Systemic Sclerosis as an Indication for Autologous Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation: Position Statement from the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation.

Abstract

Systemic sclerosis is a progressive inflammatory disease that is frequently fatal and has limited treatment options. High-dose chemotherapy with autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (AHCT) has been evaluated as treatment for this disease in observational studies, multicenter randomized controlled clinical trials, and meta-analyses. On behalf of the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (ASBMT), a panel of experts in transplantation and rheumatology was convened to review available evidence and make a recommendation on AHCT as an indication for systemic sclerosis. Three randomized trials have compared the efficacy of AHCT with cyclophosphamide only, and all demonstrated benefit for the AHCT arm for their primary endpoint (improvement in the American Scleroderma Stem Cell versus Immune Suppression Trial, event-free survival in Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation International Scleroderma trial, and change in global rank composite score in Scleroderma: Cyclophosphamide or Transplantation trial). AHCT recipients also had better overall survival and a lower rate of disease progression. These findings have been confirmed in subsequent meta-analyses. Based on this high-quality evidence, the ASBMT recommends systemic sclerosis should be considered as a "standard of care" indication for AHCT. Close collaboration between rheumatologists and transplant clinicians is critical for optimizing patient selection and patient outcomes. Transplant centers in the United States are strongly encouraged to report patient and outcomes data to the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research on their patients receiving AHCT for this indication.

Department

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Citation

Published Version (Please cite this version)

10.1016/j.bbmt.2018.06.025

Publication Info

Sullivan, Keith M, Navneet S Majhail, Christopher Bredeson, Paul A Carpenter, Soumya Chatterjee, Leslie J Crofford, George E Georges, Richard A Nash, et al. (2018). Systemic Sclerosis as an Indication for Autologous Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation: Position Statement from the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation. Biology of blood and marrow transplantation : journal of the American Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation. 10.1016/j.bbmt.2018.06.025 Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/10161/17670.

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Scholars@Duke

Sullivan

Keith Michael Sullivan

James B. Wyngaarden Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Medicine

Research areas

  • Late effects of cancer treatment and stem cell transplantation 
  • Chronic graft-versus-host disease 
  • Transplantation for sickle cell and autoimmune diseases 
  • Knowledge engineering
Overview
Early on, Dr. Sullivan and the team at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center developed a systematic investigative approach for the diagnosis and treatment of chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), the major cause of late morbidity and non-relapse mortality following allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT). As a result of this work, it became clear that blood and marrow transplant recipients require systematic long-term follow-up to evaluate and treat late complications of high-dose chemoradiotherapy and SCT.

The program grew into a large multidisciplinary team, resulting in improvement in patient outcome and quality of life. Through the late events project, he also contributed to outcomes research, computer decision support systems, and knowledge engineering for follow-up care. With quality of life as a focus, research pursued the application of SCT to diseases with high morbidity but little immediate mortality. For young patients with advanced, symptomatic sickle cell disease, myeloablative conditioning and SCT from an HLA-identical sibling has led to an 86% long-term survival free of sickle cell disease. For individuals with autoimmune diseases such as multiple sclerosis, scleroderma, and systemic lupus erythematosus, current therapy is often incomplete and significant morbidity from the disease or its treatment is observed.

Recent preclinical and clinical data suggest that high-dose immunosupression and SCT can halt the progression and, in some settings, reverse the course of autoimmune diseases. Since his arrival at Duke University, over 30 centers nationwide are participating in Duke-led phase II and III trials to test the toxicity, efficacy, and quality of life following autologous and allogeneic stem cell transplantation for autoimmune diseases.

These trials will also serve as platforms to study the immune repertoire and mechanistic pathways before and after SCT to gain greater insight into the basic mechanisms of autoimmunity.

A national repository of tissue and cell specimens is also part of these NIH-supported trials to further promote scientific study from these unique patients.

Sarantopoulos

Stefanie Sarantopoulos

Chief of Hematologic Malignancies and Cellular Therapy

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