Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation as curative therapy for non-transformed follicular lymphomas

Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) offers the chance of cure for patients with non-transformed follicular lymphoma (FL), but is associated with the risk of non-relapse mortality (NRM). The aim of this study was to identify subgroups of FL patients who benefit from HCT. The European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) Minimum-Essential-A Data of 146 consecutive patients who received HCT for FL between 1998 and 2008 were extracted from the database of the German Registry 'DRST'. Diagnosis of FL was verified by contact with the reference pathologists. Estimated 1-, 2- and 5-year overall survivals (OS) were 67%, 60% and 53%, respectively. Day 100 NRM was 15%. Thirteen out of 33 patients (40%) with treatment-refractory disease (RD) at the time of transplantation survived long term. Univariate statistical analysis suggested limited chronic GvHD, donor age ⩽42 years and TBI-based conditioning in treatment refractory patients to correlate with favorable OS. Independent prognostic factors for OS were treatment-sensitive disease and limited chronic GvHD for the whole cohort, and additionally TBI-based conditioning for the treatment refractory subgroup. In contrast, patient age ⩾55 years had no impact on outcome. Thus, HCT for FL is associated with acceptable NRM, and offers a substantial chance of cure for patients with RD or advanced age. Donors ⩽42 years should be preferred if available.