Allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT) provides a potentially
curative therapy for patients with high-risk or chemorefractory acute myeloid leukemia
(AML). Historically, the applicability of alloHCT has been limited as only
30–35% of patients have human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-matched siblings and
outcomes using other donor types have been markedly inferior due to excess toxicity, graft
failure, graft-versus-host disease, and consequently non-relapse mortality. Advances in
HLA typing, graft-versus-host disease prophylactic approaches, and other transplantation
techniques have successfully addressed these historical challenges. Herein, we review
recent alloHCT studies using volunteer unrelated donors, umbilical cord blood units, or
HLA-haploidentical donors, specifically focusing on studies that compared outcomes between
donor sources. Although none are randomized and most are retrospective, these analyses
suggest that current outcomes for AML patients using most alternative donor types are
comparable to those seen using HLA-matched-siblings.