Improvement in Skin Fibrosis and Lung Function with Autologous Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in Systemic Sclerosis.

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a severe, progressive disease with limited treatment options. Autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) has been shown to be an effective treatment for rapidly progressive SSc. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of AHSCT for SSc compared to real-world clinical care. SSc patients from France who underwent AHSCT were compared to patients from Canada who met criteria for AHSCT (as defined in the ASTIS trial) but received conventional care. The primary outcome was overall survival. Secondary outcomes included modified Rodnan skin score (mRSS) and forced vital capacity (FVC). Overall survival was estimated by Kaplan-Meier survival curves. Measures of mRSS and FVC were compared using linear regression models. Analyses were adjusted for baseline scores and incorporated stabilized inverse probability of treatment weights to account for confounding by indication. Propensity scores were estimated using logistic regression. Forty-one AHSCT patients and 85 conventional care patients were compared. AHSCT was associated with a suggestive, though not statistically significant trend toward improvement in overall survival (log-rank P = .115). In follow-up, the mRSS was lower with AHSCT compared to conventional care: between group difference of 8.81; P ≤ .0001 at 12 months and 11.28; P = .011 at 60 months. There was no significant difference in FVC between groups at 12 months but at 24 months, AHSCT was associated with a higher FVC (between group difference of 10.53 (P = .05)). This study demonstrates with real-world long-term data that compared with conventional care, treatment with AHSCT may offer superior outcomes for SSc patients.