Late Acute Graft-versus-Host Disease after Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

Abstract

<p class="first" id="P1">There is little data regarding the incidence, clinical manifestations, risk factors and outcomes of late acute GVHD (aGVHD). We evaluated patients with late aGVHD after allogeneic HCT between 2007 and 2012 and compared their outcomes to patients with early onset aGVHD. Of the 511 allogeneic HCT recipients, 75 developed late aGVHD (cumulative incidence: 14.7% (95% CI: 11.6-17.8) versus 248 with early onset aGVHD (cumulative incidence: 49% (95% CI: 45-53). Amongst those with late aGVHD, 52% had persistent, 39% recurrent and 9% de-novo late aGVHD. Advanced (grade III-IV) early onset aGVHD was associated with a higher risk of developing late aGVHD (HR 1.9, 95% CI: 1.2 −3.1, p= 0.01). 48% (95% CI: 36-60%) of late aGVHD versus only 31% (95% CI: 26-37%) of early onset aGVHD progressed to chronic GVHD by 2 years. Higher proportion of persistent (53%) as compared to recurrent (39%) and de-novo (46%) late aGVHD progressed to cGVHD at 2 years. The overall survival was 59% (95% CI: 49-72) in late aGVHD and 50% (95% CI: 44-57%) in early onset aGVHD. Persistent late aGVHD had worse OS and NRM (45% and 39%) as compared to recurrent (74% and 18%) and de-novo (83% and 0%) late aGVHD. Compared to HLA-identical sibling HCT, unrelated donor transplants were associated with a higher risk of mortality in patients developing late aGVHD (HR 6.1, 95% CI: 2.3-16.2, p&lt;0.01). In a landmark analysis (evaluating 100 day survivors among early onset aGVHD), no difference was seen in late mortality (after 100 days) between early onset and late aGVHD (HR 0.96, 95% CI: 0.59-1.55, p= 0.85), however the risk of cGVHD was nearly doubled (HR 1.81, 95% CI: 1.16-2.82, p=0.01) in patients with late aGVHD. Conclusions: Late aGVHD is a relatively common complication after allogeneic HCT. Poorer outcomes in those with persistent late aGVHD imply need for more effective therapy in this group to improve transplant outcomes. A higher risk of subsequent chronic GVHD needs further evaluation and close monitoring. </p>