Myelodysplastic syndrome and acute myeloid leukemia after receipt of granulocyte colony-stimulating factors in older patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma

Risk of a second cancer and infection in patients with indolent B-cell lymphoma exposed to first-line bendamustine plus rituximab: A retrospective analysis of an administrative claims database

Bendamustine has a potent immunosuppressive effect because it causes T-cell lymphopenia, which might lead to a second primary malignancy (SPM) and would increase the risk of infection. Using the Medical Data Vision administrative claims database, we compared the cumulative incidence of SPM, infections within 6 months, and overall survival (OS) among untreated patients with indolent B-cell lymphomas (iBCL) who received rituximab-based chemotherapy between 2009 and 2020. Patients with grade 3b follicular lymphoma or a previous history of malignancy were excluded. Eligible 5234 patients were assigned to three cohorts: rituximab monotherapy (N = 780), RCHOP/RCVP/RTHPCOP (doxorubicin replaced with pirarubicin) (N = 2298), or bendamustine/rituximab (BR) (N = 2156). There were 589 recorded SPMs, of which myelodysplastic syndromes were the most common (1.7%). The cumulative incidence of SPM was significantly higher in patients treated with BR than in those treated with rituximab monotherapy (p < 0.01) or RCHOP/RCVP/RTHPCOP (p < 0.0001): the 5-year cumulative incidence function was 18.1%, 12.5%, and 12.9%, respectively. In the Fine-Gray subdistribution hazards model, BR showed a significantly higher cumulative incidence of SPM than RCHOP/RCVP/RTHPCOP (subhazard ratio, 1.33; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.10-1.61). Furthermore, in sensitivity analysis, a nested case-control study using an entire cohort showed consistent results: the SPM odds ratios (95% CI) of first-line bendamustine, bendamustine after first-line, and any-line bendamustine were 1.43 (1.14-1.78), 1.26 (0.96-1.64), and 1.33 (1.09-1.62), respectively. Regarding infections, adjusted odds ratios (95% CI) of BR compared to RCHOP/RCVP/RTHPCOP were as follows: cytomegalovirus infection, 13.7 (4.88-38.4); bacterial pneumonia, 0.63 (0.50-0.78); and pneumocystis pneumonia, 0.24 (0.11-0.53). There was no significant difference in OS between RCHOP/RCVP/RTHPCOP and BR in patients with follicular, mantle cell, marginal zone, or lymphoplasmacytic lymphomas. In conclusion, treatment strategies that consider the risk of SPM and infections after chemotherapy are warranted in patients with iBCL.

A secondary CD34+ acute lymphoblastic leukemia unmasked and mobilized by G-CSF in an autologous stem cell donor with testicular cancer

BACKGROUND

Late complications of chemotherapy include treatment-related secondary leukemias. We describe an unusual case of a new treatment-related acute lymphoblastic leukemia (t-ALL) that was unmasked and mobilized by G-CSF during autologous hematopoietic progenitor cell collection (HPCC) in a young man with testicular cancer.

METHODS

Electronic chart review of the patient medical history and pertinent laboratory findings. Patient CD34 and blast results were compared to 4249 autologous and 437 allogeneic HPCC performed between 2004 and 2022. In autologous donors, the %blast and %CD34 were compared by linear regression and paired t-test using commercial software.

RESULTS

The patient was a 21-year-old male with relapsed testicular cancer referred for G-CSF cytokine-only mobilization and autologous HPCC. His pre-mobilization WBC count and differential were normal. On the day of HPCC, his WBC = 37.9 K/mcL with 12% blasts and 9.75% circulating CD34+ cells. The patient was admitted 9 days after HPCC with a normal WBC count and 15% blasts. He was diagnosed with a pro-B t-ALL bearing an t(4:11)(q21:q23) translocation and KMT2A-AF4 rearrangement. Upon review, this patient had the highest %CD34 among 4686 HPCC and was the only donor with %CD34 > 1% after a cytokine-only mobilization.

CONCLUSION

We report a case of t-ALL that mimicked CD34+ HPC and was mobilized by high-dose G-CSF. Up to 70% of secondary leukemias bear 11q23/KMT2A rearrangements, which occur at the multipotent stem cell stage and can result in myeloid and lymphoid leukemias. Donors who have received past chemotherapy, especially with topoisomerase II inhibitors, are at increased risk for 11q23/KMT2A leukemias.

G-CSF plus azacitidine versus azacitidine alone for patients with high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome: academic, open label, randomized trial

GA trial is registered under EudraCT#: 2013-001639-38.

Trends in the risk of second primary malignances after non-Hodgkin's lymphoma

Patients with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) have an increased risk of developing second primary malignances (SPMs). In the current study, we aimed to evaluate the trends and relative clinical variables of SPM risk among NHL survivors over the past four decades. Standardized incidence ratio (SIR) and cumulative incidence frequency (CIF) were assessed in patients diagnosed with first primary NHL between 1975-2016 from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. As a result, the overall SIR was 1.13 for SPMs of all sites among NHL survivors. Risk factors included male patients, "other" races, chemotherapy and radiation, and younger age at the time of NHL diagnosis. The relative and cumulative risk for both hematological and solid second cancers after NHL increased over time, whereas the increasing trend was more remarkable for hematological malignances compared with solid tumors. For individual cancer sites, the trends of SIRs varied. A significantly increasing trend of SPM risk was observed in the group receiving chemotherapy and those younger than 40 years at the time of NHL diagnosis. Recent calendar years was not an independent risk factor after adjusting age, race, gender, and therapies in the multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression. To conclude, the current study showed that the relative and cumulative risk of developing SPMs significantly increased in patients diagnosed with NHL in recent years. The trend of SPM risk was associated with certain clinical and demographic variables, and might vary according to different cancer types.

Circulating Tumor DNA Profiling of a Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma Patient with Secondary Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Diffuse large B cell lymphomas (DLBCL) are the most common neoplasia of the lymphatic system. Circulating cell-free DNA released from tumor cells (ctDNA) has been studied in many tumor entities and successfully used to monitor treatment and follow up. Studies of ctDNA in DLBCL so far have mainly focused on tracking mutations in peripheral blood initially detected by next-generation sequencing (NGS) of tumor tissue from one lymphoma manifestation site. This approach, however, cannot capture the mutational heterogeneity of different tumor sites in its entirety. In this case report, we present repetitive targeted next-generation sequencing combined with digital PCR out of peripheral blood of a patient with DLBCL relapse. By combining both detection methods, we were able to detect a new dominant clone of ctDNA correlating with the development of secondary therapy-related acute myeloid leukemia (t-AML) during the course of observation. Conclusively, our case report reinforces the diagnostic importance of ctDNA in DLBCL as well as the importance of repeated ctDNA sequencing combined with focused digital PCR assays to display the dynamic mutational landscape during the clinical course.

Therapy-related myeloid neoplasms in 109 patients after radiation monotherapy

Therapy-related myeloid neoplasms (t-MNs) are a late complication of cytotoxic therapy and are defined as a distinct entity by the World Health Organization. Although the link between chemotherapy exposure and risk of subsequent t-MN is well described, the association between radiation monotherapy (RT) and t-MN risk is less definitive. We analyzed 109 consecutive patients who developed t-MNs after RT and describe latencies, cytogenetic profile, mutation analyses, and clinical outcomes. The most common cytogenetic abnormality was a clonal abnormality in chromosome 5 and/or 7, which was present in 45% of patients. The median latency from RT to t-MN diagnosis was 6.5 years, with the shortest latency in patients with balanced translocations. One-year overall survival (OS) was 52% and 5-year OS was 22% for the entire cohort. Patients with chromosome 5 and/or 7 abnormalities experienced worse 1-year OS (37%) and 5-year OS (2%) compared with other cytogenetic groups (P < .0001). Sixteen patients underwent net-generation sequencing; ASXL1 and TET2 were the most commonly mutated genes (n = 4). In addition, 17 patients underwent germline variant testing and 3 carried pathogenic or likely pathogenic germline variants. In conclusion, patients with t-MN after RT monotherapy have increased frequencies of chromosome 5 and/or 7 abnormalities, which are associated with poor OS. In addition, pathogenic germline variants may be common in patients with t-MN after RT monotherapy.

Intra-lesionally autologous stem cell application in diabetic foot/ulcer

The diabetic fot/ulcer is the cause of high morbidity and mortality in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). Generally, medical treatment of diabetic foot/ulcer is ineffective and stem cell implantation is an important option in the treatment. Here, we present a 69 years old man admitted to hospital due to a 3 × 4 cm wound in the plantar surface of left foot. Autologous stem cells were applied intralesionally into diabetic ulcers. The lesion shrunken 50 % at the 16th week and there is a wound under the left foot at 32nd week. Intralesionally autologous stem cell application was useful and safe without adverse course in patients with diabetic foot/ulcer.

Outcomes of Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation in Patients with Mixed Response to Pretransplantation Treatment of Confirmed or Suspected Invasive Fungal Infection

Patients with hematologic malignancy or bone marrow failure are typically required to achieve radiographic improvement or stabilization of invasive fungal infection (IFI) before hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) owing to a concern for progression before engraftment. Refractory IFI with a mixture of improvement and progression on serial imaging (ie, mixed response) poses a clinical dilemma, because a delay in HCT may allow for a hematologic relapse or other complications. Furthermore, HCT itself may yield the immune reconstitution necessary for clearance of infection. We sought to describe the characteristics and outcomes of patients who underwent HCT with mixed response IFI. We performed a chart review of all patients who underwent HCT between 2014 and 2020 in whom imaging within 6 weeks before HCT indicated a mixed response to treatment of a diagnosed IFI. Fourteen patients had evidence of a mixed response in low-to-moderate burden of diagnosed IFI by imaging before HCT, including 9 with pulmonary aspergillosis, 2 with hepatosplenic candidiasis (1 also with aspergillosis), and 4 with pulmonary nodules of presumed fungal etiology. Five had refractory severe neutropenia at evaluation for HCT (median, 95 days). All 14 patients showed radiographic stability or improvement in imaging following engraftment; no IFI-related surgeries were required, and no IFI-related deaths occurred. For patients without relapse who underwent HCT more than 1 year earlier, 7 of 8 (88%) were alive at 1 year. Our findings suggest that low-to-moderate burden IFI with mixed response is unlikely to progress on appropriate therapy before engraftment during allogeneic HCT.

Risk of secondary hematologic malignancies associated with breast cancer chemotherapy and G-CSF support: A nationwide population-based cohort

Our study aimed to analyze the risk of hematologic malignancies (HM) associated with the use of G-CSF with chemotherapy for BC. Using the French National Health Data System, we examined the HM risks in patients diagnosed with an incident breast cancer between 2007 and 2015, who received chemotherapy for BC. Main outcomes were acute myeloid leukemia (AML), Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs), multiple myeloma (MM), Hodgkin lymphoma or non-Hodgkin lymphoma (HL/NHL) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia or lymphocytic lymphoma (ALL/LL). Among a total of 122 373 BC survivors, 38.9% received chemotherapy only and 61.1% received chemotherapy + G-CSF. Overall, 781 cases of hematologic malignancies occurred. We observed a nonsignificant increase in the risk of AML (aHR, 1.3; 95% CI, 1.0-1.7), of MDS (aHR, 1.3; 95% CI, 0.9-1.8) and of ALL/LL (aHR, 2.0; 95% CI, 1.0-4.4) among patients treated by chemotherapy + G-CSF compared to chemotherapy only. In analyses by dose, we observed a slight increase in the risk of AML (1-3 doses: aHR, 1.2; 95% CI, 0.8-1.7/4+ doses: aHR, 1.3; 95% CI, 1.0-1.8) and of MDS (1-3 doses: aHR, 1.1; 95% CI, 0.7-1.7/4+ doses: aHR, 1.4; 95% CI, 1.0-1.9), a significant increase in risk of ALL (1-3 doses: aHR, 1.5; 95% CI, 0.5-3.9 / 4+ doses: aHR, 2.3; 95% CI, 1.0-5.1) with increasing cycles of G-CSF. Our population-based study showed that the ALL/LL was the only HM at increased risk with the use of growth factors with a possible dose-effect relationship. Our data regarding the risk of all the other HM are reassuring.

Maximizing Breast Cancer Therapy with Awareness of Potential Treatment-Related Blood Disorders

In this review we summarize the impact of the various modalities of breast cancer therapy coupled with intrinsic patient factors on incidence of subsequent treatment-induced myelodysplasia and acute myelogenous leukemia (t-MDS/AML). It is clear that risk is increased for patients treated with radiation and chemotherapy at younger ages. Radiation is associated with modest risk, whereas chemotherapy, particularly the combination of an alkylating agent and an anthracycline, carries higher risk and radiation and chemotherapy combined increase the risk markedly. Recently, treatment with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), but not pegylated G-CSF, has been identified as a factor associated with increased t-MDS/AML risk. Two newly identified associations may link homologous DNA repair gene deficiency and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitor treatment to increased t-MDS/AML risk. When predisposing factors, such as young age, are combined with an increasing number of potentially leukemogenic treatments that may not confer large risk singly, the risk of t-MDS/AML appears to increase. Patient and treatment factors combine to form a biological cascade that can trigger a myelodysplastic event. Patients with breast cancer are often exposed to many of these risk factors in the course of their treatment, and triple-negative patients, who are often younger and/or BRCA positive, are often exposed to all of them. It is important going forward to identify effective therapies without these adverse associated effects and choose existing therapies that minimize the risk of t-MDS/AML without sacrificing therapeutic gain. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Breast cancer is far more curable than in the past but requires multimodality treatment. Great care must be taken to use the least leukemogenic treatment programs that do not sacrifice efficacy. Elimination of radiation and anthracycline/alkylating agent regimens will be helpful where possible, particularly in younger patients and possibly those with homologous repair deficiency (HRD). Use of colony-stimulating factors should be limited to those who truly require them for safe chemotherapy administration. Further study of a possible leukemogenic association with HRD and the various forms of colony-stimulating factors is badly needed.