Unrelated HSCT in Patients With Fanconi Anemia

The major obstacle to successful alternate donor HCT for patients with Fanconi Anemia is graft failure. While T-cell depletion decreases the incidence of aGVHD, its effect on improving long term survival is unproven. To potentially improve engraftment rate, we have chosen a relatively new immunosuppressive agent, fludarabine (FLU), FLU is an antineoplastic agent that has been shown to be an effective immunosuppressive agen in BMT conditioning therapy. The addition of FLU to the commonly used preparative regimen of CY and TBU in Fanconi Anemia patients may improve engraftment rates. Based on all presented data and its outcome, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation with the use of total body irradiation (450 cGy), cyclophosphamide (10 mg/kg IV) and fludarabine (35 mg/m2 IV) as preparative cytoreductive therapy has become the standard treatment for the hematologic manifestations of Fanconi Anemia at CHLA. However, the use of Isolex 300i will be replaced by CliniMACS in processing T-cell depletion. The CliniMACS CD34 Reagent System is an investigational medical device that has not yet been approved by the FDA. This device is used in vitro to select and enrich specific cell populations. When using the CliniMACS CD34 Reagent, the system selects CD34+ cells from heterogenous hematological cell populations for transplantation in cases where this is clinically indicated. Based on the gathered data, CliniMACS has not been a contributing factor in the toxicity of patients, although may have a potential of eliciting "antibody" reactions in some patients, the process has been of significant life-saving benefit as compared to the potential risks.