1.Transplant Project Won the Second Prize of “Scientific and Technological Advancement Award of Ministry of Education” in Dec. 2016

The project “salvage treatment system of refractory and relapsed hematological malignancies with allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation” won the second prize of “Scientific and Technological Advancement Award of Ministry of Education” in 2016, which was accomplished by Dr. Chun Wang and his team.

In this program, 410 cases of allogeneic HSCT were completed for patients with relapsed and refractory hematological malignancies since 2001. First, anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) was found broad-spectrum anti-leukemic activity, especially for cells of lymphocytic origin. Therefore, ATG was incorporated into the conditioning regimen for patients with aggressive T cell malignancies, the complete remission rate improved from 26% before transplant to 96.7% after transplant, and 25-month disease free survival reached 69.6%. However, the 2-year overall survival is less than 50% reported by Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research（CIBMTR） in 2015. Second, a quantitative technique for chimerism analysis was established by PCR amplification of short tandem repeats, which is a DNA fingerprint used for individual identification. Sequential quantitative chimerism analysis after allogeneic HSCT could predict disease relapse and acute graft versus host disease. Individualized immunotherapy based on chimerism analysis could be given to patients. The 3-year overall survival is 44.7% for patients with relapsed and refractory leukemia, which is only 20% for 2-year overall survival reported by Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in 2016. Third, a report on species and drug sensitive test results of pathogenic bacteria isolated from neutropenia patients in the department were published in China, which instruct clinicians to give appropriate early empirical antibiotics to neutropenic patients. The article was cited by “China antibiotics guideline for patients with neutropenia and fever” written by Dr. Chun Wang in 2012. For the first time in China, preemptive anti-cytomegalovirus treatment was reported by the department, the preemptive treatment avoided side effect of long term prophylaxis of anti-cytomegalovirus medication, and greatly decreased cytomegalovirus infection related mortality. At present, preemptive anti-cytomegalovirus treatment is recommended by majority transplant guidelines. In addition, for the first time that granulocyte-macrophage colony stimulating factor could effectively prevent invasive fungal disease, decrease infection related mortality and improve overall survival of allogenic HSCT.

In conclusion, more and more patients with relapsed and refractory hematological malignancies achieved long term survival after salvage allogeneic HSCT in the department.