OBJECTIVETo investigate the value of C-reactive protein (CRP) on transplantation day in predicting early post-transplant infections and outcomes of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT).

METHODSWe retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 78 recipients undergoing allo-HSCT. The clinical reference value of CRP on transplantation day was determined, and its sensitivity and specificity for diagnosing bacteremia was analyzed using receiver-operating characteristic curve (ROC). The incidence of transplant-related complications, overall survival, and relapse rate of the patients were analyzed with respect to the CRP level.

RESULTSThe clinical reference value of CRP for diagnosing bacteremia was 23.3 mg/L (AUC=0.735 [95% CI: 0.623-0.848], P=0.001), which had a diagnostic sensitivity and specificity of 0.793 and 0.592, respectively. Compared with the patients with low CRP levels, the patients with high CRP levels tended to have delayed neutrophil reconstitution and platelet engraftment by 0.71 days (P=0.237) and 4.09 days (P=0.048), respectively, and had a significantly higher incidence of bacteremia (17.1% vs 53.5%, P=0.001) and CMV viremia (37.1% vs 72.1%, P=0.003) within 100 days following the transplantation; the incidences of EBV viremia, pulmonary invasive fungal infection, or acute graft versus host disease (aGVHD) showed no significant difference between the two groups (41.9% vs 22.9%, P=0.094; 14.0% vs 5.7%, P=0.285; 51.2% vs 45.7, P=0.656, respectively). During the follow-up for a median of 318 (7-773) days in high-CRP group and for 299 (78-747) days in low-CRP group, the high-CRP group showed a significantly lower 2-year overall survival than the low-CRP group (42.5% vs 78.4%, P=0.022), and tended to have a higher 2-year cumulative relapse rate (52.3% vs 19.8%, P=0.235). Logistic multivariate analysis identified a high CRP level on transplantation day as the independent risk factor for post-transplant bacteremia within 100 days (OR=5.090 [95% CI: 1.115 -23.229], P=0.036).

CONCLUSIONA high CRP level on transplantation day can be indicative of a high risk of early post-transplant bacteremia and CMV viremia and also a poor prognosis following allo-HSCT.