The role of nonmyeloablative allogeneic stem cell transplantation (NST) in the treatment of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is not well established. The authors report on long‐term experience with NST in relapsed/refractory CLL and define prognostic factors associated with outcome.

The authors reviewed the outcome of 86 patients with relapsed/relapsed CLL enrolled in sequential NST protocols.

The median patient age was 58 years. Patients were heavily pretreated before transplantation, and 43 required immunomanipulation after NST for persistent or recurrent disease. Immunomanipulation included withdrawal of immunosuppression, rituximab, and step‐wise donor lymphocyte infusions. Of 43 patients receiving immunomanipulation, 20 (47%) experienced a complete remission. Patients with human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genotype A1⁺/A2⁻/B44⁻ were more likely to experience a complete remission (P = .0009), with rates of 9%, 36%, 50%, and 91%, respectively, for 0, 1, 2, and 3 of these HLA factors. This resulted in significant improvement in progression‐free‐survival rates of 68.2% at 5 years for patients with all 3 HLA factors. Overall, the estimated 5‐year survival rate was 51%. In a multivariate model, a CD4 count of <100/mm³ and a below normal serum immunoglobulin G level at study entry were associated with a short survival duration (P < .0001).

These results confirm the potential cure of relapsed/refractory CLL with NST and provide the first evidence that immunoglobulin G and CD4 levels are predictive of overall survival after NST in CLL and that human leukocyte antigen alleles predict response to immunomanipulation. Cancer 2011;. © 2011 American Cancer Society.