Age but not Philadelphia positivity impairs outcome in older/elderly patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in Sweden.

OBJECTIVES: Older/elderly patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) are poorly represented in clinical trials. METHODS: Using Swedish national leukemia registries, we investigated disease/patient characteristics, treatment choices, outcome, and the impact of an age-adapted protocol (introduced in 2009) in this population-based study of patients aged 55-85 years, diagnosed with ALL 2005-2012. RESULTS: Of 174 patients, 82% had B-phenotype, 11% Burkitt leukemia (excluded), and 7% T-phenotype. Philadelphia chromosome positivity (Ph+) occurred in 35%. Of the 155 B- and T-ALL patients, 80% were treated with intensive protocols, and 20% with a palliative approach. Higher age and WHO performance status ≥2 influenced the choice of palliation. Intensive, palliative, and both approaches resulted in complete remission rate 83/16/70% and 3-year overall survival (OS) 32/3/26%. The age-adapted protocol did not improve outcome. With intensive treatment, platelet count ≤35×109 /L and age ≥75 years were adverse prognostic factors for OS, Ph+ was not. Male sex was an adverse prognostic factor in the 55-64 year age-group. CONCLUSIONS: We report a high frequency of Ph+ in older/elderly patients, with no evidence of poorer outcome compared to Ph-negative disease. Overall prognosis for elderly patients with ALL remains dismal, despite the use of age-adapted treatment.

Long-term complications, immunologic effects, and role of passage for outcome in mesenchymal stromal cell therapy.

Thirty-one patients treated with mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) for acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) or hemorrhagic cystitis between 2002 and 2007 were followed to investigate predictors of outcome, immunologic effects in vivo, and long-term survival. There was no correlation between in vitro suppression by MSCs in mixed lymphocyte cultures and outcome. Soluble IL-2 receptors were measured in blood before and after MSC infusion and declined significantly during the first week after MSC infusion (P = .03). Levels of interleukin-6 and HLA-G were unaffected. Infectious complications occurred several years after recovery from aGVHD. Cytomegalovirus viral load was high, and cytomegalovirus disease was common. Among patients recovering from aGVHD, 54% died of late infections, between 4 months and 2 years after MSC treatment. No increase in leukemia relapse or graft rejection was found. Children had a better survival rate than adults (P = .005). In GVHD patients, 1-year survival was 75% in patients who received early-passage MSCs (from passages 1-2) in contrast to 21% using later passage MSCs (from passages 3-4) (P < .01). We conclude that treatment with early-passage MSCs improved survival in patients with therapy-resistant GVHD. Death from infection was common in MSC-treated patients, but there was no increase in leukemia relapse.

Successful treatment of recurrent malignancy-associated hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis with a modified HLH-94 immunochemotherapy and allogeneic stem cell transplantation.

Acquired hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) triggered by a known or still to be recognized malignancy is a life-threatening hyperinflammatory syndrome due to massive cytokine release from activated lymphocytes and macrophages. Malignancy-associated HLH (M-HLH) often impedes adequate treatment of malignancy and has the worst outcome compared with any other form of HLH. The incidence of M-HLH is unknown, and there are no published treatment recommendations addressed to this HLH form. Here, we report the case of a young woman with recurrent ALK1-positive anaplastic large T-cell lymphoma and M-HLH successfully treated with a modified HLH-94 protocol, allogeneic stem cell transplantation (alloSCT) and donor lymphocyte infusion (DLI). More than 3 years after DLI, the patient is alive, in complete remission from her malignancy and HLH-free, although suffering from extensive chronic graft-versus-host disease. AlloSCT and, if needed, DLI performed to consolidate remission of malignancy and HLH may have a curative impact on both entities. We propose that when discussing possible treatment options for patients with M-HLH, alloSCT should be considered in eligible individuals.

Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation rates and long-term survival in acute myeloid and lymphoblastic leukemia: real-world population-based data from the Swedish Acute Leukemia Registry 1997-2006.

BACKGROUND: Allogeneic stem cell transplantation (alloSCT) reduces relapse rates in acute leukemia, but outcome is hampered by toxicity. Population-based data avoid patient selection and may therefore substitute for lack of randomized trials. METHODS: We evaluated alloSCT rates within the Swedish Acute Leukemia Registry, including 3899 adult patients diagnosed from 1997 through 2006 with a coverage of 98% and a median follow-up of 6.2 years. RESULTS: AlloSCT rates and survival decreased rapidly with age >55 years. The 8-year overall survival (OS) was 65% in patients <30 years and 38% in patients <60 years and was similar for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Among 1073 patients <60 years, alloSCT was performed in 42% and 49% of patients with AML and ALL, respectively. Two-thirds of the alloSCTs were performed in first complete remission, and half used unrelated donors, the same in AML and ALL. Regional differences in management and outcome were found: 60% of AML patients <40 years received alloSCT in all parts of Sweden, but two-thirds of AML patients 40-59 years had alloSCT in one region compared with one-third in other regions (P<.001), with improved 8-year OS among all AML patients in this age cohort (51% vs 30%; P = .005). CONCLUSIONS: More Swedish AML patients received alloSCT, and long-term survival was better than in recently published large international studies, despite our lack of selection bias. There was no correlation between alloSCT rate and survival in ALL. In adult AML patients <60 years of age, a high alloSCT rate was associated with better long-term survival, but there was no such correlation in ALL.