Advances in transplantation of hematopoietic stem cells from haploidentical donors

Abstract

Of late, haploidentical haematopoietic stem cells transplantations (haplo-HSCT) have been increasing and currently constitute more than 10% of allogeneic transplants reported to the EBMT. This upsurge in haplo-HSCT rates partly stem from the availability of donors but above all from introducing high dose cyclophosphamide, post-transplant, for graft versus host disease prevention; there being abundant literature on this subject. Nevertheless, the exact therapeutic role of haplo-HSCT remains to be defined although outcome assessments made retrospectively, show this not to significantly differ from standard allogeneic transplants. At present, there are no clear criteria to qualify patients for haplo-HSCT, nor for choosing the best of the available haploidentical family donors.