Pre-existing autoimmune disease in patients with long-term survival after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation

We reviewed the experience with allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and affiliated Seattle hospitals for patients with preexisting autoimmune diseases. The review was limited to patients who received transplants between 1969 and 1989 from a related donor and who had at least 3 years of relapse-free survival. Of 901 evaluable patients, 11 were identified with a preexisting autoimmune disease and 2 with diseases that were possibly autoimmune in nature. Pretransplant diseases identified in this review included rheumatoid arthritis (n = 1), discoid or systemic lupus (n = 2), insulin dependent Type 1 diabetes (n = 3), hyperthyroidism (n = 4), dermatitis herpetiformis (n = 1), vasculitis (n = 1), and Crohn's disease (n = 1). All 13 patients survive with a median followup of 14 (range, 7-20) years after transplantation from an HLA identical sibling (n = 10), parent (n = 1) or identical twin (n = 2). Pre and post-transplant histories are presented. Variables to be considered in the assessment of any beneficial effect of BMT are discussed, including consideration of different patterns of activity that describe the natural history of various autoimmune diseases. Although autoimmune disease did not recur after allogeneic BMT in these 13 patients, disease and post-transplant variables may confound the interpretation of results from retrospective analysis.