Loss of mismatched HLA in myeloid/NK cell precursor acute leukemia relapse after T cell-replete haploidentical hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Abstract

Myeloid/natural killer cell precursor acute leukemia (MNKL) is an aggressive disease with a high relapse rate even after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (SCT). We report a patient with MNKL who had a donor lymphocyte infusion (DLI) for relapse after T cell-replete human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-haploidentical SCT, but relapsed again 20 months later with loss of mismatched HLA. This case suggests that a strong graft-versus-leukemia effect of haploidentical SCT can be expected in MNKL patients. In the haploidentical setting, DLI should be considered for patients with relapsed leukemia whose leukemic cells have not lost HLA cell surface expression.