Skin responses per modified 2025 NIH Skin Task Force criteria in sclerotic cGvHD

Results from a comparative, retrospective analysis evaluating skin responses scored using 2014 National Institutes of Health (NIH) chronic graft-versus-host-disease (cGvHD) consensus criteria and the 2025 NIH cGvHD Skin Task Force criteria in patients with sclerotic cGvHD enrolled in phase I/II pacritinib (NCT05531786) and baricitinib (NCT02759731) trials were published in Transplantation and Cellular Therapy by Kapetanovic et al.

Key data: At 6 and 12 months, 23 and 18 patients with sclerotic cGvHD met inclusion criteria, respectively. The modified 2025 NIH Skin Task Force criteria identified three additional partial responses (PR, 13.0%) at 6 months and two additional PRs (11.1%) at 12 months not captured by the 2014 NIH criteria. Two complete responses (CR, 11.1%) at 12 months were captured by both the 2014 and 2025 NIH criteria. Component-level improvement was observed in 15 patients (65.2%) at 6 months and 12 (66.7%) at 12 months. Neither criteria detected disease progression.

Key learning: The modified 2025 NIH Skin Task Force criteria identified sclerotic responses not captured by the 2014 NIH criteria, providing preliminary support for improved sensitivity of response assessment. Future prospective studies with larger sample sizes are needed to validate these findings.