A recent abstract, published in the Journal of the Canadian Association of Gastroenterology from McMaster University in Ontario, Canada, explored prognostic factors which could predict gastrointestinal (GI)/liver specific chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in patients who received allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). The authors found that male gender, a previous episode of acute GVHD, and stem cell dose were all significantly associated with GI/liver cGVHD.

As a curative therapy for certain hematological malignancies, allo-HSCT remains critical. Unfortunately, the main side effect of allo-HSCT is GVHD, which can be life-threatening. Physicians are currently unable to provide accurate risks of accurate risks of cGVHD in specific organs. Therefore, the authors sought to determine prognostic factors that could predict gastrointestinal (GI)/liver specific cGVHD.

A retrospective case-control study from a single clinic between 2012–2017 was performed. In this study, 55 patients with GI/liver cGVHD and 66 control patients were included. Data collected included age, gender, chemotherapeutics, donor status, blood type, stem cell dose, complete blood count and differential, and electrolyte data. History of acute GVHD (adjusted OR [aOR]=2.7; 95% CI=1.0–1.3; p=0.049), male gender (aOR=2.7; 95% CI=1.2–6.2; p=0.02) and stem cell dose (aOR=1.2; 95% CI=1.0–1.3; p=0.037) were significantly associated with GI/liver cGVHD.

Reference

Alajmi A, Al Fedaghi A, Olaiya O. A61 PRE-ALLOGENIC STEM CELL TRANSPLANT CLINICAL FACTORS AND THEIR ASSOCIATION WITH CHRONIC GRAFT VERSUS HOST DISEASE - A RISK FACTOR ANALYSIS FOR CHRONIC GVHD PREDICTION. J Can Assoc Gastroenterol. 2022;5(Suppl 1):70-71. Published 2022 Feb 21. https://doi.org/10.1093/jcag/gwab049.060

Tags: GVHD, stem cell transplantation, HCT, transplantation, hematopoietic, Stem Cell, graft-versus-host disease, Allo-HSCT, gastrointestinal, Canada