Extracorporeal Photopheresis in Graft-versus-Host Disease

• Published in: Transfusion medicine and hemotherapy Vol. 47; no. 3; pp. 214 - 225
• Main Authors: Drexler, Beatrice, Buser, Andreas, Infanti, Laura, Stehle, Gregor, Halter, Joerg, Holbro, Andreas
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel, Switzerland S. Karger GmbH 01.06.2020
• Subjects: Review; Review Article; Graft-versus-host disease; Extracorporeal photopheresis; Treatment
• ISSN: 1660-3796; 1660-3818
• DOI: 10.1159/000508169

Background and Summary: Extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) is a leukapheresis-based procedure used in the therapy of acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease (aGvHD, cGvHD) and other diseases. Based on the substantial efficacy and the excellent safety profile in the absence of immunosuppression ECP has established itself as a major treatment form for steroid-refractory GvHD. Here we review the current literature on ECP as a treatment option for patients with aGvHD as well as cGvHD. Key Messages: ECP is a well-established second-line therapy for cGvHD. Its role in the treatment of aGvHD is less clear but also points towards an effective second-line therapy option. In the future ECP could play a role in the prevention of GvHD. More experimental and randomized controlled trials are needed to define the best patient selection criteria, settings, and therapy regimens for GvHD.