12 and 24 months was 88% (76-100) and 82% (66-99), respectively (figure 1). The median neutrophil engraftment was 18 (15-21) days and platelet engraftment >20 x 109/L was 29 (20-51) days, with a graft failure incidence of 7% (0-17) at 12 months. Two patients suffered from VOD. There were four deaths, three of which were related to transplant complications. The event free survival (survival without graft failure, relapse and second transplant) at 12 and 24 months was 85% (72-99) (figure 2). Six patients developed acute GvHD grade II and one case grade III; giving a grade II/III incidence of 28% (10-46). There was one case of limited and one of chronic GvHD, giving an incidence of 11% (0-26%) at 12 months and 24 months. In conclusion, whilst HSCT for CSA is a rare occurrence, these data demonstrate that HSCT for this condition is feasible and the outcomes are in keeping with those obtained for transplantation for transfusion dependent anaemias during the same time-period. Disclosures Handgretinger: Amgen: Honoraria. Moraleda:Gilead: Consultancy, Other: Travel Expenses; Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy, Research Funding; Novartis: Consultancy, Other: Travel Expenses; Sandoz: Consultancy, Other: Travel Expenses; Takeda: Consultancy, Other: Travel Expenses. Risitano:Novartis: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Alnylam: Research Funding; Alexion: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Jazz: Speakers Bureau; Roche: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Samsung: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Amyndas: Consultancy; RA pharma: Research Funding; Biocryst: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Apellis: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Achillion: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Pfizer: Speakers Bureau. Peffault De Latour:Amgen: Research Funding; Pfizer: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Apellis: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc.: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau.

Although most children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) receive fractionated total body irradiation (FTBI) as myeloablative conditioning (MAC) for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT), it is an important matter of debate if chemotherapy can effectively replace FTBI. To compare outcomes after FTBI versus chemotherapy-based conditioning (CC), we performed a retrospective EBMT registry study. Children aged 2–18 years after MAC for first allo-HSCT of bone marrow (BM) or peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) from matched-related (MRD) or unrelated donors (UD) in first (CR1) or second remission (CR2) between 2000 and 2012 were included. Propensity score weighting was used to control pretreatment imbalances of the observed variables. 3.054 patients were analyzed. CR1 (1.498): median follow-up (FU) after FTBI (1.285) and CC (213) was 6.8 and 6.1 years. Survivals were not significantly different. CR2 (1.556): median FU after FTBI (1.345) and CC (211) was 6.2 years. Outcomes after FTBI were superior as compared with CC with regard to overall survival (OS), leukemia-free survival (LFS), relapse incidence (RI), and nonrelapse mortality (NRM). However, we must emphasize the preliminary character of the results of this retrospective “real-world-practice” study. These findings will be prospectively assessed in the ALL SCTped 2012 FORUM trial.

Background: Pediatric patients younger than two years of age with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) commonly receive a chemotherapy-based myeloablative conditioning regimen before allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). The optimal choice of cytotoxic agents is still controversial. Methods: A retrospective EBMT-registry based study was conducted to investigate the impact of different chemotherapy-based conditionings on the outcomes in young children. Children younger than two years of age receiving a first HSCT of bone marrow (BM), peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC) or cord blood (CB) from matched siblings (MSD) or unrelated donors (UD) in first complete remission (CR1) between 2000 and 2019 were included. Busulfan/Cyclophosphamide (BuCy) and BuCy/Melphalan (BuCyMel) were the most frequent combinations on which this analysis focused. The primary endpoint was leukemia-free survival (LFS). Multivariate analysis adjusting for differences between the conditioning regimens and risk factors influencing outcome was performed using the Cox's proportional hazards regression model. Results: 289 patients (56% male) transplanted at a median age of 1.2 years (IQR 0.9-1.6) after BuCy (164, 57%) or BuCyMel (125, 43%) were included. 184 (64%) patients received BM, 71 (24%) CB and 34 (12%) PBSC from UD (201, 70%) and MSD (88, 30%). In-vivo T-cell-depletion (TCD) was performed in 160 (58%, missing data 14) of the HSCTs with anti-thymocyte-globulin (ATG, 153) or alemtuzumab (7). Ex-vivo TCD was performed in 13 (5%, missing data 3) of the HSCTs. Graft-versus-host-disease (GvHD)-prophylaxis was Cyclosporin-A-based in 90% of the HSCTs. Median follow-up (FU) was 4.9 years (95% CI 3.9-5.5). After a median FU of 4 years, 4-y-LFS after BuCyMel (74.3%, 95% CI 65.1-81.4) was significantly better compared to BuCy (59.7%, 95% CI 51.2-67.2), hazard ratio (HR) 0.56 (95% CI 0.35-0.90, P=0.02). Overall survival (4-y-OS) after BuCyMel (77.2%, 95% CI 68.1-84.0) was significantly better compared to BuCy (66.6%, 95% CI 58.0-73.8), HR=0.58 (95% CI 0.35-0.97, P=0.04). No significant differences were found in the probability of relapse (4-y-RI (whole cohort) 26.2% (95% CI 21.0-31.7), HR of BuCyMel 0.59 (95% CI 0.34-1.02), P=0.06), non-relapse mortality (4-y-NRM (whole cohort) 7.8% (95% CI 5.0-11.4), HR of BuCyMel 0.49 (95% CI 0.19-1.24), P=0.13) and incidence of acute grade II-IV GvHD at day 100 (day-100-aGvHD II-IV (whole cohort) 36.8% (95% CI 31.2-42.5), HR of BuCyMel 0.59 (95% CI 0.35-1.01), P=0.06). Incidence of chronic GvHD (4-y-cGvHD (whole cohort)) was 9.8% (95%-CI 6.3-14.2). The donor type had no significant influence on the outcome. Conclusion: Bu-based conditionings of HSCT for infants with AML at high risk of relapse offer a high probability of cure. Conditioning with three alkylators (BuCyMel) resulted in better LFS and OS compared with two alkylators (BuCy) without significantly increasing the risk of both NRM and aGvHD. Future trials will evaluate the impact of the more recently introduced alkylator Treosulfan within the conditioning of HSCT in pediatric AML. Disclosures Peters: Amgen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Travel grants. Locatelli: Amgen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Novartis: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Miltenyi: Speakers Bureau; Medac: Speakers Bureau; Jazz Pharamceutical: Speakers Bureau; Takeda: Speakers Bureau. Moraleda: Pfizer: Other: Educational Grants, Research Funding; Sanofi: Other: Educational Grants, Research Funding; MSD: Other: Educational Grants, Research Funding; ROCHE: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Educational Grants, Research Funding; Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Educational Grants, Research Funding; Sandoz: Consultancy, Honoraria; Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Educational Grants, Research Funding; Gilead: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Educational Grants, Research Funding; Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Educational Grants, Research Funding; NovoNordisk: Other: Educational Grants, Research Funding; Janssen: Other: Educational Grants, Research Funding; Celgene: Other: Educational Grants, Research Funding; Amgen: Other: Educational Grants, Research Funding. Biffi: BlueBirdBio: Consultancy, Other: Advisory Board. Corbacioglu: Gentium/Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy, Honoraria.

ispartof: HAEMATOLOGICA vol:104 issue:8 pages:E335-E339 ispartof: location:Italy status: published

INTRODUCTION: Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) is a diffuse curative option for transfusion dependent thalassemia (TDT) and sickle cell disease (SCD). To verify transplant activity, distribution, demography, policies and outcomes the Hemoglobinopathy Registry was established inside the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT). After a previous analysis limited to TDT for the 2000-2010 period data (BMT 2016; 51:536-41), we performed an updated report considering TDT and SCD patients transplanted in the last eighteen years (years 2000-2017). METHODS: Data on pediatric patients transplanted between Jan 1st, 2000 through Dec 31st, 2017 were extracted by the EBMT promise Hemoglobinopathy registry database. Only first transplants were considered. Data are expressed as median with range unless specifically indicated. Survival probabilities were calculated with the method of Kaplan and Meier and expressed as means and 95% confidence intervals (95%CI). Differences between survival probabilities were tested by means of the log-rank test. RESULTS: In the above-specified period 3856 consecutive pediatric patients affected by TDT (2936, 76%) or SCD (920, 24%) were transplanted in 166 HCT centers distributed in 36 countries in Europe, Asia and Africa. Median age at transplant was 7.2 years (range 0.48-17.9). 3342 (87%) transplants were performed on patients Figure 1 reports pediatric transplant activity inside the EBMT showing an increased numbers of patients transplanted after year 2010. After a median follow up of 24 months, the 2 years overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) were 91% (95%CI 90-92) and 86% (95%CI 85-87) for the entire population. In TDT, OS and EFS were 90% (95%CI 89-92) and 84% (95%CI 82-85), respectively. In SCD, OS and EFS were 94% (95%CI 92-96) and 92% (95%CI 90-94), respectively. In both diseases no outcome difference was recorded on the basis of year of transplant (data not shown). Source of hematopoietic cells was bone marrow in 70% of TDT transplants and 81% of SCD transplants. In both diseases better results were recorded with the use of bone marrow versus peripheral blood [OS 91% versus 85% (P< 0.001); 95% versus 84% (P= 0.004) for TDT and SCD, respectively]. Similar results were recorded when EFS was analyzed. 176 patients received hematopoietic cells from single cord blood donors. Of them only 21 were from an unrelated donor. 119 patients received cord blood + bone marrow. Results of related HLA identical cord blood were similar to that of HLA identical related bone marrow (data not shown). Transplantation from an HLA identical sibling offered the best results in OS and EFS compared to other donor options (P< 0.001), both for TDT and SCD. Transplant results by donor type are reported in table 1. The threshold age for optimal transplant outcomes is confirmed 14 years, with OS 92% (95%CI 91-93), EFS 87% (95%CI 85-88) versus OS 85% (95%CI 82-89), EFS 81% (95%CI 77-85) ( P The two years incidence of cumulative extensive chronic graft versus host disease was 4.1% in TDT and 4.4 % in SCD (P=ns). CONCLUSIONS: Allogeneic HCT for TDT and SCD is a widely available curative approach; the procedure has been increasing and internationally performed during the years with excellent results. The emerging gene therapy approach will have to be compared to these well-established results. Disclosures Zecca: Chimerix: Honoraria. Forni:Novartis: Other: travel expenses, Research Funding; Celgene: Research Funding; Roche: Consultancy; Shire: Research Funding; Apopharma: Other: DSM Board. Bader:Medac: Patents & Royalties, Research Funding; Neovii: Research Funding; Novartis: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Riemser: Research Funding; Cellgene: Consultancy. Angelucci:Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated (MA) and CRISPR CAS9 Therapeutics AG (CH): Other: Chair DMC; Novartis: Honoraria, Other: Chair Steering Comiittee TELESTO Protocol; Roche Italy: Other: Local (national) advisory board; Jazz Pharmaceuticals Italy: Other: Local ( national) advisory board; Celgene: Honoraria, Other: Chair DMC.

PNP deficiency is an autosomal recessive metabolic disorder characterized by severe combined immunodeficiency, autoimmune hemolytic anemia, and by a complex of neurologic manifestations including ataxia, developmental delay, and spasticity. PNP protein catalyzes the phosphorolysis of deoxyinosine and deoxyguanosine. It is found in most tissues of the body but is expressed at the highest levels in lymphoid tissues. This tissue distribution explains why the lymphoid system is predominantly affected in PNP deficiency. We describe a five-yr-old boy with muscular hypertonia, impaired growth, autoimmune hemolytic anemia, and neutropenia who underwent HSCT from his HLA-identical sister. One yr post-HSCT, the boy developed normal immunological functions, and his neurological status improved.