High Graft CD8 Cell Dose Predicts Improved Survival and Enables Better Donor Selection in Allogeneic Stem-Cell Transplantation With Reduced-Intensity Conditioning

Abstract

Purpose To characterize the impact of graft T-cell composition on outcomes of reduced-intensity conditioned (RIC) allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (alloHSCT) in adults with hematologic malignancies. Patients and Methods We evaluated associations between graft T-cell doses and outcomes in 200 patients who underwent RIC alloHSCT with a peripheral blood stem-cell graft. We then studied 21 alloHSCT donors to identify predictors of optimal graft T-cell content. Results Higher CD8 cell doses were associated with a lower risk for relapse (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 0.43; P = .009) and improved relapse-free survival (aHR, 0.50; P = .006) and overall survival (aHR, 0.57; P = .04) without a significant increase in graft-versus-host disease or nonrelapse mortality. A cutoff level of 0.72 × 108 CD8 cells per kilogram optimally segregated patients receiving CD8hi and CD8lo grafts with differing overall survival (P = .007). Donor age inversely correlated with graft CD8 dose. Consequently, older donors were unlikely to provide a CD8hi graft, whereas approximately half of younger donors provided CD8hi grafts. Compared with recipients of older sibling donor grafts (consistently containing CD8lo doses), survival was significantly better for recipients of younger unrelated donor grafts with CD8hi doses (P = .03), but not for recipients of younger unrelated donor CD8lo grafts (P = .28). In addition, graft CD8 content could be predicted by measuring the proportion of CD8 cells in a screening blood sample from stem-cell donors. Conclusion Higher graft CD8 dose, which was restricted to young donors, predicted better survival in patients undergoing RIC alloHSCT.