Recent Research
Stay up-to-date on the advancing field of HCT with short summaries and links to the most relevant published research.
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Allogeneic HCT improves 5-year survival for patients over 60 with AML in CR1
December 2018Devillier R et al. ASH Annual Meeting 2018 - Results from a recent multicenter analysis support hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) as a curative option for patients over 60 with acute myeloid leukemia. Researchers found that HCT improved relapse-free survival and overall survival for older patients at 5 years when compared with patients who did not undergo HCT. (Devillier R et al. 2018 ASH Annual Meeting)
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Survival has significantly improved in recent years for patients with AML undergoing HCT
December 2018Canaani J, et al. Journal of Internal Medicine - Researchers analyzed outcomes of patients with acute myeloid leukemia who underwent hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) in the past 20 years. Patients who underwent HCT in more recent years experienced significantly improved overall survival and decreased non-relapse mortality. -
New Patient Care Coordination Model Addresses Complexities of HCT Therapy
September 2017Khera N, et al. Blood Advances – A multi-disciplinary team has proposed a care coordination framework to deliver a continuum of care to hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) patients. -
90% Survival, Low GVHD at Two Years after Alternative Donor HCT for SCD
August 2017Gilman AL, et al. Blood Advances – A study of patients with symptomatic sickle cell disease (SCD) who underwent CD34+ cell-selected, T-cell–depleted peripheral blood HCT from a mismatched family member or unrelated donor has resulted in a 2-year overall survival rate of 90%. -
Is Cord Blood the Best Alternative Graft Source for Patients with Minimal Residual Disease?
October 2016Milano F, et al. N Engl J Med – A retrospective study of 582 patients with acute leukemia or myelodysplastic syndromes has shown that umbilical cord blood may be a superior graft choice for the approximately 70% of patients who lack an HLA-matched related donor, especially if they are minimal residual disease positive (MRD+). -
Better 5-Year QOL after Marrow Transplant than after PBSC Transplant
September 2016Lee SJ, et al. JAMA Oncol – A secondary analysis of 195 recipients from the randomized, multi-center (n=551) Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network trial (BMT CTN 0201), found that bone marrow (BM) recipients experienced significantly better psychological well-being and less burdensome chronic GVHD symptoms five years after HCT than peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) recipients did. -
Pre-Transplant Emotional Support Contributes to Longer Survival
September 2016Ehrlich KB, et al. Bone Marrow Transplant – Researchers have found that good pre-transplant emotional support predicts longer overall survival at 2 years. -
Higher Post-Relapse Survival with Related or Unrelated HCT than Haploidentical HCT
August 2016Solh M, et al. Bone Marrow Transplant – This single-center study of 237 consecutive patients who relapsed after HCT found that one-year post-relapse survival (PRS) was significantly higher in patients receiving matched related and matched unrelated grafts compared to those receiving haploidentical donor transplants using post-transplant cyclophosphamide. -
Peripheral Blood Stem Cell Donors Recover More Quickly Than Bone Marrow Donors
April 2016Burns LJ, et al. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant – A study of unrelated donor hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) in a phase 3 Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMT CTN) trial has shown that peripheral blood stem cell donors recover more quickly than bone marrow donors. -
Higher Rates of Infection after Marrow Compared to PBSC Transplants
April 2016Young J-A H, et al. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant – A study of unrelated donor hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) recipients in a phase 3 Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMT CTN) trial has shown that bone marrow graft recipients had higher rates of bacterial and pre-engraftment infections than did peripheral blood stem cell (PBSC) recipients. -
Comparable Survival in Clinical Trial Participants vs. Nonparticipants
August 2015Khera N, et al. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant — Do clinical trial participants have better outcomes than comparable patients who are not treated on a trial? A study by the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMT CTN) examined that question by analyzing outcomes of a large-scale, randomized study comparing peripheral blood with bone marrow transplantation from unrelated donors. -
Haploidentical vs. Matched Unrelated HCT for AML
July 2015Ciurea SO, et al. Blood — This study of 2,174 adults with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) compared using haploidentical (n=192) and 8/8 HLA-matched unrelated donor (n=1,982) grafts. -
Level of HLA Match Affects Outcomes in Reduced-Intensity HCT
June 2015Verneris MR, et al. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant — This retrospective, large-scale study examined the effect of HLA match on reduced-intensity, unrelated donor transplantation. -
Simple Procedure Offers Significant Advances in Umbilical Cord Blood HCT
May 2015Popat U, et al. Blood — A simple ex vivo technique to improve the ability of umbilical cord blood cells to find their way to the bone marrow can significantly accelerate neutrophil and platelet engraftment following double cord blood transplantation. -
Multi-Center Validation of the Prognostic Value of the HCT-Specific Comorbidity Index
May 2015ElSawy M, et al. Br J Haematol — This multi-center, retrospective analysis of 2,523 consecutive allogeneic transplants at five U.S. transplant centers has validated the prognostic value of the hematopoietic cell transplantation-specific comorbidity index (HCT-CI) to predict the risk of non-relapse mortality (NRM) and overall survival (OS). -
PET Scans Predict Relapse in Patients with NHL
April 2015Bachanova V, et al. Oral presentation, BMT Tandem Meetings — New research results from a large-scale study have demonstrated that positron emission tomography (PET) scans can be used to predict risk of relapse in adults undergoing allogeneic HCT for non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). -
Younger Donor Age Correlates with Higher CD-8 T Cell Counts, Better HCT Outcomes
April 2015Reshef R, et al. Oral presentation BMT Tandem Meetings — New research presented at the BMT Tandem Meetings has shown that younger donor age correlates with higher CD-8 T cell counts, and that more CD-8 T cells lead to significantly better HCT outcomes. -
Allogeneic HCT for Acute Biphenotypic Leukemias
April 2015Munker R, et al. Oral presentation, BMT Tandem Meetings — New research presented at the BMT Tandem Meetings on transplants in patients with acute biphenotypic leukemias (ABiL) has found that 3-year overall survival (OS) in these patients is 65%, leading researchers to conclude that “allogeneic HCT is a valid treatment option for patients with ABiL and should be explored in patients without significant comorbidities.” -
Haploidentical HCT with Cyclophosphamide for High-Risk Leukemias
April 2015Symons H, et al. Oral presentation, BMT Tandem Meetings — Myeloablative transplants using T-cell-replete haploidentical grafts and post-transplant cyclophosphamide can result in a 2-year overall survival (OS) of 57%, with cumulative incidence of relapse reaching 44% at 3 years according to results of a phase II study presented at the BMT Tandem Meetings. -
Comparable HCT Outcomes for Patients with de novo or Secondary AML in CR1
April 2015Michelis FV, et al. Bone Marrow Transplant — A single-center study of 264 patients with de novo acute myeloid leukemia (AML; n=180) and secondary AML (sAML; n=84) in first complete remission (CR1) undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) has shown that both patient groups have comparable long-term outcomes. -
Related, Unrelated HCT Outcomes Comparable in Pediatric ALL
March 2015Peters C, et al. J Clin Oncol — A large-scale, multi-center study of 411 transplants for children with high-risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) has shown comparable transplant outcomes with sibling and unrelated donors. -
No Impact of Patient Age on Survival in Reduced-Intensity HCT
March 2015Federmann B, et al. Bone Marrow Transplant — Patient age has no significant impact on survival, according to results of a retrospective study of 151 patients aged ≥60 undergoing reduced-intensity allogeneic HCT with related and unrelated donors between 2000 and 2012. -
Review: How I Treat JMML
February 2015Locatelli F, et al. Blood — In this installment of the “How I treat ...” series in Blood, the authors outline the somatic or germline mutations that are the underlying cause of juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) and describe their treatment algorithm for this aggressive hematopoietic disorder of infancy/early childhood. -
Post-HCT Fungal and Viral Infections: Improving Outcomes over Time
February 2015Parody R, et al. Bone Marrow Transplant — This retrospective analysis comparing post-transplant infections in cord blood (n=65) and bone marrow/PBSC transplant recipients (n=369) found that although cord blood transplantation was associated with a higher risk of invasive aspergillosis and cytomegalovirus infections, infection-related mortality was comparable in the two types of transplants. -
Review: How I Treat the Older Patient with AML
January 2015Ossenkopple G, et al. Blood – In this installment of the “How I treat” series in Blood, the authors discuss the highly heterogeneous clinical biology of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) among patients and how those variations are relevant for prognosis and treatment choice. -
Progress Report: Update of BMT CTN State of the Science Symposium
February 2014Ferrara JLM. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant – In this 2014 report, the author updates the status of the 11 hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) clinical trials identified as having the highest scientific priority at the 2007 State of the Science Symposium convened by the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMT CTN). -
Parallel Phase 2 Trials Confirm Utility of Both Haploidentical and Cord Blood HCT
July 2011Brunstein CG, et al. Blood – Two concurrent multi-center phase 2 studies have confirmed the utility of using unrelated double umbilical cord blood (dUCB) or HLA-haploidentical donor bone marrow grafts in reduced-intensity hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT).