Seoul National University Hospital(SNUH), Matching at least half of histocompatibility antigen leads successful hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is an essential treatment for patients with acute leukemia or rare diseases. For the transplantation, the patient and histocompatibility antigen should be exactly the same, but it is not easy to find a donor.

Recently, Professor Kang Hyoung-Jin and Hong Kyung-Taek , Pediatrics at SNUH announced that matching at least half of histocompatibility antigen leads successful hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. They found that individual administration of appropriate doses of busulfan and post-transplantation cyclophosphamide can lead successful half-match transplant. The research team has conducted half-match transplant in 34 patients since 2014. The study has shown that overall survival rate reached 85%, 82 % for malignant diseases such as leukemia and 91% for non-malignant rare diseases. Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD), the complication, has been shown that acute and extensive chronic were 5.9% and 9.1%, respectively. This result was similar or improved in comparison to the previous transplant (5-15%, 15-25%).