[A multicenter study on effect of delayed chemotherapy on prognosis of Burkitt lymphoma in children].

Objective: To analyze the factors affecting delayed chemotherapy in children with Burkitt lymphoma (BL) and their influence on prognosis. Methods: Retrospective cohort study. Clinical data of 591 children aged ≤18 years with BL from May 2017 to December 2022 in China Net Childhood Lymphoma (CNCL) was collected. The patients were treated according to the protocol CNCL-BL-2017. According to the clinical characteristics, therapeutic regimen was divided into group A, group B and group C .Based on whether the total chemotherapy time was delayed, patients were divided into two groups: the delayed chemotherapy group and the non-delayed chemotherapy group. Based on the total delayed time of chemotherapy, patients in group C were divided into non-delayed chemotherapy group, 1-7 days delayed group and more than 7 days delayed group. Relationships between delayed chemotherapy and gender, age, tumor lysis syndrome before chemotherapy, bone marrow involvement, disease group (B/C group), serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) > 4 times than normal, grade Ⅲ-Ⅳ myelosuppression after chemotherapy, minimal residual disease in the interim assessment, and severe infection (including severe pneumonia, sepsis, meningitis, chickenpox, etc.) were analyzed. Logistic analysis was used to identify the relevant factors. Kaplan-Meier method was used to analyze the patients' survival information. Log-Rank was used for comparison between groups. Results: Among 591 patients, 504 were males and 87 were females, the follow-up time was 34.8 (18.6,50.1) months. The 3-year overall survival (OS) rate was (92.5±1.1)%,and the 3-year event-free survival (EFS) rate was (90.5±1.2)%. Seventy-three (12.4%) patients were in delayed chemotherapy group and 518 (87.6%) patients were in non-delayed chemotherapy group. The reasons for chemotherapy delay included 72 cases (98.6%) of severe infection, 65 cases (89.0%) of bone marrow suppression, 35 cases (47.9%) of organ dysfunction, 22 cases (30.1%) of tumor lysis syndrome,etc. There were 7 cases of chemotherapy delay in group B, which were seen in COPADM (vincristine+cyclophosphamide+prednisone+daunorubicin+methotrexate+intrathecal injection,4 cases) and CYM (methotrexate+cytarabine+intrathecal injection,3 cases) stages. There were 66 cases of chemotherapy delay in group C, which were common in COPADM (28 cases) and CYVE 1 (low dose cytarabine+high dose cytarabine+etoposide+methotrexate, 12 cases) stages. Multinomial Logistic regression analysis showed that the age over 10 years old (OR=0.54,95%CI 0.30-0.93), tumor lysis syndrome before chemotherapy (OR=0.48,95%CI 0.27-0.84) and grade Ⅲ-Ⅳ myelosuppression after chemotherapy (OR=0.55,95%CI 0.33-0.91)were independent risk factors for chemotherapy delay.The 3-year OS rate and the 3-year EFS rate of children with Burkitt lymphoma in the delayed chemotherapy group were lower than those in the non-delayed chemotherapy group ((79.4±4.9)% vs. (94.2±1.1)%, (80.2±4.8)% vs. (92.0±1.2)%,both P<0.05). The 3-year OS rate of the group C with chemotherapy delay >7 days (42 cases) was lower than that of the group with chemotherapy delay of 1-7 days (22 cases) and the non-delay group (399 cases) ((76.7±6.9)% vs. (81.8±8.2)% vs. (92.7±1.3)%, P=0.002).The 3-year OS rate of the chemotherapy delay group (9 cases) in the COP (vincristine+cyclophosphamide+prednisone) phase was lower than that of the non-chemotherapy delay group (454 cases) ((66.7±15.7)% vs. (91.3±1.4)%, P=0.005). Similarly, the 3-year OS rate of the chemotherapy delay group (11 cases) in the COPADM1 phase was lower than that of the non-chemotherapy delay group (452 cases) ((63.6±14.5)% vs. (91.5±1.3)%, P=0.001). Conclusions: The delayed chemotherapy was related to the age over 10 years old, tumor lysis syndrome before chemotherapy and grade Ⅲ-Ⅳ myelosuppression after chemotherapy in pediatric BL. There is a significant relationship between delayed chemotherapy and prognosis of BL in children.

[Mid-term efficacy of China Net Childhood Lymphoma-mature B-cell lymphoma 2017 regimen in the treatment of pediatric Burkitt lymphoma].

Objective: To analyze the clinical characteristics of children with Burkitt lymphoma (BL) and to summarize the mid-term efficacy of China Net Childhood Lymphoma-mature B-cell lymphoma 2017 (CNCL-B-NHL-2017) regimen. Methods: Clinical features of 436 BL patients who were ≤18 years old and treated with the CNCL-B-NHL-2017 regimen from May 2017 to April 2021 were analyzed retrospectively. Clinical characteristics of patients at disease onset were analyzed and the therapeutic effects of patients with different clinical stages and risk groups were compared. Survival analysis was performed by Kaplan-Meier method, and Cox regression was used to identify the prognostic factors. Results: Among 436 patients, there were 368 (84.4%) males and 68 (15.6%) females, the age of disease onset was 6.0 (4.0, 9.0) years old. According to the St. Jude staging system, there were 4 patients (0.9%) with stage Ⅰ, 30 patients (6.9%) with stage Ⅱ, 217 patients (49.8%) with stage Ⅲ, and 185 patients (42.4%) with stage Ⅳ. All patients were stratified into following risk groups: group A (n=1, 0.2%), group B1 (n=46, 10.6%), group B2 (n=19, 4.4%), group C1 (n=285, 65.4%), group C2 (n=85, 19.5%). Sixty-three patients (14.4%) were treated with chemotherapy only and 373 patients (85.6%) were treated with chemotherapy combined with rituximab. Twenty-one patients (4.8%) suffered from progressive disease, 3 patients (0.7%) relapsed, and 13 patients (3.0%) died of treatment-related complications. The follow-up time of all patients was 24.0 (13.0, 35.0) months, the 2-year event free survival (EFS) rate of all patients was (90.9±1.4) %. The 2-year EFS rates of group A, B1, B2, C1 and C2 were 100.0%, 100.0%, (94.7±5.1) %, (90.7±1.7) % and (85.9±4.0) %, respectively. The 2-year EFS rates was higher in group A, B1, and B2 than those in group C1 (χ2=4.16, P=0.041) and group C2 (χ2=7.21, P=0.007). The 2-year EFS rates of the patients treated with chemotherapy alone and those treated with chemotherapy combined with rituximab were (79.3±5.1)% and (92.9±1.4)% (χ2=14.23, P<0.001) respectively. Multivariate analysis showed that stage Ⅳ (including leukemia stage), serum lactate dehydrogenase (LDH)>4-fold normal value, and with residual tumor in the mid-term evaluation were risk factors for poor prognosis (HR=1.38,1.23,8.52,95%CI 1.05-1.82,1.05-1.43,3.96-18.30). Conclusions: The CNCL-B-NHL-2017 regimen show significant effect in the treatment of pediatric BL. The combination of rituximab improve the efficacy further.

[Clinical analysis of 14 cases with childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia complicated with tropical candidemia].

Objective: To investigate the clinical feature, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) complicated with candida tropicalis bloodstream infection (CTBI), so as to improve the understanding of this disease. Methods: The general information, clinical manifestation, auxiliary examination, treatment and outcome of 14 childhood ALL who were diagnosed with tropical candidemia between January 2015 and December 2018 in 6 hospitals were analyzed retrospectively. Clinical data of non invasive fungal disease (IFD) ALL (28 cases) and other IFD children (9 cases) admitted in the same period were collected as control group. Logistic regression model was used to analyze the risk factor of CTBI. Results: Among 14 cases, there were 7 males and 7 females, with the age ranged from 17 months to 13 years. All the cases had fever, 9 cases had digestive system symptoms and stool fungal culture were positive in 3 of them; 7 cases had respiratory system symptoms and sputum fungal culture was positive in 1 of them; 2 cases had central nervous system symptoms and 10 cases progressed into septic shock. All 14 cases had neutropenia and the neutropenia duration was 1 to 53 days. Among 14 cases, the C-reactive protein was>50 mg/L in 8 cases, in which the proportion was significantly higher than that in other invasive fungal disease(IFD) (8/14 vs. 1/9, P<0.05), meanwhile the 1, 3-ß-D-glucan detection, galactomannan detection and pulmonary imaging were not remarkable in all 14 cases. The blood culture results of 14 cases were all candida tropicalis, among which 13 cases finished drug susceptibility tests, the isolates of all cases were sensitive to flucytosine and amphotericin B, and the isolates of 4 cases were sensitive to fluconazole, voriconazole and itraconazole. Among 14 cases, 1 case lost to follow-up after giving up treatment, 1 case died before antifungal therapy and the remaining 12 cases received antifungal therapy; 7 of the 14 cases died. Univariate analysis showed that between ALL with CTBI group (14 cases) and ALL without invasive fungal disease (IFD) group (28 cases), the differences in variables such as ALL not in remission (χ²=37.847, P<0.01), length of hospital stay>15 days (χ2=8.351, P=0.004), neutropenia (χ²=14.280, P<0.01), neutropenia duration>10 days (χ²=10.254, P=0.001), use of broad-spectrum antibiotics (χ²=13.888, P<0.01), skin and mucous membrane damage (χ²= 5.923, P=0.015) were statistically significant. Conclusions: In childhood ALL complicated with tropical candidemia, the drug resistance rate and mortality rate were high. For azole-resistant tropical candida, amphotericin B liposome or echinocandins(caspofungin) -fluorocytosine combined therapy was recommended to reduce treatment-related deaths.

Preliminary study on bcr rearrangement in leukemia.

Southern blot analysis was conducted in 15 patients by using a 1.2 Kb Hind III/Bgl II fragment from the 3' end of the bcr region and a 2.0 Kb Bgl II/Hind III fragment from the 5' end of the bcr as probes. Of the 15 patients in our group, 11 with chronic, myelocytic leukemia (CML), 3 with Ph-negative acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), one with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Bcr rearrangements were detected in 9 patients with CML and were negative in the rest of the patients. The results showed that the identification of bcr rearrangement was very important in the diagnosis of Ph-positive leukemias.

Inhibitory effect of rhynchophylline on platelet aggregation and thrombosis.

Rhynchophylline (Rhy) inhibited rabbit platelet aggregation induced by arachidonic acid (AA), collagen, and ADP. The values of IC50 were 0.72, 0.74, and 0.67 mmol.L-1, respectively. Rhy reduced the thromboxane B2 (TXB2) generation in PRP induced by collagen but failed to reduce that induced by AA. Rhy suppressed malondialdehyde (MDA) formation in platelet suspension stimulated by thrombin, inhibited the platelet factor 4 (PF4) release. It did not alter intraplatelet cAMP concentration. Rhy 10-20 mg.kg-1 iv showed a significant inhibition of venous thrombosis and cerebral thrombosis in rats.

[Improvement of memory in mice by extracts from leaves of Ginkgo biloba L].

The study has shown that the extracts from leaves of Ginkgo biloba can significantly improve the NaNO2 and scopolamine induced impaired memory in mice. The potency of the ethanolic extract is greater than that of the aqueous extract. The ethanolic extract acts favorably on the memory function of normal animals. Both extracts help to prolong the survival time of mice receiving 200 mg/kg(ip)NaNO2.

[Effect of rhyncophylline on platelet aggregation and experimental thrombosis].

Rhyncophylline (Rhy) produced a potent inhibition of rat platelet aggregation in ex vivo. TXA2 generation in platelet rich plasma from rats treated with Rhy obviously decreased in the collagen-induced group, but was not altered in the AA-induced group. These results suggest that Rhy suppressed the release of AA from platelet phospholipids stimulated by collagen, and this may be one of the mechanisms related to its action on platelet aggregation. Pretreatment with ASA, but not Rhy, reduced plasma PGI2 in rats. In the in vitro system, the PGI2 synthesis in rat aorta was shown to be inhibited by ASA but was not by Rhy. Rhy significantly reduced the number of mice died due to thrombosis by platelet aggregates. ASA prevented collagen plus adrenaline induced thrombotic death while Rhy prevented both ADP and collagen plus adrenaline induced thrombotic death.