Outcome of Adolescents with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Treated by Pediatrics versus Adults Protocols

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for acute lymphoblastic leukemia: why do adolescents and young adults outcomes differ from those of children? A retrospective study on behalf of the Francophone Society of Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (SFGM-TC)

PURPOSE

In the acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) landscape, adolescents and young adults (AYA) often present high-risk diseases and increased chemotherapy-related toxicity. Studies analyzing the outcomes of AYA after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) are scarce. Our study aimed to compare the outcomes of children and AYA with ALL after HSCT and to determine the factors influencing potential differences.

METHOD

891 patients, from the SFGM-TC registry, aged between 1 and 25 years who received HSCT between 2005 and 2012 were included. The outcomes of AYA were compared to the ones of their younger counterparts.

RESULTS

Five-year OS and GRFS were lower in AYA: 53.1% versus 64% and 36% versus 47% (p = 0.0012 and p = 0.007, respectively). WhileCIR was similar in both groups, 5 year-treatment related mortality was higher in AYA: 19% versus 13% (p = 0.04). The lower GRFS in AYA was mainly explained by a higher chronic graft versus host disease (cGvHD) incidence: 32% versus 19% (p < 0.001). Use of peripheral blood stem cells and use of anti-thymoglobulin appeared to be the main factors impacting cGvHD occurrence in AYA.

CONCLUSION

AYA have worse outcomes than children after HSCT for ALL because of a greater risk of TRM due to cGvHD. HSCT practices should be questioned in this population.

The changing landscape of treatment options in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

New paediatric acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) treatments have been developed and innovative products are in the pipeline. However, despite many active clinical trials, bridging bench science to clinical development to authorised medicines remains challenging. Research in first-line treatment continues to focus on multidrug chemotherapy with the potential addition of new targeted molecules being studied. Research in second- and third-line treatment represents a shift from cytotoxic intensification to an area of precision medicine through emergent innovative and immuno-oncology products. The collaborative research model in ALL involving different stakeholders should intensify to facilitate bench-to-bedside clinical translation for the benefit of patients.

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Adolescents and Young Adults: A Polish Perspective

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a disease that affects immature lymphocytes in the blood and presents a high prevalence rate in children and adolescent young adult (AYA) populations (15-39 years). AYAs are a unique group who face a significant therapeutic disadvantage when treated with the adult regimen, as evident with lower remission rates, whereas the opposite is true in children. A recent study by EUROCARE-5 showed a marked decrease with age in 5 years relative to survival outcomes based on cancer registries of 27 European countries: 85.8% for patients 0-14 years of age and a decreased 62.2% and 52.8% for patients 15-19 and 20-39 years, respectively. There is growing evidence demonstrating that the pediatric ALL treatment regimen is effective and beneficial when treating AYAs. Treatment of ALL in AYAs around the world is showing improved remission rates with therapeutic advancements and increasing amount of data available with updated clinical trials and regimens. The addition of l-asparaginase into adult treatment regimens has significantly increased the remission rates. This administration to AYAs is more difficult but shows a positive benefit in comparison with the toxicity ratio. This review article will discuss the controversy of AYA patients diagnosed with ALL treated with pediatric or adult protocols and their perspectives in Poland and will focus on ALL etiology, epidemiology, and prognostic factors with comparison of compliance of medications between both populations of patients.

The effect of hospital care volume on overall survival of children with cancer in Southern Brazil

PURPOSE

The purpose of this study was to analyze the effect of hospital care volume on the overall survival of children with cancer in Southern Brazil.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We performed a retrospective cohort study of 1378 cancer patients aged 0-19 years, diagnosed with cancer between August 1, 2009 and December 31, 2015 in Rio Grande do Sul, who received hospital treatment in institutions affiliated with the Universal Health Care System (Sistema Único de Saúde [SUS]).

RESULTS

Most children and adolescents were male (56.9%) and White (75.8%). The most common types of cancer in our cohort were acute leukemia (40.7%), followed by lymphoma (15.9%) and central nervous system tumors (8.8%). Ninety-five percent of the patients were treated in specialized pediatric oncology centers. The cumulative probability of survival at 5 years for all patients was 73.8% (95% confidence interval [CI] 71.4-76.0%). Survival was significantly higher for patients younger than 4 years of age (P = .012) compared to all other age groups. Patients treated in institutions with a pediatric oncology patient volume of less than 15 patients/year were 41% more likely to die than patients treated in institutions with a volume of 60 patients/year or more (P = .029).

CONCLUSION

Cancer is the leading cause of death by natural causes in all age groups in Brazil, but, even so, childhood tumors are rare. This complexity makes childhood cancer care a challenge. In this study, we reiterate that pediatric cancer patients demonstrate better overall survival when treated in high-volume hospitals.

Increased Toxicity Among Adolescents and Young Adults Compared with Children Hospitalized with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia at Children's Hospitals in the United States

Purpose: Adolescent and young adult (AYA) patients (15-39 years old) with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) have less favorable outcomes and higher treatment-related mortality as compared with older children with ALL. Minimal data exist regarding how well AYA patients tolerate the intensity of chemotherapy at doses and regimens designed for children, and the toxicities suffered by this population at children's hospitals have not been thoroughly characterized. Methods: Pediatric Health Information Systems database was queried to analyze health care outcomes in pediatric (ages 10-14) and AYA patients (ages 15-39) with ALL hospitalized between January 1999 and December 2014. We extracted relevant ICD-9 data for each patient related to grades 3 or 4 toxicities as outlined by the NCI. Results: A total of 5345 hospital admissions met inclusion criteria, representing 4046 unique patients. Of these admissions, 2195 (41.1%) were in the AYA age group, and the remainder were in the 10-14-year-old group. AYA patients had a significantly higher incidence of intensive care unit stay but no difference in median hospital stay nor mortality. AYA patients had increased toxicities in almost every organ system as compared with older children. Conclusions: In this large multicenter US database study, we found an overall increased number of toxicities among AYA patients with ALL in children's hospitals. Compared with children between the ages of 10 and 15, AYA patients developed disproportionately higher toxicities from drugs commonly used in pediatric protocols for ALL. Prospective studies are needed to assess whether dose modifications for certain chemotherapeutics may improve the toxicity profile and health care burden of AYA patients with ALL treated in children's hospitals.

Pediatric randomized trial EORTC CLG 58951: Outcome for adolescent population with acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Over the years, the prognosis of adolescents treated for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) has improved. However, this age group still represents a challenge with an overall survival (OS) of 60% compared to 85% in younger children. Herein, we report the outcome of adolescents treated in the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) 58951 clinical trial. EORTC 58951 clinical trial included patients with de novo ALL between 1998 and 2008. For this study, we analyzed data of all adolescents between 15 and under 18. Data from 97 adolescents were analyzed, 70 had B-lineage and 27 had T-lineage ALL. The 8-year event-free survival (EFS) and OS for the B-cell precursor ALL cases were 72.3% (59.4%-81.7%) and 80.8% (67.4%-89.1%), respectively. For the T-lineage, the 8-year EFS and OS were 57.4% (36.1%-74.0%) and 59.0% (36.1%-76.2%), respectively. "B-other" ALL, defined as BCP-ALL lacking any known recurrent genetic abnormalities were more frequent in our adolescent population (52.8%) than in younger children (27.1%). Outcome of adolescents in the EORTC 58951 study is supporting the findings that adolescents have better outcome in pediatric compared to adults' trials. Nevertheless, in pediatric studies, adolescents still have a worse prognosis than younger children. Despite the fact that specific unfavorable characteristics may be linked to the adolescent population, a careful study and characterization of adolescents "B-other" genetic abnormalities in ALL is critical to improve the outcome of this population.

Survival of childhood and adolescent/young adult (AYA) cancer patients in Ireland during 1994-2013: comparisons by age

BACKGROUND

Some studies indicate that survival of adolescents and young adults (AYA) with cancer may be inferior to that of younger children with similar cancers, possibly related (in part) to differences in access to centralized or standardized treatment.

AIMS

This study aims to evaluate differences in survival for AYA patients when compared with paediatric patients treated in Ireland over a 20-year time period.

METHODS

This study compares relative survival for patients diagnosed in Ireland at ages 0-15 (paediatric group) and 16-24 (AYA group) during 1994-2013, followed to the end of 2014, for cancers defined by the International Classification of Childhood Cancer (ICCC) (Third Edition) group or subgroup. Five-year relative survival estimates, and excess hazard ratios (EHR) comparing excess mortality associated with a cancer diagnosis among AYA with that in the paediatric group, are presented. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

RESULTS

Significantly higher excess mortality was found for AYA with leukaemias, lymphomas, astrocytomas, malignant bone tumours, and Ewing and related bone sarcomas, soft tissue sarcomas and 'other/unspecified' epithelial cancers, rhabdomyosarcomas, and 'other and unspecified' carcinomas. In contrast, lower excess mortality was found in the AYA group for all cancers and intracranial/intraspinal tumours, and for gliomas other than astrocytomas or ependymomas. Comparing 1994-2003 and 2004-2013 cohorts, age-related survival differences narrowed for lymphoid leukaemias, but widened for all cancers combined and intracranial/intraspinal tumours combined. Centralization of services varied depending upon cancer subtype, with leukaemias, CNS tumours and bone sarcomas most centralized. Within these, improvements in survival for leukaemias and CNS tumours have been seen for the AYA population.

CONCLUSIONS

Reasons for age-related survival differences, and differences in time-trend by age group, are not clear. The significant narrowing of survival differences by age in more recent years for lymphoid leukaemias reflects a more marked recent increase in survival among AYA. More work is required to explain and improve other age-related survival differences.

Levocarnitine does not impair chemotherapy cytotoxicity against acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Asparaginase (ASNase) is an integral part of pediatric induction chemotherapy that has also been shown to improve adult survival rates; however, pegylated (PEG)-ASNase induces severe hepatotoxicity in this population. Recent case reports describe the incorporation of levocarnitine (LC) supplementation into PEG-ASNase-containing induction regimens to prevent or treat hepatotoxicity. Because LC facilitates the metabolism of free fatty acids (FFA), a primary fuel source for ALL cells, LC could potentially interfere with ALL chemotherapy efficacy. To test this, we employed in vitro and in vivo models of ALL. We show in vitro that LC supplementation does not impact cytotoxicity from vincristine, daunorubicin, dexamethasone, or ASNase on human ALL cells nor lead to an increase in ALL cell metabolic rate. In vivo, we demonstrate LC does not impair PEG-ASNase monotherapy in mice with syngeneic ALL. Together, our findings show that LC supplementation is a safe strategy to prevent/reverse ASNase-induced toxicities in preclinical models.

Real-world outcomes of treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia during adolescence in a financially restricted environment: Results at a single center in Latin America

OBJECTIVE

There is a paucity of the studies of adolescents with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). This is more noticeable in low- and middle-income countries. The international 5-year event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) for this age group is around 80%, with pediatric-inspired protocols offering better results.

METHODS

A retrospective analysis of adolescents aged 16-20 diagnosed with ALL during the period 2004-2015 treated with a high-risk pediatric protocol at an academic center from a middle-income country was performed. Five-year OS and EFS were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier analysis. Hazard ratios of relapse and death were estimated by the Cox regression model.

RESULTS

Five-year EFS and OS for 57 adolescents were 23.3% and 48.9%, respectively. From the 41 patients who achieved complete remission, 24 (58.5%) relapsed. Bone marrow and central nervous system were the most frequent sites of relapse. Hazard ratio of treatment failure and death for patients with organomegaly at diagnosis was 2.026 and 2.970, respectively. Treatment-related toxicity developed in 31 (54.4%) patients and febrile neutropenia was the most frequent in 14 (24.6%) cases. Twelve patients (21.1%) had poor adherence to treatment.

CONCLUSIONS

High relapse rate and low 5-year EFS compared with international standards, was documented. Use of intensified pediatric regimens, adherence to proven effective medications, improved supportive care, and prevention of abandonment are necessary to improve survival rates in these patients.

Risk-Benefit Analysis of Pediatric-Inspired Versus Hyperfractionated Cyclophosphamide, Vincristine, Doxorubicin, and Dexamethasone Protocols for Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in Adolescents and Young Adults

Purpose: To estimate the risk–benefit trade-off of a pediatric-inspired regimen versus hyperfractionated cyclophosphamide, vincristine, doxorubicin, and dexamethasone (hyper-CVAD) for first-line treatment of adolescents/young adult (AYA; ages 16–39 years) patients with Philadelphia-negative acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Methods: Patient outcomes were simulated using a 6-state Markov model, including complete response (CR), no CR, first relapse, second CR, second relapse, and death. A Weibull distribution was fit to the progression-free survival curve of hyper-CVAD–treated AYA patients from a single-center study, and comparable patient data from a retrospective study of pediatric regimen–treated AYA patients were utilized to estimate a relative progression difference (hazard ratio = 0.51) and model survival differences. Health-state utilities were estimated based on treatment stage, with an assumption that the pediatric protocol had 0.10 disutility compared with hyper-CVAD before the maintenance phase of treatment. Total life-years and quality-adjusted life-years (QALYs) were compared between treatment protocols at 1, 5, and 10 years, with additional probabilistic sensitivity analyses.

Results: Treatment with the pediatric-inspired protocol was associated with a 0.04 increase in life-years, but a 0.01 decrease in QALYs at 1 year. By years 5 and 10, the pediatric-inspired protocol resulted in 0.18 and 0.24 increase in life-years and 0.25 and 0.32 increase in QALYs, respectively, relative to hyper-CVAD. The lower quality of life associated with the induction and intensification phases of pediatric treatment was offset by more favorable progression-free survival and overall survival relative to hyper-CVAD.

Conclusions: Our exploratory analysis suggests that, compared with hyper-CVAD, pediatric-inspired protocols may increase life-years throughout treatment stages and QALYs in the long term.

Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia in a Young Adult Presenting as Hepatitis and Acute Kidney Injury

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in adults is a relatively rare malignancy. The typical presentation includes signs and symptoms associated with bone marrow failure, including fevers, infections, fatigue, and excessive bruising. In this article, we report an unusual systemic presentation of ALL in a previously healthy 18-year-old man. He initially presented with several-day history of nausea and vomiting, 10-pound weight loss, and right upper quadrant abdominal pain with evidence of acute hepatocellular liver injury (elevations in aspartate aminotransferase/alanine aminotransferase) and elevation in serum creatinine. Further history revealed that he just joined the Marine Corp; in preparation, he had been lifting weights and taking protein and creatine supplements. A complete serological evaluation for liver disease was negative and creatine phosphokinase was normal. His aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase declined, and he was discharged with expected improvement. However, he returned one week later with continued symptoms and greater elevation of aminotransferases. Liver biopsy was nondiagnostic, revealing scattered portal and lobular inflammatory cells (primarily lymphocytes) felt to be consistent with drug-induced liver injury or viral hepatitis. Given his elevated creatinine, unresponsive to aggressive volume expansion, a kidney biopsy was performed, revealing normal histology. He subsequently developed an extensive left lower extremity deep venous thrombosis. Given his deep venous thrombosis, his peripheral blood was sent for flow cytometry, which revealed lymphoblasts. Bone marrow biopsy revealed 78% blasts with markers consistent with acute B-cell lymphoblastic leukemia. This report emphasizes that right upper quadrant abdominal pain with liver test abnormalities may be the initial presentation of a systemic illness such as ALL.

The Relationship Between Risk Factors and Survival in Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

BACKGROUND

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is aggressive cancer, especially in adults as only 20-40% is cured with current treatment regimens.

OBJECTIVES

The aim of this study is to evaluate prognostic factors and their effects on survival in ALL patients in the Northeast of Iran.

METHODS

In a descriptive and retrospective study from 2009 to 2015, 48 ALL patients referred to hematology-oncology clinic. Age, sex, fever, blood group, type of ALL and consumption of amphotericin B, forms of cytogenetic, survival in the patients, WBC, hemoglobin, and platelet were checked in the first referral for every patient. The mean follow-up was 27.3 months in which 28 patients (59.3%) died. overall survival (OS) was plotted by GraphPad Prism 5 and the Log-rank test was used for analysis of survival with risk factors.

RESULTS

The mean age for all the ALL patients at diagnosis was 32.3 years (range, 15-71 years), and 81.3% were male. Of all patients, 62.5% had fever and 25% consumed amphotericin B. 1-, 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-year OS rates were 62.2%, 52.7%, 40.6%, 39.1%, 22.2%, respectively. 75%, 29.2% and 39.6% of patients had WBC < 20 × 10³/μl, Hb < 7 g/dL and platelet < 30 × 10³/μL, respectively. There was a significant difference in survival based on age (P = 0.000).

CONCLUSIONS

Based on the results, age > 35 years is the most prognostic factor in ALL patients. Also, patients who received amphotericin B had lower life expectancy because these patients were suffering from fungal infection or due to lack of response to antibacterial drugs, they have been treated with amphotericin B.

European cancer mortality predictions for the year 2016 with focus on leukaemias

BACKGROUND

Current cancer mortality statistics are important for public health decision-making and resource allocation. Age-standardized rates and numbers of deaths are predicted for 2016 in the European Union (EU).

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Population and death certification data for stomach, colorectum, pancreas, lung, breast, uterus, prostate, leukaemias and total cancers were obtained from the World Health Organization database and Eurostat. Figures were derived for the EU, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and the UK. Projected numbers of deaths by age group were obtained for 2016 by linear regression on estimated numbers of deaths over the most recent time period identified by a joinpoint regression model.

RESULTS

Projected total cancer mortality trends for 2016 in the EU are favourable in both sexes with rates of 133.5/100 000 men and 85.2/100 000 women (8% and 3% falls since 2011) corresponding to 753 600 and 605 900 deaths in men and women for a total number of 1 359 500 projected cancer deaths (+3% compared with 2011, due to population ageing). In men, lung, colorectal and prostate cancer have fallen 11%, 5% and 8%, respectively, since 2011. Breast and colorectal cancer trends in women are favourable (8% and 7% falls, respectively), but lung and pancreatic cancer rates have risen 5% and 4% since 2011 reaching rates of 14.4 and 5.6/100 000 women. Leukaemias show favourable projected mortality for both sexes and all age groups, with stronger falls in the younger age groups. All ages rates are 4.0/100 000 men and 2.5/100 000 women, with falls of 14% and 12% respectively.

CONCLUSION

The 2016 predictions for EU cancer mortality confirm the favourable trends in rates particularly for men. Lung cancer is likely to be the leading site for female cancer rates. Continuing falls in mortality, larger in children and young adults, are predicted in leukaemias, essentially due to advancements in management and therapy, and their subsequent adoption across Europe.