Scientific article
OA Policy
English

Effect of Ruxolitinib on Lung Function after Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation

Published inBiology of blood and marrow transplantation, vol. 26, no. 11, p. 2115-2120
Publication date2020-11
First online date2020-07-29
Abstract

Ruxolitinib, a selective Janus kinase (JAK)1/2 inhibitor, has recently been proposed for steroid-refractory chronic graft-versus host disease (cGVHD) after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), particularly in severe skin cGVHD. Lung function impairment is common in severe skin cGVHD through concomitant bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) or restrictive lung disease (RLD) from skin sclerosis. To date, no treatment has shown a benefit on lung function in this context. We retrospectively assessed the effect of ruxolitinib on lung function in a cohort of 70 patients diagnosed with sclerotic-type skin cGVHD between March 2015 and April 2018. Among these patients, 36 received ruxolitinib. To handle confounding by indication bias, exposure groups were matched on the propensity score to receive ruxolitinib, incorporating age, myeloablative conditioning, total body irradiation, BOS, forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1 ), forced vital capacity (FVC), and tobacco use at the time of cohort entry, as well as the time from transplantation. The 1:1 matching used a greedy-matching algorithm with replacement, with a caliper of 0.10. FVC and FEV1 trajectories during follow-up were compared in the matched samples, using linear mixed-effects models. The median duration of follow-up of the 46 matched patients was 58 months (interquartile range, 32 to 84 months). Ten patients had an RLD (6 exposed, 4 unexposed), and 13 patients were diagnosed with BOS (8 exposed, 5 unexposed). FEV1 decreased significantly over time independent of exposure to ruxolitinib (P < .0001). The FEV1 trajectory was similar in the exposed patients and the unexposed patients (P = .11). In conclusion, ruxolitinib administration did not demonstrate any improvement in the course of respiratory function in allogeneic HSCT recipients with sclerotic-type skin cGVHD.

Keywords
  • Bronchiolitis obliterans
  • Pulmonary graft-versus-host disease
  • Restrictive lung disease
  • Sclerodermatous chronic graft-versus-host disease
  • Sclerotic-type skin cGVHD
  • Bronchiolitis Obliterans / drug therapy
  • Bronchiolitis Obliterans / etiology
  • Graft vs Host Disease
  • Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / adverse effects
  • Humans
  • Lung
  • Nitriles
  • Pyrazoles
  • Pyrimidines
  • Retrospective Studies
Affiliation entities Not a UNIGE publication
Citation (ISO format)
BONDEELLE, Louise et al. Effect of Ruxolitinib on Lung Function after Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation. In: Biology of blood and marrow transplantation, 2020, vol. 26, n° 11, p. 2115–2120. doi: 10.1016/j.bbmt.2020.07.033
Main files (1)
Article (Published version)
Identifiers
Journal ISSN1083-8791
11views
44downloads

Technical informations

Creation12/12/2025 13:04:46
First validation19/01/2026 10:48:20
Update19/01/2026 10:48:20
Status update19/01/2026 10:48:20
Last indexation19/01/2026 10:48:21
All rights reserved by Archive ouverte UNIGE and the University of GenevaunigeBlack