Allogeneic Marrow Transplantation from HLA-Identical Siblings in the Acute Leukemias: Baltimore Experience

Abstract

Allogeneic bone marrow transplantation in the treatment of acute leukemia has shown remarkable therapeutic progress in recent years. Long-term remissions and possible eure rates of 50% or higher have been obtained by a number of centers in acute nonlymphocytic leukemia (ANL), particularily when patients were transplanted in their first remission [1–9]. Most reported series of allogeneic marrow transplantation in acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL) performed in the second remission have shown long-term disease-free survival of 20%–30%. Data for patients in their third and subsequent remissions are less good [10–14]. The recent report from the Memorial Sloan Kettering group [15] and the Baltimore group [16] has shown a therapeutic improvement over the previously reported series of ALL transplanted in their second remission. In the present communication, we wish to update our results of allogeneic marrow transplantation in patients with ANL and ALL who received marrow grafts from genotypically HLA-identical siblings.