Excellent outcome of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation for Fanconi anemia using fludarabine-based reduced-intensity conditioning regimen

Fanconi anemia (FA) is a disorder characterized by developmental anomalies, bone marrow failure and a predisposition to malignancy. It has recently been shown that hematopoietic stem cell transplantation using fludarabine (FLU)-based reduced-intensity conditioning is an efficient and quite safe therapeutic modality. We retrospectively analyzed the outcome of bone marrow transplantation (BMT) in eight patients with FA performed in two institutes between 2001 and 2011. There were seven females and one male with a median age at diagnosis = 4.5 years (range 2–12 years). The constitutional characteristics associated with FA, such as developmental anomalies, short stature and skin pigmentation, were absent in three of the patients. One patient showed myelodysplastic features at the time of BMT. All patients received BMT using FLU, cyclophosphamide (CY) and rabbit anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) either from a related donor (n = 4) or an unrelated donor (n = 4). Acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) of grade I developed in one patient, while chronic GVHD was not observed in any patient. All patients are alive and achieved hematopoietic recovery at a median follow-up of 72 months (range 4–117 months). BMT using FLU/low-dose CY/ATG -based regimens regardless to the donor is a beneficial therapeutic approach for FA patients.