Single-agent 5-azacytidine as post-transplant maintenance in high-risk myeloid malignancies undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation.

Relapse is a major cause of treatment failure after allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) in myeloid malignancies. Additional strategies have been devised to further maximize the immunologic effect of allo-HCT, notably through maintenance therapy with hypomethylating agents such as 5-azacytidine (AZA). We conducted a single-center retrospective study to investigate the efficacy of AZA after allo-HCT for high-risk myeloid malignancies. All patients transplanted between Jan 2014 and Sept 2019 for high-risk acute myeloid leukemia (n = 123), myelodysplastic syndrome (n = 51), or chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (n = 11) were included. Patients who died, relapsed, or developed grade ≥ 2 acute graft-versus-host disease before day + 60 were excluded, as well as those who were eligible for anti-FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 maintenance. Of the 185 included patients, 65 received AZA while 120 did not. Median age at transplant was 59 years; 51.9% of patients were males. The median follow-up was 24 months for both groups. Regarding main patient characteristics and transplantation modalities, the two groups were comparable. In multivariate analyses, there were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of 2-year cumulative incidence of relapse (HR = 1.19; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.67-2.12; p = 0.55), overall survival (HR = 0.62; 95%CI 0.35-1.12; p = 0.12) and event-free survival (HR = 0.97; 95%CI 0.60-1.58; p = 0.91) rates. In conclusion, single-agent AZA does not appear to be an optimal drug for preventing post-transplant relapse in patients with high-risk myeloid malignancies. This study highlights the need for prospective studies of alternative therapies or combination approaches in the post-transplant setting.

Genetic identification of patients with AML older than 60 years achieving long-term survival with intensive chemotherapy.

To design a simple and reproducible classifier predicting the overall survival (OS) of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) ≥60 years of age treated with 7 + 3, we sequenced 37 genes in 471 patients from the ALFA1200 (Acute Leukemia French Association) study (median age, 68 years). Mutation patterns and OS differed between the 84 patients with poor-risk cytogenetics and the 387 patients with good (n = 13), intermediate (n = 339), or unmeasured (n = 35) cytogenetic risk. TP53 (hazards ratio [HR], 2.49; P = .0003) and KRAS (HR, 3.60; P = .001) mutations independently worsened the OS of patients with poor-risk cytogenetics. In those without poor-risk cytogenetics, NPM1 (HR, 0.57; P = .0004), FLT3 internal tandem duplications with low (HR, 1.85; P = .0005) or high (HR, 3.51; P < 10-4) allelic ratio, DNMT3A (HR, 1.86; P < 10-4), NRAS (HR, 1.54; P = .019), and ASXL1 (HR, 1.89; P = .0003) mutations independently predicted OS. Combining cytogenetic risk and mutations in these 7 genes, 39.1% of patients could be assigned to a "go-go" tier with a 2-year OS of 66.1%, 7.6% to the "no-go" group (2-year OS 2.8%), and 3.3% of to the "slow-go" group (2-year OS of 39.1%; P < 10-5). Across 3 independent validation cohorts, 31.2% to 37.7% and 11.2% to 13.5% of patients were assigned to the go-go and the no-go tiers, respectively, with significant differences in OS between tiers in all 3 trial cohorts (HDF [Hauts-de-France], n = 141, P = .003; and SAL [Study Alliance Leukemia], n = 46; AMLSG [AML Study Group], n = 223, both P < 10-5). The ALFA decision tool is a simple, robust, and discriminant prognostic model for AML patients ≥60 years of age treated with intensive chemotherapy. This model can instruct the design of trials comparing the 7 + 3 standard of care with less intensive regimens.

Discontinuation of antimicrobial therapy in adult neutropenic haematology patients: A prospective cohort.

OBJECTIVES: Antibiotics for febrile neutropenia (FN) in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) patients undergoing intensive chemotherapy are usually maintained until neutropenia resolution, because of the risk of uncontrolled sepsis in this vulnerable population. This leads to unnecessarily prolonged antimicrobial therapy. METHODS: Based on ECIL-4 recommendations, we modified our management strategy and discontinued antibiotics after a pre-established duration in patients treated for a first episode of FN between August 2014 and October 2017. RESULTS: Antibiotics were stopped during 62 FN episodes, and maintained in the control group (n = 13). Median age of patients was 54 years. A total of 39 (63%) patients received induction and 23 (37%) consolidation chemotherapy; 36 (58%) patients had fever of unknown origin. Median neutropenia length was 26 days (IQR 24-30). Antibiotics were started at day 9 (IQR 5-13). Most patients received piperacillin-tazobactam (56%) or cefepime (32%). Antimicrobial therapy was longer in the control group than in the policy compliant group, 10 (IQR 7-16) vs. 19 days (IQR 15-23), P = 0.0001. After antibiotics discontinuation, 20% patients experienced fever recurrence, within 5.5 days (IQR 3-7.5). None of these febrile episodes were severe and 80% patients remained afebrile, with neutrophil recovery occurring within 5 days (IQR 2-8.5). Overall, 287 antibiotics days were spared; this represents 49% of all days with antibiotics. No patient had died at day 30 from intervention; six died during late follow-up, two from graft-versus-host disease and four from relapsed or refractory leukaemia. CONCLUSIONS: Discontinuing antibiotics in neutropenic AML patients treated for a first episode of FN is safe, and results in significant antibiotic sparing.