Prevention and Treatment of Acute Graft-versus-Host Disease in Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults

Acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) continues to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) in pediatric patients (ie, children and adolescent and young adults) and limits broader application of the therapy. Pediatric HCT patients have faced major obstacles to access clinical trials that test new agents for GVHD prevention and treatment. According to a recent search, only 6 clinical trials of interventions for prevention or treatment of acute GVHD were conducted specifically in pediatric patients in the United States over the past decade, with 8 internationally. In this review, we summarize the studies that were performed and specifically enrolled and reported on pediatric patients after allogeneic HCT and provide a listing of studies currently under way.