Therapeutic effects of porcine versus rabbit antithymocyte globulins for treatment of severe aplastic anemia

To compare the efficacy of porcine and rabbit antithymocyte globulins (ATG) in the treatment of severe aplastic anemia (SAA).We reviewed the clinical data of 43 SAA patients receiving porcine ALG treatment and 32 patients receiving rabbit ATG treatment between 2004 and 2013 in our hospital. The overall response rates of the patients at 6 month were compared, and the patients' survival in the two groups was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier survival curves.The overall response rates at 6 months was significantly higher in porcine ALG group than in rabbit ATG group (79.07% vs 56.25%, P=0.034). The 5-year overall survival was also higher in porcine ALG group than in rabbit ATG group, but this difference was not statistically significant (86.047% vs 72.878%, P=0.190).Porcine ALG is superior over rabbit ATG in terms of hematological response but is comparable with rabbit ATG in view of the patients' survival and safety.