Outcome in Children With Standard-Risk B-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: Results of Children's Oncology Group Trial AALL0331.

PURPOSE: Children's Oncology Group (COG) AALL0331 tested whether intensified postinduction therapy that improves survival in children with high-risk B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) would also improve outcomes for those with standard-risk (SR) ALL. PATIENTS AND METHODS: AALL0331 enrolled 5,377 patients between 2005 and 2010. All patients received a 3-drug induction with dexamethasone, vincristine, and pegaspargase (PEG) and were then classified as SR low, SR average, or SR high. Patients with SR-average disease were randomly assigned to receive either standard 4-week consolidation (SC) or 8-week intensified augmented Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster (BFM) consolidation (IC). Those with SR-high disease were nonrandomly assigned to the full COG-augmented BFM regimen, including 2 interim maintenance and delayed intensification phases. RESULTS: The 6-year event-free survival (EFS) rate for all patients enrolled in AALL0331 was 88.96% ± 0.46%, and overall survival (OS) was 95.54% ± 0.31%. For patients with SR-average disease, the 6-year continuous complete remission (CCR) and OS rates for SC versus IC were 87.8% ± 1.3% versus 89.1% ± 1.2% (P = .52) and 95.8% ± 0.8% versus 95.2% ± 0.8% (P = 1.0), respectively. Those with SR-average disease with end-induction minimal residual disease (MRD) of 0.01% to < 0.1% had an inferior outcome compared with those with lower MRD and no improvement with IC (6-year CCR: SC, 77.5% ± 4.8%; IC, 77.1% ± 4.8%; P = .71). At 6 years, the CCR and OS rates among 635 nonrandomly treated patients with SR-high disease were 85.55% ± 1.49% and 92.97% ± 1.08%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The 6-year OS rate for > 5,000 children with SR ALL enrolled in AALL0331 exceeded 95%. The addition of IC to treatment for patients with SR-average disease did not improve CCR or OS, even in patients with higher MRD, in whom it might have been predicted to provide more value. The EFS and OS rates are excellent for this group of patients with SR ALL, with particularly good outcomes for those with SR-high disease.

Genome-wide association study identifies the GLDC/IL33 locus associated with survival of osteosarcoma patients.

Survival rates for osteosarcoma, the most common primary bone cancer, have changed little over the past three decades and are particularly low for patients with metastatic disease. We conducted a multi-institutional genome-wide association study (GWAS) to identify germline genetic variants associated with overall survival in 632 patients with osteosarcoma, including 523 patients of European ancestry and 109 from Brazil. We conducted a time-to-event analysis and estimated hazard ratios (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) using Cox proportional hazards models, with and without adjustment for metastatic disease. The results were combined across the European and Brazilian case sets using a random-effects meta-analysis. The strongest association after meta-analysis was for rs3765555 at 9p24.1, which was inversely associated with overall survival (HR = 1.76; 95% CI 1.41-2.18, p = 4.84 × 10-7 ). After imputation across this region, the combined analysis identified two SNPs that reached genome-wide significance. The strongest single association was with rs55933544 (HR = 1.9; 95% CI 1.5-2.4; p = 1.3 × 10-8 ), which localizes to the GLDC gene, adjacent to the IL33 gene and was consistent across both the European and Brazilian case sets. Using publicly available data, the risk allele was associated with lower expression of IL33 and low expression of IL33 was associated with poor survival in an independent set of patients with osteosarcoma. In conclusion, we have identified the GLDC/IL33 locus on chromosome 9p24.1 as associated with overall survival in patients with osteosarcoma. Further studies are needed to confirm this association and shed light on the biological underpinnings of this susceptibility locus.