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Background: Disease recurrence occurs in 20% to 40% of adults with Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph+ ALL) who are treated with chemotherapy and tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs). In the current study, the authors report the incidence, treatment, and outcome after first disease recurrence in young and older adults treated in the ALL Ph08 trial (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT01491763).Methods: Patients aged 18 to 55 years with de novo Ph+ ALL were treated with imatinib concurrently with standard-dose induction and consolidation therapy followed by allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) when possible. In patients with first disease recurrence, the authors analyzed the type of recurrence, timing, location, presence of kinase domain mutations, type of treatment, and outcomes.Results: Of the 125 patients, 28 patients (22%) developed disease recurrence before (4 patients) or after (24 patients) HSCT, with the recurrences being molecular in 11 patients (39%) and overt in 17 patients (61%). T315I was the most common mutation noted at the time of disease recurrence. Change in TKI was the most frequent treatment for patients with molecular disease recurrence whereas rescue chemotherapy and TKI change followed by second allo-HSCT when possible were performed for the most part in patients with overt disease recurrence. A total of 20 patients (71%) achieved response. The median disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were 8.5 months and 15.3 months, respectively. A trend for better DFS and OS was observed in patients with molecular recurrence compared with those with overt recurrence (median of 16.9 months vs 6.3 months [P = .05] and 28.7 months vs 11.5 months [P = .05] for DFS and OS, respectively).Conclusions: Disease recurrence was frequent in young and older adults with Ph+ ALL who were treated with imatinib and chemotherapy with HSCT. Although the majority of patients responded to rescue therapy, their outcomes were poor, especially with regard to overt disease recurrence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

About 25–35% of adult patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia show the Philadelphia (Ph) chromosome. Few series have evaluated the prognosis of additional cytogenetic alterations (ACA) to the Ph chromosome. We analyzed the frequency, type and prognostic significance ofACA in adults (18–60 years) treated in the ALL-Ph-08 trial. Fifty-two out of 74 patients (70%) showed ACA and 19 (26%) presented monosomies associated with t(9;22) (monosomal karyotype, MK). Similar complete response (CR) rate, CR duration, overall survival and event-free survival (EFS) were observed in patients with or without ACA, but patients with MK showed shorter CR duration and EFS than the remaining. On multivariate analysis, the only variable with prognostic impact for CR duration and EFS was the presence of MK (p = .003 andp = .036, respectively). Although ACA associated with the Ph chromosome are frequent, only monosomies were associated with poor prognosis in this group of patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the frequency, predictors, and evolution of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in patients with CNS relapse and introduced a novel method for studying BCR-ABL1 protein variants in cDNA from bone marrow (BM) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) blast cells. A total of 128 patients were analyzed in two PETHEMA clinical trials. All achieved complete remission after imatinib treatment. Of these, 30 (23%) experienced a relapse after achieving complete remission, and 13 (10%) had an isolated CNS relapse or combined CNS and BM relapses. We compared the characteristics of patients with and without CNS relapse and further analyzed CSF and BM samples from two of the 13 patients with CNS relapse. In both patients, classical sequencing analysis of the kinase domain of BCR-ABL1 from the cDNA of CSF blasts revealed the pathogenic variant p.L387M. We also performed ultra-deep next-generation sequencing (NGS) in three samples from one of the relapsed patients. We did not find the mutation in the BM sample, but we did find it in CSF blasts with 45% of reads at the time of relapse. These data demonstrate the feasibility of detecting BCR-ABL1 mutations in CSF blasts by NGS and highlight the importance of monitoring clonal evolution over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant (allo-HCT) in elderly patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is unclear. We conducted a prospective study including 110 homogeneously treated patients with ALL aged 50–70 years. Their outcomes were analyzed by intention-to-treat on a donor-versus-no donor basis. Fifty-five patients (50%) underwent human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing and were considered potential allo-HCT candidates, although only 25 (23%) eventually received an allo-HCT. Among potential allo-HCT candidates, patients with (n= 28) and without (n= 27) an HLA-identical sibling showed similar leukemia-free survival, overall survival (OS) and relapse risk, and the only variable associated with a better outcome was achievement of first complete remission (CR1) after induction therapy. Among the 25 patients who actually received an allo-HCT, the 4-year non-relapse mortality and OS were 42% (95% confidence interval 31–53%) and 37% (95% confidence interval 27–47%), respectively. In conclusion, having an HLA-identical sibling donor was not associated with a better outcome in patients with ALL aged 50–70 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main outcomes of the Programa Español para Tratamiento de Hemopatías ( PETHEMA)-acute lymphoblastic leukaemia ( ALL)- Ph-08 trial were described and compared with those of the historical PETHEMA- CSTIBES02 trial. The trials differed in imatinib dose (600 vs. 400 mg/d) and amount of chemotherapy (one vs. two consolidation cycles) before stem cell transplantation ( SCT). All patients ( n = 29) enrolled in the ALL- Ph-08 trial achieved complete remission ( CR) (vs. 90% in CSTIBES02), and SCT was performed in CR in 90% (vs. 78%). The reduction in early death, relapse before SCT and transplant-related mortality observed in the ALL- Ph-08 trial resulted in an improved 2-year event-free survival (63% vs. 37%, P = 0·009). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and aim: Only 20–30% of elderly patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) are enrolled in clinical trials because of co-morbid disorders or poor performance status. We present the results of treatment of Philadelphia chromosome-negative (Ph−) ALL patients over 55 yr treated in the PETHEMA ALL-96 trial. Patients and methods: From 1996 to 2006, 33 patients ⩾55 yr with Ph− ALL were included. Induction therapy was vincristine, daunorubicin, prednisone, asparaginase, and cyclophosphamide over 5 weeks. Central nervous system (CNS) prophylaxis involved triple intrathecal (IT) therapy, 14 doses over the first year. Consolidation-1 included mercaptopurine, methotrexate, teniposide and cytarabine, followed by one consolidation-2 cycle similar to the induction cycle. Maintenance consisted of mercaptopurine and methotrexate up to 2 yr in complete remission (CR) with monthly reinduction cycles (vincristine, prednisone and asparaginase) during the first year. Results: Median (range) age was 65 yr (56–77). Phenotype (30 patients): early-pre-B 7, common/pre-B 18, T 5. Cytogenetics (28 patients): normal 12, complex 10, t(4;11) 2 and other 4. CR was achieved in 19/33 (57.6%) patients, early death occurred in 12 (36.4%) and 2 (6%) were resistant. Overall survival and disease-free survival probabilities (2 yr, 95% CI) were 39% (21%–57%) and 46% (22%–70%), respectively (median follow up of 24 months). Removal of asparaginase and cyclophosphamide from the induction decreased induction death (OR 0.119, CI 95% 0.022–0.637, P = 0.013) and increased survival (20% vs. 52%, P = 0.05). Conclusions: The prognosis of elderly Ph− ALL patients is poor. In this study, less intensive induction decreased toxic death, allowing delivery of planned consolidation therapy and increased survival probability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]