Hematopoietic cell transplantation from unrelated donors for treatment of patients with acute myeloid leukemia in first complete remission

Hematopoietic cell transplantation from a histocompatible sibling is generally recommended for patients with acute myeloid leukemia in first remission with intermediate or high risk disease. Two-thirds of patients lack a matched sibling raising the question of the utility of matched unrelated transplantation for such patients. Retrospective studies from single institutions and registry data report 44–50% disease-free survival at 5-years following ablative unrelated donor transplantation for adults. The German AML 01/99 is the only prospective study evaluating the utility of matched related and unrelated transplantation for AML patients in first remission with high risk disease and reported 4-year survival of 68% with matched related transplants, 56% with matched unrelated transplants and 23% with autografting. Thus, results suggest that for patients with AML in first remission with high risk features (as determined by cytogenetics or >5% blasts on day 15 of induction) who lack matched siblings, unrelated donor transplantation should be considered. Current challenges are to improve our ability to identify those patients most likely to benefit from early transplantation, to better select donors, and to develop transplant preparative regimens that are safer and more effective.