Pediatric acute GVHD: clinical phenotype and response to upfront steroids

To better understand the clinical phenotype of acute graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) in children, we examined the GVHD clinical stage, grade, and response to prednisone 60 mg/m 2 /day PO in a diverse group of 370 pediatric patients with acute GVHD treated from 1990 to 2016 at a single institution. Overall response [complete response (CR) + partial response (PR)] at day 28 occurred in 65%, (CR 52%; PR 13%). Initial GVHD grade did not predict day 28 response. However, the Minnesota GVHD Risk Score predicted response with 68% standard risk (SR)-GVHD patients achieving CR/PR at day 28 versus 48% high risk (HR)-GVHD patients ( p