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Introducing NMDP, formerly known as the National Marrow Donor Program and Be The Match. Our name has changed but our mission has not: We save lives through cell therapy. Learn More

Current therapies prevent chronic GVHD equally well

Better options needed to prevent graft-versus-host disease

Age1-65 years old
Number of Participants346
Research GoalImprove Survival
Chronic graft-versus-host disease, or CGVHD, affects about half of people after blood or marrow transplant (BMT). CGVHD can be serious. CGVHD can affect: 
  • digestive system 
  • eyes 
  • genitals 
  • joints and muscles 
  • lungs 
  • mouth 
  • skin and nails 

Standard treatments don’t prevent all cases of CGVHD. And using medicines for a long time may cause side effects. 

A recent clinical trial compared 2 new short-term treatments against 1 standard long-term treatment. The new treatments were not better than the standard, but all 3 treatments had the same proportion of patients who were alive without cancer relapse or significant CGVHD.

The trial included 300 people in the US and Germany who had blood cancer, including either acute leukemia or myelodysplastic syndromes. Everyone got a BMT during 2015-2018 with a matched donor.

People randomly got 1 of these 3 treatments: 
  1. CD34-selected peripheral blood transplant 
  2. A medicine called cyclophosphamide, after bone marrow transplant 
  3. A standard, long-term combination of 2 medicines, tacrolimus and methotrexate, after bone marrow transplant 
 
After 2 years, CGVHD was controlled similarly, and:
  1. The CD34-selected transplant group members did not live as long as the other groups 
  2. The cyclophosphamide group had fewer relapses and lived as long the standard group 
  3. The standard treatment group members were less likely to die from complications. 

Keep in mind

Ask your doctor what is best for you.

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Clinical Trial ID: BMT CTN 1301, ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02345850