Current and Recent Advances in the Treatment of Steroid Refractory Acute Graft versus Host Disease

Acute Graft versus Host Disease (aGVHD) is a life-threatening complication that occurs within the first 100 days after an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). In order to treat aGVHD, corticosteroids are commonly used as first-line therapy. Nevertheless, their complete response rate is only around 50%. The rest of the patients became steroid-refractory (SR), and the death rate of steroid-refractory aGVHD (SR-aGVHD) patients was more than 90%, which shows that there is a pressing need for a cure for this condition. Hence, this review aims to highlight the currently available and recent advancements in the field of treatments for SR-aGVHD. Despite the deaths, relapses and infections caused by SR-aGVHD, there are significant innovations, specifically in the area of using stem cells as a treatment. Ultimately, this literature has reflected on the development of SR-aGVHD treatments over the years, indicated by the rise in the number and the quality of ongoing and completed trials.