Extracorporeal Photopheresis in Graft-versus-Host Disease

Beatrice Drexler; Andreas Buser; Laura Infanti; Gregor Stehle; Joerg Halter; Andreas Holbro

doi:10.1159/000508169

Extracorporeal Photopheresis in Graft-versus-Host Disease

Transfus Med Hemother. 2020 Jun;47(3):214-225. doi: 10.1159/000508169. Epub 2020 May 19.

Authors

Beatrice Drexler^{1

2}, Andreas Buser^{1

2}, Laura Infanti^{1

2}, Gregor Stehle^{1

2}, Joerg Halter¹, Andreas Holbro^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Division of Hematology, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland.
² Blood Transfusion Center, Swiss Red Cross, Basel, Switzerland.

Abstract

Background and summary: Extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) is a leukapheresis-based procedure used in the therapy of acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease (aGvHD, cGvHD) and other diseases. Based on the substantial efficacy and the excellent safety profile in the absence of immunosuppression ECP has established itself as a major treatment form for steroid-refractory GvHD. Here we review the current literature on ECP as a treatment option for patients with aGvHD as well as cGvHD.

Key messages: ECP is a well-established second-line therapy for cGvHD. Its role in the treatment of aGvHD is less clear but also points towards an effective second-line therapy option. In the future ECP could play a role in the prevention of GvHD. More experimental and randomized controlled trials are needed to define the best patient selection criteria, settings, and therapy regimens for GvHD.

Keywords: Extracorporeal photopheresis; Graft-versus-host disease; Treatment.

Publication types

Review