Survival outcomes between haploidentical stem cell transplantation and chemotherapy for blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm

Abstract

Blastic plasmacytoid dendritic cell neoplasm (BPDCN) is an aggressive and rare hematological malignancy with poor clinical outcomes. Stem cell transplantation helps to achieve long-term survival in adults. However, the benefit of haploidentical stem cell transplantation (HID-SCT) versus chemotherapy is unclear with BPDCN. We retrospectively analyzed 32 patients diagnosed with BPDCN including 15 who underwent HID-SCT and 17 who only received chemotherapy. The median age was 52 (range, 19–78) years. The ratio of male/female was 2.2. Skin, bone marrow and lymph node were the most three common sites of disease involvement. Compared with the chemotherapy group, patients in the HID-SCT group had significantly better progression-free survival (PFS; median, 7 months versus not reached, P < 0.001) and overall survival (OS; median, 13 months versus not reached, P < 0.001). The 4-year rates for PFS and OS in transplant patients were 74% (95% Confidence Interval [CI], 47, 100%) and 93% (79, 100%), respectively, compared to 0 in non-transplant patients. In conclusion, our results demonstrated HID-SCT could provide long-term remissions in BPDCN patients.