Dynamic International Prognostic Scoring System scores, pre-transplant therapy and chronic graft-versus-host disease determine outcome after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for myelofibrosis

Background Myelofibrosis is a myeloproliferative stem cell disorder curable exclusively by allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and is associated with substantial mortality and mor-bidity. The aim of this study was to assess disease-specific and transplant-related risk factors that influence post-transplant outcome in patients with myelofibrosis. Design and Methods We retrospectively assessed 76 consecutive patients with primary (n=47) or secondary (n=29) myelofibrosis who underwent bone marrow (n=6) or peripheral blood stem cell (n=70) trans-plantation from sibling (n=30) or unrelated (n=46) donors between January 1994 and December 2010. The median follow-up of surviving patients was 55 +/- 7.5 months. Results Primary graft failure occurred in 5% and the non-relapse mortality rate at 1 year was 28%. The relapse-free survival rate was 50% with a relapse rate of 19% at 5 years. The use of pharmaco-logical pre-treatment and the post-transplant occurrence of chronic graft-versus-host disease were significant independent unfavourable risk factors for post-transplant survival in multivariate analysis. Using the Dynamic International Prognostic Scoring System for risk stratification, low-risk patients had significantly better overall survival (P=0.014, hazard ratio 1.4) and relapse-free survival (P=0.02, hazard ratio 1.3) compared to the other risk groups of patients. The addi-tional inclusion of thrombocytopenia, abnormal karyotype and transfusion need (Dynamic International Prognostic Scoring System Plus) resulted in a predicted 5-year overall survival of 100%, 51%, 54% and 30% for low, intermediate-1, intermediate-2 and high-risk groups, respectively. The relapse incidence was significantly higher in the absence of chronic graft-versus-host disease (P=0.006), and pharmacological pre-treatment (n=43) was associated with reduced relapse-free survival (P=0.001). Conclusions The data corroborate a strong correlation between alloreactivity and long-term post-transplant disease control and confirm an inverse relationship between disease stage, pharmacotherapy and outcome after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for myelofibrosis. The Dynamic International Prognostic Scoring System was demonstrated to be useful for risk stratification of patients with myelofibrosis who are to undergo hematopoietic stem cell transplan-tation.