pre-and post-transplant serum lactate dehydrogenase levels as a predictive marker for patient survival and engraftment in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients

Background: the discovery of biomarkers to predict the development of complications associated with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (hsct) offers a potential avenue for the early identification and treatment of these life-threatening consequences. serum lactate dehydrogenase (sldh) has been identified as a potential biomarker for determining the outcome of allogenic hsct (allo-hsct). methods: a retrospective study was performed using data collected from 204 allo-hsct recipient patients to examine the predictive value of sldh levels pre- and post-allo-hsct on patient survival, graft-versushost- disease (gvhd) incidence, and time to platelet/white blood cells (wbc) engraftment. results: our findings show that neither pre- (p= 0.61) nor post-transplantation (p= 0.55) sldh levels were associated with gvhd incidence. however, elevated sldh levels pre- and post-transplantation (≥ 386 and ≥ 409 iu/ml, respectively) were found to be adverse risk factors for patient survival (p= 0.16, p= 0.20, respectively). furthermore, a median sldh level≥ 400 iu/ml from day +5 to day +15 post-transplantation had a significant positive association with enhanced time to platelet and white blood cell (wbc) engraftment, compared to patients with sldh levels < 400 iu/ml (p< 0.001). conclusions: our data suggests that high sldh levels pre- and post-allo-hsct could be considered a predictor of poor patient survival. furthermore, high levels of sldh days 5-15 post-allo-hsct could be associated with improved time to platelet and wbc engraftment; however, this appears to come at the cost of increased mortality risk.