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Although initial central nervous system (CNS) involvement is rarely detected in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), risk-adapted CNS-directed therapy is essential for all patients. Treatment intensity depends on the initial CNS status. In the AIEOP-BFM ALL 2009 trial, patients with cytomorphologic detection of leukemic blasts in initial cerebrospinal fluid were classified as CNS2 or CNS3 and received five intrathecal doses of methotrexate (MTX) in induction therapy compared to patients with CNS1 status (no blasts detected) who received three doses. The impact of additional intrathecal (IT) MTX on systemic toxicity in induction therapy is unknown. Between June 1st 2010 and February 28th 2017, a total of 6,136 ALL patients aged 1-17 years were enrolled onto the AIEOP-BFM ALL 2009 trial. The effect of three versus five doses of IT MTX during induction therapy on the incidence of severe infectious complications was analyzed. Among 4,706 patients treated with three IT MTX doses, 77 (1.6%) had a life-threatening infection during induction as compared to 59 of 1,350 (4.4%) patients treated with five doses (P<0.001; Odds Ratio 2.86 [95% Confidence Interval 1.99-4.13]). In a multivariate regression model, treatment with additional IT MTX proved to be the strongest risk factor for life-threatening infections (Odds Ratio 2.85 [1.96-4.14]). Fatal infections occurred in 16 (0.3%) and 38 (1.6%) patients treated with three or five IT MTX doses, respectively (P<0.001). As the relevance of additional intrathecal MTX in induction for relapse prevention in CNS2 patients is unclear, doses of intrathecal therapy have been reduced for these patients. (Clinicaltrials.gov identifiers: NCT01117441 and NCT00613457).

ABL-class fusions other than BCR-ABL1 characterize about 2-3% of precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Case series indicated that patients suffering from these subtypes have a dismal outcome and may benefit from the introduction of tyrosine kinase inhibitors. We analyzed clinical characteristics and outcome of 46 ABL-class fusion positive cases other than BCR-ABL1 treated according to AIEOP-BFM ALL 2000 and 2009 protocols; 13 of them received a tyrosine kinase inhibitor during different phases of treatment. ABL-class fusion positive cases had a poor early treatment response: minimal residual disease levels of >5x10-4 were observed in 71.4% of patients after induction treatment and in 51.2% after consolidation phase. For the entire cohort of 46 cases the 5-year probability of event-free survival was 49.1+8.9% and that of overall survival 69.6+7.8%; the cumulative incidence of relapse was 25.6+8.2% and treatment-related mortality 20.8+6.8%. One out of 13 cases with tyrosine kinase inhibitor added to chemotherapy relapsed while eight of 33 cases without tyrosine kinase inhibitor treatment suffered from relapse, including six in 17 patients who had not received hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Stem cell transplantation seems to be effective in preventing relapses (only three relapses in 25 patients), but was associated with a very high treatment-related mortality (6 patients). These data indicate a major need for an early identification of ABL-class fusion positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia cases and to establish a properly designed, controlled study aimed at investigating the use of tyrosine kinase inhibitors, the appropriate chemotherapy backbone and the role of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NTC00430118, NCT00613457, NCT01117441).

ABL-class fusions other than BCR-ABL1 characterize about 2-3% of precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Case series indicated that patients suffering from these subtypes have a dismal outcome and may benefit from the introduction of tyrosine kinase inhibitors. We analyzed clinical characteristics and outcome of 46 ABL-class fusion positive cases other than BCR-ABL1 treated according to AIEOP-BFM ALL 2000 and 2009 protocols; 13 of them received a tyrosine kinase inhibitor during different phases of treatment. ABL-class fusion positive cases had a poor early treatment response: minimal residual disease levels of >5x10-4 were observed in 71.4% of patients after induction treatment and in 51.2% after consolidation phase. For the entire cohort of 46 cases the 5-year probability of event-free survival was 49.1+8.9% and that of overall survival 69.6+7.8%; the cumulative incidence of relapse was 25.6+8.2% and treatment-related mortality 20.8+6.8%. One out of 13 cases with tyrosine kinase inhibitor added to chemotherapy relapsed while eight of 33 cases without tyrosine kinase inhibitor treatment suffered from relapse, including six in 17 patients who had not received hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Stem cell transplantation seems to be effective in preventing relapses (only three relapses in 25 patients), but was associated with a very high treatment-related mortality (6 patients). These data indicate a major need for an early identification of ABL-class fusion positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia cases and to establish a properly designed, controlled study aimed at investigating the use of tyrosine kinase inhibitors, the appropriate chemotherapy backbone and the role of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NTC00430118, NCT00613457, NCT01117441).