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Prophylactic versus Preemptive modified donor lymphocyte infusion for high-risk acute leukemia after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: a multicenter retrospective study

Abstract

Donor lymphocyte infusion (DLI) after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) has been widely used in preventing post-transplant relapse. We conducted this study to compare the superiority of prophylactic modified DLI (pro-DLI) and preemptive modified DLI (pre-DLI) in patients with high-risk relapse features acute leukemia. Pro-DLI was performed in 95 patients, whereas the pre-DLI cohort included 176 patients. In the pre-DLI cohort, 42 patients relapsed without chance for pre-DLI while 95 patients remained CR without detectable minimal residual disease (MRD). Thirty-nine patients in the pre-DLI cohort became minimal MRD positive/mixed chimerism and received pre-DLI. Pro-DLI cohort had higher 3-year progression-free-survival (PFS) (63.4%vs.53.0%, P = 0.026) and overall survival (OS) (65.2% vs. 57.0%, P = 0.14) compared to the pre-DLI cohort. The 3-year cumulative incidence of relapse (CIR) was 25.3% in the pro-DLI cohort which was significantly lower than 36.7% in the pre-DLI cohort (P = 0.02). The cumulative incidence of grade III-IV aGVHD, cGVHD and non-relapse mortality were comparable between cohorts. Multivariable analysis demonstrated strong protective effect of pro-DLI on OS (hazard ratio (HR) = 0.63, P = 0.04), PFS (HR = 0.54, P = 0.005) and CIR (HR = 0.50, P = 0.005). In high-risk patients with acute leukemia, early scheduled pro-DLI rather than pre-DLI after detectable MRD would reduce post-transplant relapse and improve long-term survival.

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Fig. 1: Flow diagram showing patient selection.
Fig. 2: Cumulative incidence of GVHD.
Fig. 3: Cumulative incidence of relapse, NRM, and probability of surivial.

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All data supporting this article are provided in the manuscript (Tables 1 and 2; Figs. 1,2 and 3).

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from The National Natural Science Foundation of China [grant numbers 81970158, 82170205, 82000180] and Pediatric Leukemia Diagnostic and Therapeutic Technology Research Center of Zhejiang Province [JBZX-201904].

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L.Y. and Y.L. designed the research; L.Y., X.Y., T.Y., Y.L., L.L., J.S., C.Y., and H.X. enrolled and treated patients. L.Y., X.Y., and T.Y. analyzed the data and wrote the manuscript; and all authors provided patient data and gave final approval for the manuscript. The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Correspondence to He Huang or Yi Luo.

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Yang, L., Lai, X., Yang, T. et al. Prophylactic versus Preemptive modified donor lymphocyte infusion for high-risk acute leukemia after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: a multicenter retrospective study. Bone Marrow Transplant 59, 85–92 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41409-023-02137-7

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