Prognostic Value of Early Response to Treatment Combined with Conventional Risk Factors in Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Moderate Hypothermic Circulatory Arrest Is Preferable During Cardiopulmonary Bypass

The effect of temperature on cerebral injury during hypothermic circulatory arrest (HCA) has never been specifically studied. This study aimed to compare the effects of two different temperatures used for HCA on the degree of brain injury in pig models. Thirteen pigs were randomly assigned to a deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (DHCA) group (n = 5), moderate hypothermic circulatory arrest (MHCA) group (n = 5), or control group (n = 3). No significant differences in immunohistochemical assay results, including Bax, Bcl-2, and Caspase 3 staining, and a TUNEL assay, were observed between the DHCA and MHCA groups. Furthermore, no significant difference was found for biomarkers of brain injury (Soluble protein-100B) between the two experimental groups. Similarly, no significant difference was observed in the trend of changes in inflammatory factors, including tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin (IL)-2, and IL-6, between the two groups (p > 0.05). However, coagulation factors, including FXI and FVII, were different between the DHCA and MHCA groups (p < 0.05). Therefore, it can be concluded that MHCA does not increase the risk of cerebral injury. Considering the adverse effects of DHCA on the coagulation system, MHCA is more suitable for current clinical practice.

Key Markers of Minimal Residual Disease in Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

The aim of this study was to identify key markers of minimal residual disease (MRD) in childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL). Bone marrow samples were collected at presentation from 139 patients with newly diagnosed B-lineage ALL. On the basis of the expression of CD19, CD10, and CD34 antigens by bone marrow cells, combined with the terminal deoxynucleotide transferase (TdT), CD38, CD45, CD58, CD21, CD66c, CD22, and CD33 expression patterns characterized at diagnosis, leukemia-associated immunophenotypes (LAIPs) were identified. One hundred thirty-nine patients with a median age of 4.3 years were screened with 4-color flow cytometry MRD screening, and 119 of them exhibited 1 or more LAIP suitable for further monitoring, constituting a coverage rate of 85.6%. Only 20 of the 139 (14.4%) had no LAIP identified for follow-up. The most applicable antibody combination was TdT/CD10/CD34/CD19 (87/139, 62.6%), followed by CD38/CD10/CD34/CD19 (85/139, 61.2%) and CD45/CD10/CD34/CD19 (58/139, 41.7%). We have identified a relatively effective MRD panel, combined with TdT, CD38, and CD45 as key markers, that is applicable to the majority of newly diagnosed B-lineage ALL.

Isolated relapse of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in the breast of a young female

A 20-year-old female developed a relapse of B-precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) as a mass in her left breast after 6 years of maintained continuous complete remission. No leukemic lesions were identified in other sites such as the bone marrow or cerebrospinal fluid. The relapsed leukemic cells in the breast revealed the same immunophenotypes (CD10(+), CD19(+), CD20(+), HLA-DR(+), CD34(+)) as those of the onset ALL cells in the bone marrow. A literature survey found 10 other cases of ALL relapse in the breast without bone marrow involvement, mostly consisting of adolescent girls. Including the present report, a total of 11 cases were analyzed; the onset ages of ALL were a median of 16.5 (range 5-50) years old and the ages of relapse in the breast a median of 20 (range 12-51) years old. Data suggest that, although rare, the breast could become one of the extramedullary relapse sites of ALL developed in adolescent girls.

A case of a ewing sarcoma family tumor in the urinary bladder after treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia

We report the first case of a tumor of the Ewing sarcoma family of tumors arising from the urinary bladder 3 years after chemotherapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. A 16-year-old boy complained of macrohematuria and dysuria during the posttreatment follow up of his acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Ultrasonography and computed tomography revealed a 1-cm sized intravesical tumor. The tumor was transurethrally resected with no residual tumor at the margin. Histopathologic analyses revealed a small round blue cell tumor with positive staining for CD99 antibody. EWS-FLI1 fusion transcripts were detected in the tumor tissue by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. These findings support the diagnosis of Ewing sarcoma family of tumor. After adjuvant multidrug chemotherapy, the patient has shown no evidence of disease for more than 2 years.

Allogeneic stem cell transplantation in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia after isolated central nervous system relapse: our experiences and review of the literature

The prognosis of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and central nervous system (CNS) relapse has historically been very poor. Although chemo-radiotherapy has improved outcomes, some patients still have a poor prognosis after CNS relapse. Therefore, allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT) has recently become an option for treatment of CNS leukemia; however, information, particularly on the long-term outcome of transplant recipients, is limited. We performed allo-SCT in eight pediatric patients with ALL (n=7) or T-cell type non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (n=1), who had isolated CNS relapse. All patients survived for a median of 70.5 (range, 13-153) months after SCT. Sequelae developed late in some patients: mental retardation (IQ=47) in one patient, severe alopecia in two patients, limited chronic graft-versus-host-disease in three patients, and amenorrhea and/or hypothyroidism in three patients. Except for a pre-school child with post transplant CNS relapse, six out of seven patients show normal school/social performance. Our results clearly indicate a high cure rate of isolated CNS relapse by allo-SCT in pediatric lymphoid malignancies; however, there needs to be further studies to determine which are the appropriate candidates for transplantation and what is the best transplant regimen to achieve high cure rate and maintain good quality of life.

Use of L-asparaginase in childhood ALL

Owing to the high efficacy of L-asparaginase in the treatment of acute lymphatic leukaemia the enzyme was introduced into the chemotherapy schedules for remission induction of this disease shortly after results of large-scale clinical trials had become available. Since asparaginase monotherapy was associated with a high response rate but short remission duration, the enzyme is currently employed within the framework of combination chemotherapy schedules which achieve treatment response in about 90% and long-term remissions in the majority of patients. Recently initiated clinical trials have still confirmed the eminent value of asparaginase in the combination chemotherapy of acute lymphatic leukaemia and of some subtypes of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and its important role as an essential component of multimodal treatment protocols. Despite the unique mechanism of action of this cytotoxic substance which shows relative selectivity with regard to the metabolism of malignant cells, some patients experience toxic effects during asparaginase therapy. Immunological reactions toward the foreign protein include enzyme inactivation without any clinical manifestations as well as anaphylactic shock. Severe functional disorders of organ systems result from the impaired homeostasis of the amino acids asparagine and glutamine. The changes affecting the proteins of the coagulation system have considerable clinical impact as they may induce bleeding as well as thromboembolic events and may be associated with life-threatening complications when the central nervous system is involved. Risk factors predisposing to thromboembolic complications are hereditary resistance against activated protein C and any other hereditary thrombophilia. Other organ systems potentially affected by relevant functional disorders are the central nervous system, the liver, and the pancreas, with patients who have a history of pancreatic disorders carrying an especially high risk of developing pancreatitis. Studies on the mechanisms of action and the occurrence of resistance phenomena have shown that a treatment response may only be expected if the malignant cells are unable to increase their asparagine synthetase activity to an extent providing enough asparagine to the cell; one may thus conclude that the enzyme-induced asparagine depletion of the serum constitutes the decisive cytotoxic mechanism. Independent of the asparagine depletion related cytotoxicity however, there are other mechanisms of clinical relevance like induction of apoptosis. Besides this, further influences on signal transduction cannot be excluded. Only few publications have dealt with the question of minimum trough activities to be ensured before each subsequent asparaginase dose in order to maintain uninterrupted asparagine depletion under treatment, and answers to this problem are not definitive. Clinical studies using enzymes from E. coli strains indicate that a trough activity of 100 U/l will suffice for complete asparagine depletion of the fluid body compartments with the preparations studied. These findings have been transferred to enzymes from other E. coli strains as well as those isolated from Erwinia chrysanthemi and to the PEG-conjugated E. coli asparaginases. It might be desirable to countercheck the results for confirmation or correction. The dosage and administration schedule of the various enzyme preparations required for complete asparagine depletion over a period of time have been insufficiently defined. While pharmacokinetic studies showed clinically relevant differences in biological activity and activity half-lives for enzymes from different biological sources, the findings of recently published clinical trials indicate that the therapeutic efficacy is affected when different asparaginase preparations are given by identical therapy schedules. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED)