Pre-transplantation risk factors to develop sclerotic chronic GvHD after allogeneic HSCT: A multicenter retrospective study from the Société Française de Greffe de Moelle et de Thérapie Cellulaire (SFGM-TC)

Sclerotic chronic GvHD (cGvHD) is one of the most severe complications after allo-hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Risk factors associated with this complication remain not very well defined. With the aim to define a pre-transplantation risk profile, we have conducted a French retrospective analysis in 705 consecutive patients between 2005 and 2010. Analyses to determine pre-transplantation risk factors included as variables: patient and donor age, kind of donor, HLA matching, ABO matching, sex-matching, diagnosis, stem cell source, gender, GvHD prophylaxis and antithymocyte globulin (ATG) in the conditioning regimen. The cumulative incidence of sclerotic cGvHD was 18% (95% CI, 16.6–19.6) 3 years after onset of cGvHD. In univariate analysis, we found a significantly lower number of sclerotic cGvHD form in patients transplanted from cord blood cells ( P =0.0021), in patients with a one mismatched donor ( P =0.041) and in patients who had received ATG in the conditioning regimen ( P =0.002). In multivariate analysis, factors associated with an increased risk of sclerotic cGvHD were young patient age, multiple myeloma and PBSC as the stem cell source. ATG in conditioning regimen and cord blood unit as the stem cell source were associated with a lower risk.