RESUMO
Adult patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and t(1;19)/E2A-PBX1 or t(4;11)/MLL-AF4 have a poor outcome. We have evaluated the impact of an intensified post-remission therapy using a high-dose chemotherapy course followed by allogeneic or autologous SCT on the outcome of 58 patients with t(1;19)/E2A-PBX1 (E2A group, n=24) or t(4;11)/MLL-AF4 (MLL group, n=34) treated in the LALA-94 multicenter prospective study. Patients in the MLL group had higher WBC counts and more frequent DIC. CR rates achieved by MLL and E2A groups were similar to other B-cell ALL (87, 82 and 86% respectively). While in CR, patients with a donor were assigned to alloSCT (n=22), the remaining patients with were randomized between autoSCT (n=15) or chemotherapy (n=8). Five-year overall survival was 31 and 45% for E2A and MLL groups, respectively. In both groups, DFS was higher in the alloSCT arm as compared to autoSCT and chemotherapy arms. The results of this study show that chemotherapy intensification did not overcome the poor prognosis of adults with t(1;19)/E2A-PBX1. Allogeneic SCT should thus be offered in first CR to patients with t(1;19)/E2A-PBX1 or t(4;11)/MLL-AF4. New therapeutic approaches are needed for patients without donor.
Assuntos
Linfoma de Burkitt/genética , Linfoma de Burkitt/terapia , Transplante de Células-Tronco Hematopoéticas , Translocação Genética , Adolescente , Adulto , Fatores de Transcrição Hélice-Alça-Hélice Básicos/genética , Cromossomos Humanos Par 1/genética , Cromossomos Humanos Par 11/genética , Cromossomos Humanos Par 19/genética , Cromossomos Humanos Par 4/genética , Proteínas de Ligação a DNA/genética , Feminino , Histona-Lisina N-Metiltransferase , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Proteína de Leucina Linfoide-Mieloide/genética , Proteínas Nucleares/genética , Fator de Transcrição 1 de Leucemia de Células Pré-B , Estudos Prospectivos , Proteínas Proto-Oncogênicas/genética , Fatores de Elongação da Transcrição , Transplante HomólogoRESUMO
All trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) syndrome is a life-threatening complication of uncertain pathogenesis that can occur during the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) by ATRA. Since its initial description, however, no large series of ATRA syndrome has been reported in detail. We analyzed cases of ATRA syndrome observed in an ongoing European trial of treatment of newly diagnosed APL. In this trial, patients 65 years of age or less with an initial white blood cell count (WBC) less than 5,000/microL were initially randomized between ATRA followed by chemotherapy (CT) (ATRA-->CT group) or ATRA with CT started on day 3; patients with WBC greater than 5,000/microL received ATRA and CT from day 1; patients aged 66 to 75 received ATRA-->CT. In patients with initial WBC less than 5, 000/microL and allocated to ATRA-->CT, CT was rapidly added if WBC was greater than 6,000, 10,000, 15,000/microL by days 5, 10, and 15 of ATRA treatment. A total of 64 (15%) of the 413 patients included in this trial experienced ATRA syndrome during induction treatment. Clinical signs developed after a median of 7 days (range, 0 to 35 days). In two of them, they were in fact present before the onset of ATRA. In 11 patients, they occurred upon recovery from the phase of aplasia due to the addition of CT. Respiratory distress (89% of the patients), fever (81%), pulmonary infiltrates (81%), weight gain (50%), pleural effusion (47%), renal failure (39%), pericardial effusion (19%), cardiac failure (17%), and hypotension (12%) were the main clinical signs, and 63 of the 64 patients had at least three of them. Thirteen patients required mechanical ventilation and two dialysis. A total of 60 patients received CT in addition to ATRA as per protocol or based on increasing WBC; 58 also received high dose dexamethasone (DXM); ATRA was stopped when clinical signs developed in 30 patients. A total of 55 patients (86%) who experienced ATRA syndrome achieved complete remission (CR), as compared with 94% of patients who had no ATRA syndrome (P = .07) and nine (14%) died of ATRA syndrome (5 cases), sepsis (2 cases), leukemic resistance (1 patient), and central nervous system (CNS) bleeding (1 patient). None of the patients who achieved CR and received ATRA for maintenance had ATRA syndrome recurrence. No significant predictive factors of ATRA syndrome, including pretreatment WBC, could be found. Kaplan Meier estimates of relapse, event-free survival (EFS), and survival at 2 years were 32% +/- 10%, 63% +/- 8%, and 68% +/- 7% in patients who had ATRA syndrome as compared with 15% +/- 3%, 77% +/- 2%, and 80% +/- 2% in patients who had no ATRA syndrome (P = .05, P = .003, and P = .03), respectively. In a stepwise Cox model that also included pretreatment prognostic variables, ATRA syndrome remained predictive for EFS and survival. In conclusion, in this multicenter trial where CT was rapidly added to ATRA in case of high or increasing WBC counts and DXM generally also used at the earliest clinical sign, the incidence of ATRA syndrome was 15%, but ATRA syndrome was responsible for death in only 1.2% of the total number of patients treated. However, occurrence of ATRA syndrome was associated with lower EFS and survival.