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Indian Journal of Hematology and Blood Transfusion

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01-12-2017 | Original Article

Protective Effect of Rituximab in Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease Occurrence in Allogeneic Transplant patients with Epstein Barr Virus Viremia

Authors: Shi-Meng Ji, Xie-Bing Bao, Jun Lu, Xiao Ma, Tao Tao, Ai-Ning Sun, De-Pei Wu, Sheng-Li Xue

Published in: Indian Journal of Hematology and Blood Transfusion | Issue 4/2017

Abstract

B cells are involved in chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) pathogenesis, and Rituximab may have a therapeutic effect on cGVHD in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) patients. Herein, we retrospectively evaluated the prophylactic effect of Rituximab on cGVHD in a group of Chinese allo-HSCT patients. A total of 102 patients, who suffered Epstein Barr virus (EBV) viremia within 100 days after allo-HSCT, were included in this study. Fifty patients received Rituximab (375 mg/m² weekly) for EBV viremia, while fifty-two patients did not receive Rituximab. A competing risk model was adopted to compare cumulative incidence of cGVHD, cumulative incidence of relapse (CIR) and transplantation-related mortality (TRM) between two groups. Cumulative incidence of cGVHD in the Rituximab group was lower than in controls (P = 0.0579). Multivariate analyses confirmed that Rituximab was an independent factor for the reduction of cumulative cGVHD incidence (P = 0.0069). No significant difference was observed in CIR (P = 0.39) or TRM (P = 0.48) between two groups and 2-year OS and DFS were comparable (OS, P = 0.667; DFS, P = 0.571). Administration of Rituximab in the early post-transplantation phase may protect against cGVHD in allo-HSCT patients without increasing CIR or TRM.

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Title: Protective Effect of Rituximab in Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease Occurrence in Allogeneic Transplant patients with Epstein Barr Virus Viremia
Authors: Shi-Meng Ji
Xie-Bing Bao
Jun Lu
Xiao Ma
Tao Tao
Ai-Ning Sun
De-Pei Wu
Sheng-Li Xue
Publication date: 01-12-2017
Publisher: Springer India
Published in: Indian Journal of Hematology and Blood Transfusion / Issue 4/2017
Print ISSN: 0971-4502
Electronic ISSN: 0974-0449
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12288-017-0783-2

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