Video

Dr. Schroeder on Treatment Options for GVHD

Mark A. Schroeder, MD, discusses therapies currently available and being investigated to treat patients with graft-versus-host disease.

Mark A. Schroeder, MD, an associate professor at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, discusses therapies currently available and being investigated to treat patients with graft-versus-host disease (GVHD).

The only FDA-approved therapy for treating patients with GVHD is ruxolitinib (Jakafi), explains Schroeder. The administration of ruxlotinib depends on the institution and patient, including whether they can tolerate oral medicine. If not, there are other avenues of decreasing T-cell proliferation to help the damage induced by GVHD that could be given intravenously, says Schroeder.

There is currently no standard of care for steroid-refractory GVHD, but ruxolitinib seems to be the most common choice, according to Schroeder. The overall response rates on day 28 of a phase II trial (NCT02953678) were 100% for grade 2 GVHD, 40.7% for grade 3 GVHD, and 44.4% for grade 4 GVHD. Other novel therapies in development, as prophylaxis or treatment, that will be explored in larger randomized trials, concludes Schroeder.

Related Videos
Timothy Gershon, MD, PhD
Jordan Hansford, MD
James J. Harding, MD, associate attending physician, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
J. Bradley Elder, MD
Rimas V. Lukas, MD
Adam E. Singer, MD, PhD, Health Sciences Clinical Instructor, medicine, division lead, kidney cancer, Division of Hematology/Oncology, UCLA Health
Diane Reidy-Lagunes, MD, vice chair, Oncology Operations, Regional Care Network, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Shubham Pant, MD, MBBS
Kevin Kalinsky, MD, MS, professor, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, director, Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Emory University School of Medicine; Louisa and Rand Glenn Family Chair in Breast Cancer Research, director, Glenn Family Breast Center, director, Breast Medical Oncology, Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University
Brett L. Ecker, MD