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Recent Research
Stay up-to-date on the advancing field of HCT with short summaries and links to the most relevant published research.
Younger matched unrelated donors may reduce relapse risk after allogeneic HCT compared to using older matched sibling donors
February 2023
Abid MB, et al. – Two research studies presented at the 2023 Tandem Meetings of the ASTCT and the CIBMTR compared the outcomes of adult allogeneic HCT recipients with AML and B-cell ALL based on donor type. Results showed recipients with older matched sibling donors had a significantly higher 5-year disease relapse than those with younger matched unrelated donors.
Race and ethnicity matching may not impact umbilical cord blood transplant patient outcomes
December 2022
Ballen K, et al. – According to research presented at the 64th American Hematology Association (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition, race and ethnicity matching may have minimal to no impact on umbilical cord hematopoietic cell transplant (UCB HCT) outcomes. Researchers compared outcomes of non-Hispanic White, non-Hispanic Black, Hispanic/Latinx, and Asian recipients of UCB HCT finding improved overall survival over time across all racial and ethnic groups.
Linkage across research databases may provide a more complete understanding of HCT patient outcomes
December 2022
Valcarcel B, et al. – Researchers examined the concordance of patient vital status and cause-specific mortality after first hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) between the CIBMTR database and the California Cancer Registry. Presented at the 64th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition, results showed the consistency of vital status between the data sets was high; however, differences between reported data may be due to the length of follow-up and incomplete patient information.
Socioeconomic status but not race and ethnicity is likely associated with chronic GVHD outcomes after allogeneic HCT
December 2022
Nosha F, et al. – Researchers found that low socioeconomic status, but not race and ethnicity, was associated with worse outcomes in patients with chronic graft-versus-host disease after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation according to research presented at the 64th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition.
Stefanski HE, et al. – Research presented at the 64th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition suggests peripheral blood stem cell donors receiving filgrastim are not at an increased risk of malignancy, autoimmune or thrombotic events compared to bone marrow donors who didn’t receive filgrastim.
Novel three-drug combination improves GVHD-free and relapse-free survival and relapse after allogeneic transplant
December 2022
Holtan SG, et al. – Research presented at the 64th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition showed patients with blood cancers who underwent allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant and received a novel combination of post-transplant cyclophosphamide, tacrolimus, and mycophenolate mofetil (PTCy/Tac/MMF) compared to standard graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prevention demonstrated significantly improved GVHD-free and relapse-free survival.
Najla El, J et al. – Research suggests no significant difference in patient-reported quality of life outcomes between patients receiving a related haploidentical donor or unrelated double umbilical cord blood donor hematopoietic cell transplant with reduced-intensity conditioning, according to data presented at the 64th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition.
Mismatched donor sources may fill an unmet need for patients without fully matched family or unrelated donors
December 2022
Fingerson S, et al. – Research showed most patients who received haploidentical related donor hematopoietic cell transplantation were unlikely to have a fully matched (8/8) unrelated donor match but likely to have a single-mismatched (7/8) donor on the national registry. This data was presented at the 64th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting and Exposition.
Chowdhury AS, et al. – Research presented at the 2022 Tandem Meetings of the ASTCT and CIBMTR shows that expanding donor registry models to include mismatched unrelated donors (MMUDs) down to a 5/8 HLA match expands access to nearly 100% of patients in need of HCT. Based on alternative graft sources and advances in graft-versus-host disease prophylaxis following allogeneic HCT, MMUD has the potential to expand HCT access, particularly among racially and ethnically diverse patients.
Horowitz MM, et al. – Research presented at the 2022 Tandem Meetings of the ASTCT and CIBMTR shows that racially and ethnically diverse patients considering hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) are underrepresented in clinical trials conducted by the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMT CTN). Data suggest major barriers not only for enrollment in clinical trials, but for ensuring underrepresented groups are included in the overall pipeline for HCT consideration.
Fingerson S, et al. – Presented at the 2022 Tandem Meetings of the ASTCT and CIBMTR, researchers evaluated a new Search Summary Score tool to provide rapid assessment of donor search productivity, showcasing its ability to streamline the search process for HCT. This tool allows clinical teams to focus their search strategies on the most likely available donor sources, particularly for racially and ethnically diverse patients and others less likely to have an HLA fully matched donor.
Stefanski H, et al. – A report presented at the 2022 Tandem Meetings of the ASTCT and CIBMTR from the NMDP/Be The Match shows that despite the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, HCT products can be reliably sourced and preserved without negative impacts to donors or patients. Cryopreserved products and products from COVID-19 positive donors appear to pose no overt risk.
Riches ML, et al. – Early data in an ongoing study presented at the 2022 Tandem Meetings of the ASTCT and CIBMTR show COVID-19 vaccination is less effective in those who have undergone cellular transplants and therapies in the last year, with more data needed to determine the ideal timing and number of boosters needed for this population. Vaccination continues to be important following transplant due to higher risk of COVID-19 complications in these vulnerable patients.
HCT provides a significant survival benefit for patients with MDS aged 50 to 75, with no negative impacts on quality of life
December 2021
Nakamura R, et al. and Martens M, et al. – Outcomes of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT) among older patients with advanced myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) are similar to younger patients and result in no worse quality of life (QOL). Researchers shared these findings at the 62nd and 63rd American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition.
Zhang T, et al. – Two research studies presented at the 63rd American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition called attention to the National Marrow Donor Program®/Be The Match® precision medicine initiative by presenting novel prognostic signatures in allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) based on whole genome sequencing and examining the impact of genomic subgroups on survival.
Cryopreservation of allogeneic HCT grafts does not adversely impact early post-HCT outcomes
December 2021
Devine S, et al. – Planned cryopreservation of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) grafts during the COVID-19 pandemic did not adversely impact early post-HCT outcomes according to research presented at the 63rd American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition.
Abatacept is a promising tool to expand access to HCT, significantly improves survival in 7-8 MMUD HCT
December 2021
Kean LS, et al. – Patients treated with abatacept in combination with the current standard of care for acute graft-versus-host disease prophylaxis after mismatched unrelated donor (7/8 MMUD) allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HCT) had significantly better survival outcomes according to research presented at the 63rd American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition.
MUD outcomes are superior to haploidentical HCT for lymphoma in an apples-to-apples comparison
December 2021
Mussetti A, et al. – More apples-to-apples research evidence that matched unrelated donor (MUD) hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) results in superior patient outcomes than haploidentical related donor HCT when available was presented at the 63rd American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition.
Khera N, et al. – Research presented at the 63rd American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting and Exposition shows that rates of autologous and allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplants (HCT) have increased more rapidly among African American, Hispanic, and other underserved populations than among non-Hispanic whites from 2009 to 2018. However, a challenge still exists to close the gaps in overall survival for African American and other pediatric patients.