CD34+ cell dose effects on clinical outcomes after T-cell replete haploidentical allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for acute myeloid leukemia using peripheral blood stem cells. A Study from the Acute Leukemia Working Party of the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT)

Previous observations have reported controversial conclusions regarding cell dose and survival endpoints after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). We conducted a retrospective analysis on 414 adult patients (median age 54 years, range, 18-74) with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in first and second complete remission who received a T-cell replete allogeneic HSCT from haploidentical donors, using peripheral blood stem cells, between 2006-2018. Median number of infused CD34+ was 6.58 x 106 /kg (range, 2.2-31.2). Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis was post-transplant cyclophosphamide in 293 patients and anti-lymphocyte serum in 121 patients. Conditioning was myeloablative in 179 patients and reduced-intensity in 235 patients. After a median follow-up of 23.3 months (range, 12.1-41.8), 2-year overall survival (OS) was 64.5 % (95% CI 59.3-69.7) with leukemia-free survival (LFS) of 57.3 % (95% CI 51.8-62.7) and non-relapse mortality (NRM) of 23.3 % (95% CI 19-27.7). Grades III-IV acute GVHD day+100 incidence was 14.6 % while extensive chronic GVHD was 14.4% at 2-years. Thirteen (3.2%) patients experienced graft failure. We found the optimal CD34+/kg threshold defining high (n= 334) versus low cell dose (n= 80) at 4.96 x 106 . Recipients of > 4.96 x 106 /kg CD34+ cells experienced less NRM (Hazard ratio [HR] 0.48; 95% CI 0.30-0.76) and prolonged LFS (HR 0.63; 95% CI 0.43-0.91) and OS (HR 0.60; 95% CI 0.40-0.88) compared to those in the lower cell dose cohort. Larger cohort studies are needed to confirm these findings.