Background: Several clinical and preclinical studies have shown that desferrioxamine (DFO), in addition to iron chelation, demonstrates antiproliferative activities against some aggressive malignancies and leukemic cells.
Methods: In this study, we investigated retrospectively the role of early DFO administration postallografting, in terms of relapse incidence (RI) and disease-free survival (DFS) in 143 patients consecutively transplanted for hematological malignancies.
Results: Thirty-seven of 143 patients received DFO. The 5-year RI and DFS in patients who received more than 2 months DFO were 5% and 76%, respectively, as opposed to 47% and 41% in no DFO-treated patients (P=0.01, respectively). Not a single relapse event was detected in DFO-treated patients who were allotransplanted in first complete remission, and in addition, the RI was lower in DFO-treated patients with advanced disease at time of transplantation (31% vs. 75%, P=0.03). Patients with chronic graft versus host disease who received DFO had lower RI than unntreated patients (17% vs. 39%, P=0.03). Multivariate analysis demonstrated that DFO administration for more than 2 months was an independent factor for lower RI and improved DFS.
Conclusions: DFO administration postallogeneic transplantation may improve DFS by reducing relapse. This clinical observation could be only confirmed by prospective trials that will determine the role of DFO in the allotransplantation setting.