Ruxolitinib Add-on in Steroid-refractory Graft-vs-host Disease After Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation: a Single Institutional Experience

Nowadays, second-line treatment for SR-GVHD differs between centers and depends on the physician's experience. The agents commonly used as second and further lines of therapy include anti-thymocyte globulin, mycophenolate mofetil, calcineurin inhibitor, or extracorporeal photopheresis. However, the response varied. This study highlighted that corticosteroid (CS) is not a panacea for treating GVHD, and some patients with remission still experience further relapse. Additionally, the identification of multiple infections adds complexity.

Hope was supposed to come in 2019 after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved RUX for the therapy of SR-GVHD in adult and pediatric patients > 12 years. RUX add-on should be withheld as the risks outweigh the benefits, especially for patients who developed scleroderma and bronchiolitis obliterans. RUX can be added on as needed for the treatment of GVHD, especially in patients receiving DLI as relapse therapy with the conversion from mixed chimerism to complete chimerism. Despite some studies showing the efficacy of RUX across affected organs, some other data bring the opposite results. Thus we conducted this study to reinforce the efficacy of RUX as an add-on therapy for SR-GVHD.