Combination of reduced post-transplant cyclophosphamide and early tacrolimus initiation increases the incidence of chronic graft-versus-host disease in human leukocyte antigen-haploidentical peripheral blood stem-cell transplantation

We evaluated the clinical impacts of the concurrent modification of post-transplant cyclophosphamide (PTCy) dose and tacrolimus (Tac)-initiation timing in 61 patients with human leukocyte antigen-haploidentical transplantation. Reduced-dose PTCy (80 mg/kg) was associated with a higher incidence of moderate-to-severe chronic graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) than standard-dose PTCy (100 mg/kg) (35.0% vs. 26.6%, p = 0.053). Notably, early-initiation Tac (day -1) increased moderate-to-severe chronic GVHD than standard-initiation Tac (day 5) in the reduced-dose PTCy group (p = 0.032), whereas Tac-initiation timing did not impact chronic GVHD in the standard-dose PTCy group. These data indicate that the combination of reduced-dose PTCy and early-initiation Tac can amplify chronic GVHD.