Long-Term Follow-Up of Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation for Solid Cancer

We wanted to determine whether allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) may result in long-term survival in patients with solid cancer. HSCT was performed in 61 patients with solid cancer: metastatic renal carcinoma (n = 22), cholangiocarcinoma (n = 17), colon carcinoma (n = 15), prostate cancer (n = 3), pancreatic adenocarcinoma (n = 3), or breast cancer (n = 1). Liver transplantation was performed for tumor debulking in 18 patients. Median age was 56 years (range, 28 to 77). Donors were either HLA-identical siblings (n = 29) or unrelated (n = 32). Conditioning was nonmyeloablative (n = 23), reduced (n = 36), or myeloablative (n = 2). Graft failure occurred in 13 patients (21%). The cumulative incidence of acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) of grades II to IV was 47%, and that of chronic GVHD was 32%. Treatment-related mortality was 21%. At 5 years cancer-related mortality was 63%. Currently, 6 patients are alive, 2 with renal cell carcinoma, 1 with cholangiocarcinoma, and 3 with pancreatic carcinoma. Eight-year survival was 12%. Risk factors for mortality were nonmyeloablative conditioning (HR, 2.95; P < .001), absence of chronic GVHD (HR, 3.57; P < .001), acute GVHD of grades II to IV (HR, 2.90; P = .002), and HLA-identical transplant (HR, 5.00; P = .03). With none of these risk factors, survival at 6 years was 50% (n = 6). Long-term survival can be achieved in some patients with solid cancer after HSCT.