Cited by 310Autoimmune and Inflammatory Disorders ResearchKawasaki Disease and Coronary ComplicationsImmunodeficiency and Autoimmune Disorders

Salvage therapy of refractory hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis with alemtuzumab

Open access
Marsh, Rebecca A., Allen, Carl E., McClain, Kenneth L., Weinstein, Joanna L., Kanter, Julie, Skiles, Jodi, Lee, Nadine D., Khan, Shakila P. +5 more·2013·Pediatric Blood & Cancer

Abstract

Background: Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is a life‐threatening hyperinflammatory syndrome that remains difficult to treat. Even with current standard HLH therapy, only approximately half of patients will experience complete resolution of disease, and early mortality remains a significant problem. Salvage therapies have been described only in limited case reports, and there are no large studies of second‐line therapies. Procedure: We reviewed the charts of 22 pediatric and adult patients who received alemtuzumab for the treatment of refractory HLH at our center or in consultation with our group. Results: Patients had received conventional therapies for a median of 8 weeks (range: 2–70) prior to alemtuzumab, and treatment immediately prior to alemtuzumab included dexamethasone (100%), etoposide (77%), cyclosporine (36%), intrathecal hydrocortisone ± methotrexate (23%), methylprednisolone (9%), and rituximab (14%). Patients received a median dose of 1 mg/kg alemtuzumab (range: 0.1–8.9 mg/kg) divided over a median of 4 days (range: 2–10). Fourteen patients experienced an overall partial response, defined as at least a 25% improvement in two or more quantifiable symptoms or laboratory markers of HLH 2 weeks following alemtuzumab (64%). Five additional patients had a 25% or greater improvement in a single quantifiable symptom or laboratory marker of HLH (23%). Seventy‐seven percent of patients survived to undergo allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation. Patients experienced an acceptable spectrum of complications, including CMV and adenovirus viremia. Conclusion: Alemtuzumab appears to be an effective salvage agent for refractory HLH, leading to improvement and survival to HCT in many patients. Prospective trials to define optimal dosing levels, schedules, and responses are needed. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2013; 60: 101–109. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1002/pbc.24188

Cites

21 of 21 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Claims the paper makes

The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.

Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.

A few free checks a day · papers already verified open instantly · results are public

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

  • Generalized T-cell and B-cell ablation with alemtuzumab and T-cell ablation with antithymocyte globulin have been reported, and ablation most likely works by depleting pathogenic CD8+ T cells among other cell types.

    “Generalized T-cell and B-cell ablation with alemtuzumab and T-cell ablation with antithymocyte globulin have been reported; ablation most likely works by depleting the pathogenic CD8+ T cells, among other cell types.76”

    From Cytokine storm (2020) · cites this paper as [76]

Self-check

Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.

The self-check needs the paper’s full text.

Cites

Flagged first, then by citations

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Marsh, R. A., Allen, C. E., McClain, K. L., Weinstein, J. L., Kanter, J., Skiles, J., Lee, N. D., Khan, S. P., Lawrence, J., Mo, J. Q., Bleesing, J. J., Filipovich, A. H., & Jordan, M. B.
Affiliations
  • Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center (US)
  • Baylor College of Medicine (US)
  • Northwestern University (US)
  • Tulane Medical Center (US)
  • Riley Hospital for Children (US)
  • Mayo Clinic (US)
Corresponding author
  • Marsh, Rebecca A.
  • Jordan, Michael B.
Venue
Pediatric Blood & Cancer
Publisher
Wiley
Published
2012-04-22
Volume
60
Issue
1
Pages
101-109
ISSN
  • 1545-5009 (ISSN-L)
  • 1545-5017
OpenAlex
W2064037171
Cited by
310
References
21
Citations by year
2026: 18 · 2025: 12 · 2024: 26 · 2023: 28 · 2022: 24 · 2021: 22 · 2020: 39 · 2019: 24 · 2018: 22 · 2017: 31 · 2016: 21 · 2015: 14 · 2014: 17 · 2013: 9 · 2012: 1
FWCI
8.74
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Pediatric Blood & Cancer (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
Funders
  • NIH (R01HL091769)
  • Clinical Immunology Society
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Hematology › Autoimmune and Inflammatory Disorders Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Kawasaki Disease and Coronary Complications
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Immunology › Immunodeficiency and Autoimmune Disorders
Keywords
hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, alemtuzumab, salvage therapy, refractory disease, hyperinflammatory syndrome, allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, cytomegalovirus viremia, treatment response
MeSH terms
Alemtuzumab, Alanine Transaminase, Humans, Retrospective Studies, Salvage Therapy, Lymphohistiocytosis, Hemophagocytic, Antibodies, Monoclonal, Humanized

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review