Thirteen patients with a median follow-up of 54 months have so far been included in the trial: polychonditis (n = 1), systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) (n = 6), systemic sclerosis (SSc) (n = 3), panniculitis (n = 1) and multiple sclerosis (n = 2). Clinical remission has been achieved in all patients with polychondritis (n = 1), SLE (n = 6) and multiple sclerosis (n = 2) whereas we observed progression of disease in all patients with SSc (n = 3) and panniculits (n = 1). One SLE patient relapsed after being free of any clinical and serological symptoms for 17 months.
T-lymphocyte compartments reconstituted functionally in all patients, indicated by the reappearance and persistence of CD45RA+CD31+ thymic naive Th cells in high numbers with high levels of T-cell receptor excision circles and restored diversity of the Th-cell-receptor repertoire. In terms of Th-cell memory no autoreactive Th cells could be detected in responding patients. Reconstituted B cells were primarily of naïve phenotype (IgD+CD27-) in the first 12–18 months after ASCT. As a cellular marker for disease activity, frequencies of CD19+CD27++CD20- plasma blasts, elevated in SLE patients prior to ASCT, normalized after treatment in all patients. In case of the non-responding patients with SSc, autoantibody titers were not affected by treatment. However, no major differences in the pattern of lymphocyte reconstitution could be detected as compared with responding patients.