Post-prophylaxis CMV in the letermovir era: Incidence, risk factors, and outcomes following HCT.

6561 Background: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a major infectious complication after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). Letermovir prophylaxis (ppx) effectively reduces clinically significant CMV infection (csCMVi) within 100 days, but csCMVi after ppx discontinuation occurs in 7–16%. Extended letermovir ppx has been proposed for high-risk patients, though optimal patient selection is uncertain. Our study aims to define the incidence, risk factors, and outcomes for post-ppx csCMVi to guide extended ppx strategies. Methods: We analyzed adult CMV-seropositive (+) HCT recipients at Cleveland Clinic who received ≥45 days of Letermovir primary ppx between 1/1/2018-12/31/2024. The primary outcome was post-ppx csCMVi, defined as CMV disease or asymptomatic viremia requiring preemptive therapy. Secondary outcomes included overall and non-relapse mortality. Patients with csCMVi during standard ppx were excluded. Associations with csCMVi were evaluated using competing-risk models accounting for mortality, with multivariable Cox analyses adjusting for age, sex, Karnofsky score. Results: Among 311 CMV+ recipients of HCT, 62% were donor-CMV negative and 50% were male. Median age was 59 (47-67) years. HCT was most commonly for AML (48%), with matched unrelated donors (54%), peripheral blood graft (76%), myeloablative conditioning (45%), and GVHD ppx with post-transplant cyclophosphamide (PTCy) (63%). Grade ≥2 acute GVHD (36%), chronic GVHD (53%), and relapse (22%) were common in the cohort. Post-ppx infection occurred in 64 patients (21%), including 8 (13%) with tissue-invasive disease. Median duration of Letermovir was 75 days, typically initiated on day 28 post-transplant. Median time to csCMVi was 123 days from transplant. Cumulative incidence of post-ppx csCMVi was 9% at 60 days, 11% at 90 days, and 12% at 180 and 360 days. Risk factors included older age (HR 1.04 per year, 95% CI=1.01-1.07, p=0.014), female sex (HR 3.3, 95% CI=1.5-7.1, p=0.003), chronic GVHD (HR 9.9, 95% CI=1.2-5.6, p=0.024), and GVHD treated with steroids (HR 9.86, 95% CI=1.4-71.5, p=0.024) or ruxolitinib (HR 2.8, 95% CI= 1.3-6.3, p=0.011). Primary disease, donor CMV status, donor relationship, graft source, conditioning intensity, ATG, and PTCy were not associated with csCMVi. All-cause mortality was high in the cohort (37%), particularly in the late csCMVi group (52%). Post-ppx csCMVi was associated with increased non-relapse (HR 2.36, 95% CI= 1.37-4.07, p=0.002) and overall mortality (HR 2.41, 95% CI= 1.43-4.06, p<0.001) in multivariable analysis adjusted for age and sex. Conclusions: Late csCMVi occurs in 12% of CMV+ HCT recipients after prophylaxis discontinuation and may confer additional mortality risk. These findings support risk-adapted surveillance and extended prophylaxis in high-risk groups, particularly recipients who are older, female, and have chronic GVHD requiring immunosuppression.

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Journal
Journal of Clinical Oncology
Published
2026-05-27
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1200/jco.2026.44.16_suppl.6561
Primary Topic
Cytomegalovirus and herpesvirus research
Type
article
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article

Post-prophylaxis CMV in the letermovir era: Incidence, risk factors, and outcomes following HCT.

Ronald Sobecks, Andrew D. Trunk, Safah Khan, Claudio Brunstein et al.
Journal of Clinical Oncology
Cytomegalovirus and herpesvirus research
article

Post-prophylaxis CMV in the letermovir era: Incidence, risk factors, and outcomes following HCT.

Ronald Sobecks, Andrew D. Trunk, Safah Khan, Claudio Brunstein, Kristina Nasr, Xuefei Jia, Betty Ky Hamilton, Elizabeth Darga, Zachary Yetmar
article en

Abstract

6561 Background: Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a major infectious complication after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). Letermovir prophylaxis (ppx) effectively reduces clinically significant CMV infection (csCMVi) within 100 days, but csCMVi after ppx discontinuation occurs in 7–16%. Extended letermovir ppx has been proposed for high-risk patients, though optimal patient selection is uncertain. Our study aims to define the incidence, risk factors, and outcomes for post-ppx csCMVi to guide extended ppx strategies. Methods: We analyzed adult CMV-seropositive (+) HCT recipients at Cleveland Clinic who received ≥45 days of Letermovir primary ppx between 1/1/2018-12/31/2024. The primary outcome was post-ppx csCMVi, defined as CMV disease or asymptomatic viremia requiring preemptive therapy. Secondary outcomes included overall and non-relapse mortality. Patients with csCMVi during standard ppx were excluded. Associations with csCMVi were evaluated using competing-risk models accounting for mortality, with multivariable Cox analyses adjusting for age, sex, Karnofsky score. Results: Among 311 CMV+ recipients of HCT, 62% were donor-CMV negative and 50% were male. Median age was 59 (47-67) years. HCT was most commonly for AML (48%), with matched unrelated donors (54%), peripheral blood graft (76%), myeloablative conditioning (45%), and GVHD ppx with post-transplant cyclophosphamide (PTCy) (63%). Grade ≥2 acute GVHD (36%), chronic GVHD (53%), and relapse (22%) were common in the cohort. Post-ppx infection occurred in 64 patients (21%), including 8 (13%) with tissue-invasive disease. Median duration of Letermovir was 75 days, typically initiated on day 28 post-transplant. Median time to csCMVi was 123 days from transplant. Cumulative incidence of post-ppx csCMVi was 9% at 60 days, 11% at 90 days, and 12% at 180 and 360 days. Risk factors included older age (HR 1.04 per year, 95% CI=1.01-1.07, p=0.014), female sex (HR 3.3, 95% CI=1.5-7.1, p=0.003), chronic GVHD (HR 9.9, 95% CI=1.2-5.6, p=0.024), and GVHD treated with steroids (HR 9.86, 95% CI=1.4-71.5, p=0.024) or ruxolitinib (HR 2.8, 95% CI= 1.3-6.3, p=0.011). Primary disease, donor CMV status, donor relationship, graft source, conditioning intensity, ATG, and PTCy were not associated with csCMVi. All-cause mortality was high in the cohort (37%), particularly in the late csCMVi group (52%). Post-ppx csCMVi was associated with increased non-relapse (HR 2.36, 95% CI= 1.37-4.07, p=0.002) and overall mortality (HR 2.41, 95% CI= 1.43-4.06, p<0.001) in multivariable analysis adjusted for age and sex. Conclusions: Late csCMVi occurs in 12% of CMV+ HCT recipients after prophylaxis discontinuation and may confer additional mortality risk. These findings support risk-adapted surveillance and extended prophylaxis in high-risk groups, particularly recipients who are older, female, and have chronic GVHD requiring immunosuppression.

Journal of Clinical OncologyVol. 44(16_suppl)
Cleveland Clinic (US)
Good health and well-being
Openalex Percentile: Top 7%
Cytomegalovirus and herpesvirus research
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