A real-life overview of a hematopoietic cell transplant program throughout a four-year period, including prospective registry, exclusion causes and final donor selection

Traceability of patients who are candidates for Hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) is crucial to ensure HCT program quality. Continuous knowledge of both a detailed registry from a HCT program and final exclusion causes can contribute to promoting a real-life vision and optimizing patient and donor selection. We analyzed epidemiological data reported in a 4 year-monocentric prospective registry, which included all patients presented as candidates for autologous (Auto) and/or allogeneic (Allo) HCT. A total of 543 patients were considered for HCT: 252 (42.4%) for Allo and 291 (57.6%) for Auto. A total of 98 (38.9%) patients were excluded from AlloHCT due to basal disease progression more commonly (18.2%). Seventy-six (30.2%) patients had an HLA identical sibling, whereas 147 (58.3%) patients had only Haplo. UD research was performed in 106 (42%) cases, significantly more often in myeloid than lymphoid malignancies (57% vs 28.7%, p < 0.001) but 61.3% were finally canceled, due to donor or disease causes in 72.4%. With respect to Auto candidates, a total of 60 (20.6%) patients were finally excluded; progression was the most common cause (12%). Currently, Haplo is the most frequent donor type. The high cancellation rate of UD research should be revised to optimize further donor algorithms.

Pulmonary toxicity studies of bleomycin and talisomycin

The comparative pulmonary toxicity induced by bleomycin and talisomycin (former trivial name: tallysomycin A) was evaluated by measuring lung hydroxyproline content. Based on published subacute toxicity data, in which talisomycin was found to be four times as toxic as bleomycin, the following doses of each drug were given sc to BDF1 male mice twice weekly for 4 weeks: 2.5, 5, and 10 mg/kg of bleomycin and 0.625, 1.25, 2.5, and 3.75 mg/kg of talisomycin. Equivalent dose-related effects in body weight were produced by bleomycin and talisomycin at a respective dose ratio of 4:1. Similarly, equivalent dose-dependent increases in lung hydroxyproline content, an index of collagen, were produced by bleomycin and talisomycin. Neither drug caused deaths at the doses used.