Rituximab as salvage therapy for refractory chronic GVHD.

摘要

Chronic GVHD (cGVHD) remains a matter of concern after allo-SCT. Moreover, the incidence of cGVHD is likely to increase as a result of the increasing use of allo-SCT (especially with reduced-intensity conditioning regimens), peripheral blood stem cells as stem cell source and frequent donor lymphocyte infusions, all of which are known to increase the risk of cGVHD. Standard primary treatment of cGVHD remains a combination of cortico steroids (CS) and calcineurin inhibitors. There is no standard therapy for those who fail to respond to CS, and CS-resistant GVHD is associated with high morbidity. In addition, elderly patients are more exposed to the side effects of long-term CS. Thus, therapeutic options are usually limited for thosepatients. Rituximab (RTX) has been reported recently to be effective in cGVHD. The aim of this letter was to analyze the outcome of 15 patients treated with RTX as salvagetherapy for refractory cGVHD in a single center.