Umbilical Cord Blood Transplantation in Hematologic Diseases in Patients Over 15 Years Old: Long-term Experience at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

American Society for Transplantation and Cellular Therapy International Affairs Committee: Report of the 4th Workshop on Quality as a Development Tool for Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation Programs at the 2023 Tandem BMT Meetings

We provide a summary of the 4th ASTCT International Workshop with presentations from experts from Chile ("Setting Up a Transplantation Program in Chile," by Dr Pablo Ramirez), Saudi Arabia ("Developing Quality Programs in North Africa," by Dr Amal Alseraihy), and Japan ("The Japanese Transplant Registry Unified Management Program [TRUMP]: Current Issues and the Future," by Dr Yoshiko Atsuta). Workshop objectives included: (1) recognizing the benefits and importance for low- and middle-income countries of developing quality criteria and programs beyond existing accreditation programs, such as the Foundation for the Accreditation of Cellular Therapy (FACT) and the Joint Accreditation Committee ISCT-Europe and EBMT (JACIE); (2) describing the relationships among monitoring outcomes, including mortality, improvement of care, data reporting, and associated costs; and (3) reviewing how quality structures have been implemented and are improving care worldwide.

Cord Blood Banking and Transplantation in a National Program: Thirteen Years of Experience

BACKGROUND

The umbilical cord blood bank at the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS-CBB) was established in January 2005. This lead to the development of the UCB transplantation program. Herein, we describe the experience generated during these 13 years.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS

Donor selection, as well as UCB collection, processing, and banking were performed under good manufacturing practices and standard operating procedures. UCB units were thawed, processed, and released for transplantation based on HLA and nucleated cell content.

RESULTS

From January 2005-December 2017, 1,298 UCB units were banked; 164 of them were released for transplantation, and 118 UCB transplants were performed. Ninety-four transplants were performed in pediatric patients and 24 in adults. Sixty percent of them corresponded to patients with leukemia, 19% were patients with marrow failure, and the rest had immunodeficiency, hemoglobinopathy, metabolic disorders, or solid tumors. Engraftment was observed in 67 patients (57% of transplanted patients) and 64% of them were still alive when writing this article. In contrast, only 13 of the 51 (25%) non-engrafting patients were alive. At the time of writing this article, the disease-free survival rate was 37%, and the overall survival rate was 47%, with survival periods of 161-3,721 days.

CONCLUSION

The IMSS UCB banking and transplantation program has had a significant impact for many IMSS patients. The hematopoietic transplantation program at our institution has benefited from the use of UCB as a source of transplantable cells.

Single- Versus Double-Unit Umbilical Cord Blood Transplantation for Hematologic Diseases: A Systematic Review

Controversial results exist regarding the clinical benefits of single- vs double-unit umbilical cord blood transplantation (UCBT) in patients with hematologic diseases. A systematic review was conducted to evaluate this issue. The PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases were searched up to May 2018. A total of 25 studies including 6571 recipients were identified. Although double-unit UCB contained higher doses of total nucleated cells and CD34⁺ cells, it offered no advantages over single-unit UCB in terms of hematologic recovery, including the rate and speed of neutrophil and platelet engraftment. Double-unit UCBT was associated with higher incidences of grades II-IV acute and extensive chronic graft-vs-host disease, accompanied by a lower relapse incidence, which may be attributed to a graft-vs-graft effect induced by double-unit UCB. However, transplant-related mortality, disease-free survival, and overall survival were comparable between single- and double-unit UCBT. Although double-unit UCBT confers no clinical advantages over single-unit UCBT, certain patients, such as those at high risk of relapse, might benefit from double-unit UCBT, a possibility that needs to be clarified in future randomized trials.

Clinical outcomes of unrelated cord blood transplantation in children with malignant and non-malignant diseases: Multicenter experience in China

This multicenter retrospective study included 184 children with malignant and non-malignant diseases who underwent UCBT between January 1998 and August 2012. The malignant disease group included 101 children with ALL, AML, CML, JMML, and MDS, and the non-malignant disease group included 83 children with PID, β-thalassemia, IMD BMF, and HLH. The median duration to neutrophil and platelet engraftment was 16 and 35 days in the malignant disease group vs 15 and 38 days in the non-malignant disease group. The cumulative incidence of grade II-IV aGVHD and cGVHD was 25.6% and 13.5% in the malignant disease group vs 19.7% and 11.1% in the non-malignant disease group, respectively. The median duration and cumulative incidence of neutrophil and platelet engraftment, and the cumulative incidence of grade II-IV aGVHD and cGVHD were similar between the two groups. Of the 184 pediatric patients, 114 patients survived during a median follow-up period of 14 months (range 4-138). The 5-year OS and DFS were not statistically different between the two groups (56.3% and 46.1% in malignant disease group vs 68.5% and 52.8% in non-malignant disease group). The above results indicate that UCB is a viable source for HSCT for children with malignant or non-malignant diseases, especially in urgent cases.

Acute leukemia

Although great progress has been made in the understanding and treatment of acute leukemia, this disease has not been conquered. For emergency providers (EPs), the presentation of these patients to an emergency department presents a host of challenges. A patient may present with a new diagnosis of leukemia or with complications of the disease process or associated chemotherapy. It is incumbent on EPs to be familiar with the manifestations of leukemia in its various stages and maintain some suspicion for this diagnosis, given the nebulous and insidious manner in which leukemia can present.