EBMT 2022 | ATG vs PTCy as GvHD prophylaxis in non-myeloablative MUD alloHSCT

Erfan Nur, MD, PhD, Amsterdam University Medical Center, Amsterdam, Netherlands, shares the findings of a study comparing the incidence of graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) in patients with sickle cell disease (SCD) treated with anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) or post-transplant cyclophosphamide (PTCy)-based reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) regimens prior to matched unrelated donor (MUD) transplantation. The study found that patients treated with ATG experienced significantly higher rates of grade 2-4 acute GvHD (aGvHD), with a trend towards better overall survival (OS) and non-relapse mortality (NRM) in the PTCy group. However, there were no differences in the incidence of chronic GvHD (cGvHD) or in relapse rates. Another recent study showed similar results in patients with ALL, supporting the use of PTCy-based RIC regimens. Further prospective studies are required to validate the superiority of PTCy over ATG. This interview took place at the 48th Annual Meeting of the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) 2022, which was held virtually.