Unknown

Dataset Information

0

Improved Therapeutic Approaches are Needed to Manage Graft-versus-Host Disease.


ABSTRACT: Allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloHSCT) offers a potentially curative therapy for patients suffering from diseases of the haematopoietic system but requires a high level of expertise and is both resource intensive and expensive. A frequent and life-threatening complication is graft-versus-host disease (GvHD). Acute GvHD (aGvHD) generally causes skin, gastrointestinal and liver symptoms, but chronic GvHD (cGvHD) has a different pathophysiology and may affect nearly every organ or tissue of the body. In Europe, GvHD prophylaxis is generally a calcineurin inhibitor in combination with methotrexate, with high-dose systemic steroids used for advanced GvHD treatment. Between 39% and 59% of alloHSCT patients will develop aGvHD and around 36-37% will develop cGvHD. Steroid response decreases with increasing disease severity, which in turn leads to an increase in non-relapse mortality. GvHD imposes a financial burden on healthcare systems, significantly increasing post-alloHSCT costs. Increased GvHD disease severity magnifies this. Balancing immunosuppression to control the GvHD whilst maintaining a degree of immunocompetence against infection is critical. European GvHD guidelines acknowledge the lack of evidence to support a standard second-line therapy, and improved long-term outcomes and quality-of-life (QoL) remain an unmet need. Evidence generation for potential treatments is challenging. Issues to overcome include choice of comparator (extensive off-label usage); blinding; selection of relevant patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs); and rarity of the condition, which may infeasibly increase timescales to achieve clinical and statistical relevance.

SUBMITTER: Hooker DS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8556206 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

Similar Datasets

| S-EPMC7357210 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC3432261 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC4863650 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC6059654 | biostudies-literature
2008-04-09 | GSE7510 | GEO
| S-EPMC5477615 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC5033881 | biostudies-other
| S-EPMC3132532 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC1895033 | biostudies-literature