Long-term event-free survival, chimerism and fertility outcomes in 234 patients with sickle-cell anemia younger than 30 years after myeloablative conditioning and matched-sibling transplantation in France

Allogeneic stem cell transplantation remains the only curative treatment for sickle-cell anemia, but the place of myeloablative conditioning remains to be defined. The aim of the present study was to analyze long-term outcomes, including chimerism, sickle-cell anemia-related events and biological data (hemoglobin, reticulocytes, HbS%), and fertility, in a French series of 234 SCA-patients younger than 30 years who received (1988-2012) a matched-sibling-donor stem cell transplantation following standardized myeloablative conditioning (Busulfan, Cyclophosphamide and rabbit anti-thymocyte globulin). Since the first report of the series (1988-2004), 151 new consecutive patients with sickle-cell anemia were similarly transplanted. Considering death, non-engraftment or rejection (donor cells<5%) as events, the 5-year event-free survival was 97.9% (95% confidence interval:95.5-100%), confirming at least 95% chance of cure since year 2000. In the overall cohort (n=234, median follow-up of 7.9 years), event-free survival was not associated with age, but chronic-graft-vs-host disease was independently associated with recipien9s age>15 (hazard ratio=4.37,P=0.002) and lower (5-15 vs 20 mg/kg) anti-thymocyte globulin dose (hazard ratio=4.55,P=0.001). At one year, 44% of patients had mixed chimerism (5-95% donor cells), but those prepared with anti-thymocyte globulin had no graft rejection. No events related to sickle cell anemia occurred in patients with mixed chimerism, even those with 15-20% donor cells, but hemolytic anemia stigmata were observed with donor cells