Discoveries
Therapy found effective against chronic graft-versus-host
Corey Cutler, MD, MPH, (standing in clinic) and Edwin Alyea, MD, are working to reduce side effects in transplant survivors.
A novel way of treating graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) — a potentially severe complication of bone marrow and stem cell transplants — has gained new scientific support in work by Dana-Farber researchers.
In a study published earlier this year, investigators led by Corey Cutler, MD, MPH, and Edwin Alyea, MD, found that the drug rituximab reduced the severity of chronic GVHD in 70 percent of patients who completed at least one course of treatment, including two who experienced complete remissions of their symptoms. The benefits, which continued up to a year after therapy, occurred mainly in patients whose skin and musculoskeletal systems were affected by chronic GVHD.
"Our findings validate earlier, preliminary work about the benefits of rituximab for this group of patients," says Cutler. "The drug offers a new line of therapy for individuals for whom, until now, few good options have existed."
Chronic graft-versus-host disease is the most common cause of illness and death among long-term survivors of donor stem-cell transplants for certain forms of cancer and blood diseases. It occurs when immune system cells in donor tissue attack recipients’ own tissue, producing an array of problems. The use of rituximab for the disease grew out of recent discoveries about the human immune system and the interactions between donor and recipient cells.
