Letters to the Editor The suggestion of using FVIII preparations containing VWF for ITI referred to intermediate purity FVIII.2 Notably, Stem Cell Transplantation we were able to show here that highly purified plasma- High incidence of cytomegalovirus reactivation in derived FVIII containing VWF is also effective for ITI. adult recipients of an unrelated cord blood The mechanisms responsible for successful ITI are still transplant being discussed. However, it has recently been shown that high doses of FVIII could induce memory B-cell apoptosis instead of their differentiation into antibody-secreting plas- This retrospective analysis of cytomegalovirus ma cells.8 Since isolated FVIII is degraded approximately (CMV)-seropositive adult transplant recipients twice as efficiently as FVIII-VWF complexes via the low showed that CMV antigenemia occurred after density lipoprotein receptor-related protein,9 VWF might transplantation in 10/10 (100%) recipients of unre- contribute, through prolonged high FVIII levels and a mod- lated cord blood, 17/39 (43%) recipients of a relat- ulation of FVIII immunogenicity,4 to the efficacy of ITI. ed matched donor graft, 16/23 (79%) recipients of These properties can provide a rationale for preferring a an unrelated matched donor graft, and 8/12 (67%) highly purified plasma-derived FVIII stabilized with VWF recipients of a mismatched related donor graft. for second-line ITI in patients with recombinant-FVIII ITI These results suggest that unrelated cord blood failure or relapse, as previously suggested.10 transplantation itself may be correlated with a high Frédérique Orsini,* Chantal Rotschild,° Philippe Beurrier,# incidence of CMV reactivation. Albert Faradji,@ Jenny Goudemand,^ Benoît Polack* haematologica 2005; 90:1290-1292 Hemophilia Units, Hospitals of Grenoble,* Paris-Necker,° (http://www.haematologica.org/journal/2005/9/1290.html) Angers,# Strasbourg,@ Lille^, France Acknowledgments: We are grateful to Edith Fressinaud and Anne Cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection is still a major con- Durin-Assolant from the Hemophilia Units in French University cern following allogeneic hematopoietic transplantation Hospitals of Angers and Lyon for including patients in the study, and because CMV pneumonia is fatal in 70% of patients, to the Laboratoire Français du Fractionnement et des Biotechnologies, even when treated with a combination of antiviral thera- Les Ulis, France, for a grant provided to collect data. pies and CMV hyperimmune immunoglobulin.1 Allo- Key words: immune tolerance, hemophilia A, factor VIII inhibitor, geneic cord blood transplantation, especially from unre- von Willebrand factor. lated donors, has progressively gained favor as treatment Correspondence: Professor Benoît Polack, Department of for patients with both malignant and non-malignant dis- Haematology, CHU de Grenoble, BP217, 38043 Grenoble Cedex, orders.2-4 As compared to allogeneic bone marrow trans- France. Phone: international +33.476765487. Fax: international plantation (BMT) and peripheral blood stem cell trans- +33.476765935. E-mail: [email protected] plantation (PBSCT), advantages of unrelated cord blood transplantation (UCBT) include ease and safety of cell col- References lection, low risk of transmitting viral infections, prompt availability of stem cells, and reduced incidence and sever- 1. Ananyeva NM, Lacroix-Desmazes S, Hauser CA, Shima M, ity of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD).2-4 The reduction Ovanesov MV, Khrenov AV, et al. Inhibitors in hemophilia A: mechanisms of inhibition, management and perspectives. Blood of GVHD after UCBT is likely due to the naïve state of Coagul Fibrinolysis 2004;15:109-24. cord blood lymphocytes and the low cytotoxic capacity 2. Federici AB. The factor VIII/von Willebrand factor complex: of cord blood T cells.5 However, such immunological basic and clinical issues. Haematologica 2003; 88:EREP02. immaturity after UCBT can place a patient at risk of early 3. Kallas A, Talpsep T. von Willebrand factor in factor VIII concen- infectious complications, accounting for most transplant- trates protects against neutralization by factor VIII antibodies of 1,6 haemophilia A patients. Haemophilia 2001;7:375-80. related deaths, especially in adults. We have observed 4. Behrmann M, Pasi J, Saint-Remy JM, Kotitschke R, Kloft M. von that patients undergoing UCBT appear to be at increased Willebrand factor modulates factor VIII immunogenicity: com- risk of CMV infection. parative study of different factor VIII concentrates in a haemophilia A mouse model. Thromb Haemost 2002; 88:221-9. Ninety-one consecutive adult patients who were CMV- 5. Burnouf T, Burnouf-Radosevich M, Huart JJ, Goudemand M. A seropositive and received non-T-cell-depleted allogeneic highly purified factor VIII:c concentrate prepared from cryo- transplants at the Kanazawa University Hospital precipitate by ion-exchange chromatography. Vox Sang 1991; between April 1999 and April 2004 were eligible for 60:8-15. 6. White GC, II, Rosendaal F, Aledort LM, Lusher JM, Rothschild inclusion in this study to evaluate CMV reactivation in C, Ingerslev J, et al. Definitions in hemophilia - recommendation transplant recipients. Written informed consent was of the Scientific Subcommittee on Factor VIII and Factor IX of obtained from all patients. Six patients died of regimen- the Scientific and Standardization Committee of the related toxicities before engraftment and one developed International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis. Thromb Haemost 2001;85:560. primary graft rejection followed by autologous hemato- 7. Rothschild C, Laurian Y, Satre EP, Derlon AB, Chambost H, poietic recovery. The remaining 84 patients had success- Moreau P, et al. French previously untreated patients with severe ful initial engraftment and were included in the analysis. hemophilia A after exposure to recombinant factor VIII: inci- The patients’ characteristics are given in Table 1. dence of inhibitor and evaluation of immune tolerance. Thromb CMV antigenemia assays were carried out as previous- Haemost 1998;80:779-83. 7,8 8. Hausl C, Ahmad RU, Sasgary M, Doering C, Lollar PS, Richter ly described. In brief, heparinized blood samples were G, et al. Inhibition of factor VIII-specific memory B cell respons- fractionated by dextran sedimentation. Slides were pre- es by supra-physiological concentrations of factor VIII. Blood pared in duplicate after cytocentrifugation; 1.5 105 leuko- 2004;104:A38. × 9. Ananyeva NM, Kouiavskaia DV, Shima M, Saenko EL. Cata- cytes were fixed with formaldehyde and stained with bolism of the coagulation factor VIII: can we prolong lifetime of HRP-C7 monoclonal antibodies that specifically bind the f VIII in circulation? Trends Cardiovasc Med 2001; 11:251-7. pp65 antigen of CMV (Teijin, Tokyo, Japan). The degree 10. Kreuz W, Ettingshausen CE, Auerswald G, Saguer IM, Becker S, of CMV antigenemia was expressed as the number of Funk M, et al. Epidemiology of inhibitors and current treatment 4 strategies. Haematologica 2003;88:EREP04. CMV antigen-positive cells per 5×10 leukocytes. For the 4 evaluation of CMV antigenemia, 5×10 leukocytes were | 1290 | haematologica/the hematology journal | 2005; 90(9) Letters to the Editor Table 1. Patients’ characteristics. Table 2. Acute GVHD and CMV infection according to stem cell source. Stem cell donor Stem cell source HLA HLA HLA Unrelated Characteristics identical matched mismatched CB HLA-identical HLA-matched HLA-mismatched Unrelated sibling unrelated relative sibling unrelated donor relativedonor CB donor II-IV acute GVHD 14/39 8/23 8/12 5/10 No. of patients 39 23 12 10 (36) (35) (67) (50) Sex, male/female 23/16 10/13 5/7 6/4 CMV antigenemia 17/39 16/23 8/12 10/10 (%) (44) (70) (67) (100) Median age (range), years 53 36 43 61 (14-69) (17-54) (15-58) (15-69) Days between 43 29 38.5 32.5 transplantation (20-99) (18-47) (5-95) (0-42) Disease and first antigenemia, Acute myelogenous leukemia 9 6 0 2 median (range) Acute lymphoblastic leukemia 4 6 6 2 Chronic myeloid leukemia 3 4 2 0 Days between 14 21.5 94 60 Myelodysplastic syndrome 6 2 0 1 final and first (1-117) (0-80) (0-161) (7-104) Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma 7 3 3 1 antigenemia, Severe aplastic anemia 4 2 1 1 median (range) Myelofibrosis 1 0 0 0 Renal cell carcinoma 4 0 0 3 Peak no. of 10 8 15 46 Osteosarcoma 1 0 0 0 CMV-positive cells (1-395) (1-714) (4-250) (7-543) Standard risk/advanced risk* 18/21 14/9 3/9 1/9 among 5x104 leukocytes, Stem cell source median (range) PBSC/BM 33/6 0/23 10/2 0/0 CMV disease (%) 1/39 1/23 0/12 1/10 HLA disparity (3) (4) (0) (10) 0/1/2/3 39/0/0/0 23/0/0/0 0/2/6/3/1 3/1/6/0 Late CMV 3/36 1/19 5/9 3/7 CMV-seropositive donor 35 22 11 0 antigenemia (%) (9) (5) (56) (43) Prior transplantation 4 2 1 5 Conditioning regimen Myeloablative/Reduced-intensity15/24 18/5 7/5 1/9 therapy was based entirely on a positive antigenemia test GVHD prophylaxis 4 7,8 (≥3 antigen-positive cells/5×10 leukocytes). Ganciclovir CSP-based/FK506-based 38/1 11/11 7/5 7/3 was administered as an intravenous infusion at the dose Use of ATG 5 3 2 1 of 5 mg/kg/b.i.d. Neutropenic patients (absolute neu- trophil count, less than 750/µL) were given foscarnet Use of steroids 13 4 8 6 instead of ganciclovir; the induction dose of foscarnet was 60 mg/kg intravenously every 12 hours, followed by Use of MMF 3055maintenance doses of 90 mg/kg once daily.10 Treatment Survival >100 days, % 92 87 75 78 was stopped if two consecutive CMV antigenemia assays were negative. Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor Survival >365 days, % 82 83 40 56 was administered when the absolute neutrophil count was <500/µL. Previous reports demonstrated the high PBSC, peripheral blood stem cell; BM, bone marrow; CB, cord blood; CSP, sensitivity of the HRP-C7 assay and validated the ana- cyclosporine; FK506, tacrolimus; MMF, mycophenolate mofetil.