Autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for multiple sclerosis: Long-term follow-up data from Norway.

Background: Autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is a potent treatment option for patients with aggressive relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS).
Objective: To evaluate long-term outcomes of HSCT in MS.
Methods: National retrospective single-center observational study of patients with aggressive RRMS that underwent HSCT in Norway from January 2015 to January 2018. Criteria for receiving HSCT included at least two clinical relapses the last year while on disease modifying treatment (DMT).
Results: In total, 29 patients, with a mean follow-up time of 70 months (standard deviation:14.3), were evaluated. Twenty patients (69%) had sustained no evidence of disease activity (NEDA-3) status, 24 (83%) were relapse-free, 23 (79%) free of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) activity, and 26 (90%) free of progression. Number of patients working full-time increased from 1 (3%), before HSCT, to 10 (33%) after 2 years and 15 (52%) after 5 years.
Conclusion: HSCT offers long-term disease-free survival with successively increasing work participation in patients with aggressive MS resistant to DMTs.
Competing Interests: Declaration of Conflicting InterestsThe author(s) declared the following potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: C.E.K. has received an unrestricted grant from Novartis in 2019. A.K.L. has no disclosures. S.A.S.K. has received unrestricted grants from Biogen and Novartis. T.H. has received speakers honoraria and participated in clinical trials organized by Merck, Serono, Biogen, Roche, Novartis, and Alexion. L.H.T. has no disclosures. Å.R.L. has received minor grant from Sanofi. E.K.K. has no disclosures. L.B. has received unrestricted research grants to his institution and/or scientific advisory board or speakers honoraria from Biogen, Genzyme, Merck, Novartis, Roche, and Teva, and has participated in clinical trials organized by Biogen, Merck, Novartis, and Roche. Ø.T. has received speaker honoraria from and served on scientific advisory boards for Biogen, Sanofi-Aventis, Merck, and Novartis.