Consolidation therapy with decitabine and intermediate-dose cytarabine followed by HLA-mismatched peripheral blood stem cells infusion for older patients with acute myeloid leukemia in first remission

This retrospective study tested the feasibility of decitabine (DAC) plus intermediate-dose cytarabine (ID-AraC) followed by HLA-mismatched granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF)-mobilized peripheral donor blood stem cells (GPBSCs) infusion as consolidation treatment for older patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in first complete remission (CR). A total of 23 patients received this regimen for 3 cycles (D-GPBSCs group), and the outcome was compared with that of 19 patients treated with repeated cycles of ID-AraC chemotherapy (chemo group). The two regimens were well tolerated. The median recovery times for neutrophils and platelets were shorter in D-GPBSCs group than in chemo group (p<.05). No graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) was observed in D-GPBSCs group. The 2-year leukemia-free survival (LFS) and overall survival (OS) were better in D-GPBSCs group (51.6 and 55.4%) than in chemo group (27.1 and 34.2%) (p = .047 and p = .056). These data suggest that DAC and ID-AraC followed by GPBSCs as a consolidation regimen may be a safe and promising option for older patients with AML.