Affiliation:
1. From Onco-Ematologia Pediatrica, Ospedale dei Bambini G. Di Cristina, Palermo; Onco-Ematologia Pediatrica, IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia; Clinica Pediatrica and Medical Statistics Section, University of Milano Bicocca; Clinica Pediatrica, University of Bologna; Clinica Pediatrica, University of Torino; Oncoematologia Pediatrica, Ospedale Pausilipon; Ematologia Pediatrica, IRCCS Ospedale Bambin Gesù of Roma; and Onco-Ematologia Pediatrica, IRCCS G. Gaslini, Genova, Italy.
Abstract
Abstract
One hundred ninety-eight children and adolescents were entered in the Associazione Italiana di Ematologia ed Oncologia Pediatrica (AIEOP)-ALL95 study for high-risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Inclusion criteria were poor response to initial prednisone/intrathecal methotrexate (prednisone-poor response [PPR]), resistance to induction therapy, translocation t(9;22), infants with the t(4;11), or CD10− ALL. The event-free survival (EFS) rate at 4 years was 56.5% (SE, 3.9%) for the entire group. The overall EFS rate in the current study was significantly better (P = .002) than that obtained in a comparable group of patients treated in the early 1990s in the AIEOP-ALL91 study. In particular, patients with PPR had a 4-year EFS of 61.1% (SE, 4.4%) versus 42.8% (SE, 5.4%) in the ALL 91 study (P = .008). Among PPR patients, those who were PPR-only (60.1%)—that is, they achieved CR and were negative for t(9;22) and t(4;11) translocations—had the best outcomes with this intensive treatment, even when additional adverse features (hyperleukocytosis, T phenotype) were present (4-year EFS, 70.1%; SE, 4.7%). We attribute this improvement to the replacement of 6 alternating blocks of non–cross-resistant drugs with an 8-drug reinduction regimen (Berlin-Frankfurt-Muenster [BFM] protocol II), repeated twice, in the context of a standard BFM-type intensive chemotherapy for high-risk ALL. This modified therapy may lead to high cure rates for patients defined as at high risk for intrinsic resistance to corticosteroids only.
Publisher
American Society of Hematology
Subject
Cell Biology,Hematology,Immunology,Biochemistry
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