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Objectives Treatment-free remission (TFR) has emerged as a treatment goal in chronic myeloid leukemia in the chronic phase (CML-CP). Attempts to increase proportion of patients achieving TFR include combination of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) and other drugs. Interferon-α in addition to TKI has shown promising efficacy but with dose-dependent toxicity and discontinuations. NordCML007 was initiated to study the efficacy and safety of low dose pegylated IFN-α (PegIFN-α) in combination with dasatinib (DAS) in CML-CP. Methods Forty patients with newly diagnosed CML-CP were given DAS upfront. After month 3 (M3) 15 μg/wk of PegIFN-α was added and increased to 25 μg/wk from M7 until M15. DAS treatment was continued and adverse events and BCR-ABL1 qRT-PCR values were reported yearly after M24. Results from M1 to M18 have previously been published, and here we present long-term data. Results After 5 years of follow-up, there were no suspected unexpected serious adverse reactions, no increase in serosal effusions, no disease progressions and no CML-related deaths. Rates of MR3.0 (MMR), MR4.0 and MR4.5 were 84.6%, 64.1% and 51.3% respectively at M60, and 95% of patients reached MMR at some point during the study. Conclusion Initial addition of PegIFN-α to DAS shows good long-term efficacy without increased toxicity. Title in Web of Science: Long-term tolerability and efficacy after initial PegIFN-alpha addition to dasatinib in CML-CP: Five-year follow-up of the NordCML007 study

Background: On the basis of a previous report of increased chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) risk following peptic ulcer, we hypothesized that chronic Helicobacter pylori infection could serve as a risk factor for CML. Methods: In a population-based, retrospective case–control study, we used Swedish registry data on 980 patients with CML and 4,960 age- and sex-matched controls to investigate associations between markers of previous infection with Helicobacter pylori and CML incidence. Results: Previous diagnoses of dyspepsia, gastritis or peptic ulcers, as well as previous proton pump inhibitor (PPI) medication, were all associated with a significantly increased risk of CML (RRs, 1.5–2.0; P = 0.0005–0.05). Meanwhile, neither inflammatory bowel disease nor intake of NSAIDs were associated with CML, indicating that it is not gastrointestinal ulcer or inflammation per se that influences risk. Conclusions: The consistent associations suggest a shared background between gastric conditions and CML, and strengthen the case that Helicobacter pylori could constitute this common risk factor. Impact: As the etiology of CML is practically unknown, and Helicobacter pylori could potentially be a therapeutic target, even this indirect evidence encourages further studies on the potential involvement of Helicobacter pylori in CML etiology.

Two decades after the introduction of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI), a sizeable portion of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in chronic phase (CP) still undergo allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). We investigated the indications for allo-HSCT, clinical outcome, management of relapse, and post-transplant TKI treatment in a population-based setting using the Swedish CML registry. Of 118 CML patients transplanted between 2002 and 2017, 56 (47.4%) received allo-HSCT in first CP, among whom TKI resistance was the most common transplant indication (62.5%). For patients diagnosed with CML in CP at65 years of age, the cumulative probability of undergoing allo-HSCT within 5 years was 9.7%. Overall 5-year survival was 96.2%, 70.1% and 36.9% when transplanted in first CP, second or later CP, and in accelerated phase or blast crisis, respectively. Risk factors for relapse were EBMT score2 and reduced intensity conditioning, and for death, CP2 at time point of allo-HSCT only. Non-relapse mortality for patients transplanted in CP was 11.6%. Our data indicate that allo-HSCT still constitutes a reasonable therapeutic option for patients with CML in first CP, especially those resistant to TKI treatment, providing high long-term survival and low non-relapse mortality.

Clinical trials show that tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) treatment can be discontinued in selected patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML). Although updated CML guidelines support such procedure in clinical routine, data on TKI stopping outside clinical trials are limited. In this retrospective study utilising the Swedish CML registry, we examined TKI discontinuation in a population-based setting. Out of 584 patients diagnosed with chronic-phase CML (CML-CP) in 2007-2012, 548 had evaluable information on TKI discontinuation. With a median follow-up of nine years from diagnosis, 128 (23%) discontinued TKI therapy (>= 1 month) due to achieving a DMR (deep molecular response) and 107 (20%) due to other causes (adverse events, allogeneic stem cell transplant, pregnancy, etc). Among those stopping in DMR, 49% re-initiated TKI treatment (median time to restart 4 center dot 8 months). In all, 38 patients stopped TKI within a clinical study and 90 outside a study. After 24 months 41 center dot 1% of patients discontinuing outside a study had re-initiated TKI treatment. TKI treatment duration pre-stop was longer and proportion treated with second-generation TKI slightly higher outside studies, conceivably affecting the clinical outcome. In summary we show that TKI discontinuation in CML in clinical practice is common and feasible and may be just as successful as when performed within a clinical trial.

n/a Funding Agencies|Lund University; Skane University Hospital

Introduction: The Brutons Tyrosine Kinase (BTK) inhibitor ibrutinib has dramatically improved treatment of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) resulting in markedly increased progression free and overall survival (OS), particularly for those with chemoimmuno-refractory or TP53-mutated disease. However, pivotal clinical studies, such as the RESONATE trial, have also identified ibrutinib-associated complications including infections, hemorrhagic events and atrial arrythmias. Real-world evidence using nationwide-wide records have so far been scarce. Here we present population-based data extracted from multiple national registers on ibrutinib-treated CLL patients with focus on OS and adverse events. Methods: Using the Swedish portion of the Scandinavian Donations and Transfusions (SCADAT3-S) database, which includes all individuals blood typed in Sweden, we identified a nationwide cohort of patients with a diagnosis of CLL registered in the Swedish Cancer register and who had expedited prescriptions of ibrutinib, according to the Swedish Prescribed Drug Register. Patients were followed from their first date of ibrutinib expedition until death, emigration, or end of follow-up (31st December 2018). Information on adverse events were collected from the Swedish Patient Registry, with information on inpatient and specialized out-patient care. The ibrutinib treatment duration was defined as up to 90 days after last expedition of ibrutinib, end of follow-up, death or emigration, whichever occurred first. OS as well as selected adverse events were calculated from initiation of ibrutinib therapy and displayed using crude Kaplan-Meier estimates (KM). Descriptive statistics were used to describe demographics and treatment duration. Results: We identified 378 patients with a diagnosis of CLL and a prescription of ibrutinib. The median age at diagnosis of 64 years and 117 (30%) were female patients. The median follow-up from initiation of ibrutinib therapy was 1.4 years (interquartile range [IQR], 0.6 to 2.5) with a median time of diagnosis until treatment initiation of 6.7 years (IQR, 4-10) (Table 1). OS at 12 and 24 months from start of ibrutinib treatment was 86% (95% confidence interval [95% CI], 82 to 90%) and 74% (95% CI, 68% to 79%), respectively. Kaplan-Meier estimates are displayed in Figure 1A. For patients without a previous diagnosis of atrial fibrillation or flutter (AF) (n=238), the 12-month cumulative incidence of AF was 11% (95% confidence interval 7 to 16%) (Figure 1B). During follow-up, invasive aspergillus infection, requiring treatment, occurred in 4 patients (cumulative incidence at 12 months 0.02 (95% CI, 0.01 to 0.05). Influenza/pneumonia was the most commonly identified infection (59 events [12 month cumulative incidence of 0.20, 95% CI 0.15 to 0.26], of which 11 events were lower respiratory infections, excluding invasive aspergillosis), followed-by sepsis with a cumulative incidence at 12 months of 0.13 (95% CI, 0.10 to 0.19). Conclusions: Our nationwide population-based register data support previous results from prospective studies on ibrutinib-treated CLL patients in terms of OS. Regarding adverse events, however, our data clearly identify atrial fibrillation and flutter as a significant problem, although the risk seems to diminish after the first year of treatment. Furthermore, invasive aspergillosis, although uncommon, is a serious adverse event worth considering in patients subjected to ibrutinib therapy. Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures Dahlen: Novartis: Research Funding. Edgren: Cellgene: Research Funding. Stenke: Incyte: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees.

Background TFR following cessation of tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy is increasingly regarded as a feasible objective for many patients (pts) with CML in chronic phase (CML-CP) who achieve a sustained deep molecular response (DMR). In Evaluating Nilotinib Efficacy and Safety in clinical Trials (ENEST)-complete molecular response (ENESTcmr), pts unable to achieve DMR on imatinib (IM) were able to reach deeper levels of MR by switching to nilotinib (NIL) 400 mg twice daily (BID) vs continuing IM (Hughes et al. 2017). Recent long-term analysis from ENESTop illustrated the durability and safety of TFR for pts who achieved sustained DMR only after switching from IM to NIL 400 mg (Hughes et al. 2021). European LeukemiaNet guidelines allow discontinuation of TKI therapy following >2 years of DMR (MR 4.0 or better) (Hochhaus et al. 2020). However, the optimal duration of NIL consolidation (CONS) to increase the chances for successful TFR is not yet known. Objectives The ENESTPath study was designed to evaluate the impact of 12 or 24 months (mos) of NIL 300 mg BID CONS, on the TFR rate in pts who had not achieved sustained DMR with IM. Methods ENESTPath (NCT01743989) is a prospective, randomized, open-label, two-arm phase 3 study that enrolled pts with CML-CP who achieved a complete cytogenetic response (CCyR), but not MR 4.0, after ≥24 mos of IM. After enrollment, pts received NIL 300 mg BID for 12 mos each of induction (IND) and CONS. Pts with sustained DMR for at least the last 12 mos (≥MR 4.0; BCR-ABL1IS ≤0.01% in 4 of the 5 preceding quarterly assessments and ≥MR 4.0 in the last assessment) were randomized (1:1) either to enter the TFR phase (Arm 1) or to continue NIL for an additional 12 mos CONS, before entering TFR (Arm 2) if eligibility criteria were still met, resulting in a 36- or 24- mos TFR phase, respectively (Figure 1). The primary endpoint was the number of pts who remained in TFR (≥MR 4.0) without molecular relapse 12 mos after entering TFR. Molecular relapse was defined as loss of major molecular response (loss of MMR, BCR-ABL1IS >0.1%) or the confirmed loss of MR 4.0 (3 tests Results Overall, 620 pts were enrolled. In the full analysis set (FAS, N=619), 238 pts were randomized after 24 mos of NIL, 381 patients were not randomized and followed for survival, and one pt was excluded from FAS due to major protocol deviation. Baseline characteristics were well balanced between Arm 1 (N=120) and Arm 2 (N=118): 49.5 and 49.0 years median age; 60.0% and 58.5% male; 56.11 vs 57.97 mos median time since initial diagnosis; 54.08 vs 57.99 mos median prior exposure to IM, respectively. The number of pts in the FAS entering TFR was 119 in Arm 1 and 104 in Arm 2. There was no significant difference in the primary endpoint of MR 4.0 rate at 12 mos of TFR between arms (Arm 1, 31.9% [95% CI: 23.7 - 41.1]; Arm 2, 37.5% [95% CI: 28.2 - 47.5]; P=0.383) (Table 1). Median time to treatment-free survival event (TFS; defined as loss of MMR, confirmed loss of MR 4.0, re-start of NIL for any reason, progression to accelerated phase/blast crisis, or death from any cause) was 4.1 (95% CI: 3.7 - 5.5) mos in Arm 1 and 4.2 (95% CI: 3.7 - 19.7) in Arm 2 (Figure 2). Among the 129 pts who relapsed during TFR and were re-treated with NIL, the majority regained MMR and MR 4.0 by 3 mos (Table 2). In the 619 pts who received NIL during IND/CONS, the raw cumulative rate of MR 4.0 and MR 4.5 was 64.3% and 36.8% by 12 mos and 72.4% and 48.0% by 24 mos, respectively. The proportion of pts who achieved MR 4.0 and MR 4.5 was 48.0% and 25.0% at 12 mos, and 44.1% and 24.9% at 24 mos, respectively. During IND/CONS before randomization, 87.7% (543/619) pts experienced an adverse event (AE), 18.1% (112/619) serious AEs (SAEs), 9.7% (60/619) cardiovascular AEs, and 12.1% (75/619) discontinued study treatment due to AEs. In the TFR phase, 63.2% (141/223) pts experienced AEs, and 6.7% (15/223) pts SAEs (Table 3); and three patients had SAEs suspected to be related to study drug (all in Arm 1): one cerebrovascular accident, one peripheral artery stenosis, and one Grade 3/4 myocardial infarction. Conclusions ENESTPath results suggest there is no significant incremental benefit in terms of TFR success from an additional year of NIL CONS for pts with CML-CP who achieved sustained DMR after 2 years on NIL following a switch from IM. The efficacy of NIL at a dose of 300 mg BID in achieving MR in pts unable to reach sustained DMR with first-line IM for ≥24 mos was confirmed. No new safety signals were observed. Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures Rea: Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Incyte: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Pfizer: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Sportoletti: AstraZeneca: Consultancy, Honoraria; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria; AbbVie: Consultancy, Honoraria. Mayer: Principia: Research Funding. Illes: Novartis, Janssen, Pfizer, Roche: Other: Travel, Accommodations, Expenses; Takeda, Seattle Genetics: Research Funding; Janssen, Celgene, Novartis, Pfizer, Takeda, Roche: Consultancy. Kiani: Novartis Pharma GmbH: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Pfizer: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau. Charbonnier: Pfizer: Consultancy, Honoraria; Incyte: Consultancy, Honoraria; Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria. Marinakis: Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria; AbbVie: Consultancy, Honoraria; Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria; Sanofi: Consultancy, Honoraria. Stenke: Incyte: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Shah: Cognizant technology Solutions: Current Employment. Supekar: Novartis Farma: Current Employment. Di Caprio: Novartis Pharma: Current Employment. Baccarani: Novartis: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees.

7037 Background: Bosutinib (BOS) is approved for the treatment (Tx) of Philadelphia chromosome–positive (Ph+) chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) resistant/intolerant to prior therapy and newly diagnosed Ph+ chronic phase (CP) CML. Body mass index (BMI) was shown to influence Tx response with front-line dasatinib vs imatinib (IMA). We report the efficacy and safety of BOS and IMA by BMI in patients (pts) with newly diagnosed CP CML. Methods: In the open-label BFORE trial, pts were randomized to receive 400 mg once daily BOS or IMA. Outcomes were assessed according to baseline BMI ≥25 or = 25 kg/m2. This post hoc analysis was based on the final 5-y analysis (database lock: June 12, 2020). Results: In the BOS and IMA arms, respectively, 149 (56.4%) vs 115 (43.6%) pts and 145 (54.3%) vs 122 (45.7%) pts had BMI ≥25 vs = 25. In both the BOS and IMA arms, median Tx duration and time on study was 55 mo for pts with BMI ≥25 or = 25; respective median dose intensity was 394 vs 393 mg/d and 400 vs 400 mg/d. Molecular response (MR) rates are shown in the table. Cumulative incidence of major MR was similar in pts with ≥25 vs = 25 receiving BOS (HR 0.99; 95% CI 0.74−1.31) or IMA (HR 1.09; 95% CI 0.81−1.47). Event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) rates at 60 mo are shown in the table. Most common reasons for Tx discontinuation were adverse events (AEs) (BOS 28.2 vs 20.0%; IMA 13.3 vs 10.7%) and lack of efficacy (BOS 5.4 vs 5.2%; IMA 16.1 vs 19.8%). In pts with BMI ≥25 vs = 25, dose reductions and interruptions due to Tx-emergent AEs (TEAEs) occurred in 43.6 % vs 46.2% and 66.4% vs 69.7% of pts with BOS and 24.5% vs 24.6% and 40.6% vs 50.8% with IMA. Any grade TEAEs in ≥30% of pts with BMI ≥25 vs = 25 were diarrhea (73.8 vs 73.1%), nausea (40.9 vs 31.9%), thrombocytopenia (30.9 vs 41.2%), increased alanine (37.6 vs 28.6%) and aspartate aminotransferase (30.2 vs 20.2%) with BOS and diarrhea (49.0 vs 29.5%), nausea (46.2 vs 37.7%), muscle spasms (33.6 vs 26.2%), neutropenia (14.7 vs 32.0%) and thrombocytopenia (10.5% vs 30.3%) with IMA. Conclusions: Efficacy of BOS was consistent in pts with BMI ≥25 or = 25; however, with IMA a low (vs high) BMI appeared to be associated with worse survival outcomes. Differences in certain TEAEs were observed between BMI subgroups in both treatment arms. Clinical trial information: NCT02130557. [Table: see text]

The primary goal in management of chronic phase (CP) chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) is to prevent disease progression to accelerated phase (AP) or blast crisis (BC). We have evaluated progression rates in a decentralised healthcare setting and characterised patients progressing to AP/BC on TKI treatment.Using data from the Swedish CML register, we identified CP-CML patients diagnosed 2007-2011 who progressed to AP/BC within 2 yrs from diagnosis (n = 18) as well as patients diagnosed in advanced phase during 2007-2012 (n = 36) from a total of 544 newly diagnosed CML cases. We evaluated baseline characteristics, progression rates, outcome and adherence to guidelines for monitoring and treatment.The cumulative progression rate at 2 yrs was 4.3%. All 18 progression cases had been treated with imatinib, and six progressed within 6 months. High-risk EUTOS score was associated to a higher risk of progression. Insufficient cytogenetic and/or molecular monitoring was found in 33%. Median survival after transformation during TKI treatment was 1.4 yrs. In those presenting with BC and AP, median survival was 1.6 yrs and not reached, respectively.In this population-based setting, progression rates appear comparable to that reported from clinical trials, with similar dismal patient outcome. Improved adherence to CML guidelines may minimise the risk of disease progression.

The World Health Organization (WHO) guideline development policy requires that WHO guidelines be developed in a manner that is transparent and based on all available evidences, which must be synthesised and formally assessed for quality. To fulfil this requirement, the Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) approach of rating quality of evidence and grading strength of recommendations was applied when developing the WHO recommendations on public health interventions in radiation emergencies. The guideline development group (GDG) formulated 10 PICO (P: population; I: intervention; C: comparator; O: outcomes) questions to guide the development of recommendations on response interventions during the early/intermediate and late emergency phases and on risk communications for mitigating psycho-social impact of radiation emergencies. For each PICO question, an extensive evidence search and systematic review was conducted. The GDG then formulated the recommendations using the evidence to recommendation (E-2-R) decision-making matrix and evaluated the strength of each recommendation.

Background: In a recent, large population-based study we identified an increased risk of a second malignancy in patients following a diagnosis of Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML), as compared to an age- and gender-matched control cohort (Gunnarsson et al, Br J Haematol. 2015 Jun; 169(5): 683-8). If CML patients have an increased congenital or acquired susceptibility to develop any cancer, the prevalence of other prior malignancies would be expected to be increased already at the time of CML diagnosis. There is a known association between autoimmune disease (AD) or chronic inflammatory disease (CID) and the development of some hematological malignancies. However, to date, studies on the prevalence of AD or CID detected prior to the CML diagnosis are few and inconclusive. Our aim was to estimate the prevalence of other malignancies, AD or CID in CML patients at or before the time point of the CML diagnosis. Materials and methods: We used the population-based Swedish CML Register to identify patients diagnosed with CML in Sweden between 2002-2013. This cohort was linked to the Swedish Cancer Register to retrieve information about malignancies reported before the diagnosis of CML and the Swedish National Patient Register to retrieve information about AD and CID. For each of the 984 patients with CML, five age-, gender- and county of residence-matched controls were selected from the general population. All controls had to be free of CML and alive at the time of CML diagnosis for the corresponding case patient. Conditional logistic regression was used to calculate odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI). We excluded diagnoses registered during the year prior to the CML diagnosis to avoid detection bias. In separate steps, analyses were also performed based on diagnoses of AD, CID or cancer three years before the date of CML diagnosis. Results: A total of 984 CML patients were assessed with regard to a prior diagnosis of malignancy, AD or CID excluding the year immediately prior to their CML diagnosis, representing more than 45.000 person-years of follow-up. Compared to the matched population controls, the prevalence of prior malignancies and AD were elevated in CML patients: OR 1.47 (95%CI 1.20-1.82) and 1.55 (1.21-1.98), respectively. Breast-, gastrointestinal- and urinary tract cancers and melanomas were common cancer types and were all significantly more prevalent in the CML cohort, table I. After implementing a three-year exclusion period before the date of CML diagnosis, prior malignancies remained more prevalent in CML patients. Assessment of ADs was hampered by small numbers, sarcoidosis was the only AD with increased prevalence: OR 13.43; 95 % CI 3.56 - 50.73. No association was detected between CML and previous CID. Conclusions: Based on a large population-based cohort, our findings indicate that CML patients have an increased prevalence of other malignancies and AD prior to the diagnosis of CML, suggesting that a hereditary or acquired predisposition to cancer and/or autoimmunity is involved in the pathogenesis of CML. Table 1. Odds Ratios for malignancies prior to CML among 984 Swedish CML patients diagnosed between 2002 and 2013. Diagnoses of malignancy during the year immediately prior to CML diagnosis excluded to avoid detection bias. Participants Latency More Than 3 YearsBefore CML Diagnosis Variable CMLn=984 Controlsn = 4920 OR 95% CI CMLn=984 Controlsn = 4920 OR 95% CI Overall 128 453 1.47 1.20 - 1.82 113 381 1.55 1.24 - 1.93 Men 58 184 1.61 1.19 - 2.18 50 146 1.75 1.26 - 2.43 Women 70 269 1.32 1.01 - 1.74 63 235 1.36 1.02 - 1.82 Age Disclosures Richter: Ariad: Honoraria; Bristol-Myers Squibb: Honoraria; Novartis: Honoraria. Sjalander:Novartis: Honoraria.

The clinical outcome for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) has improved dramatically following the introduction of tyrosine kinase inhibitors. An improved survival, combined with a constant incidence, is expected to increase the prevalence of CML. However, data on the prevalence of CML remain scarce. We examined the overall and relative (age and gender matched) survival and assessed the past, present, and projected future prevalence of CML in Sweden. Data on all patients diagnosed with CML between 1970 and 2012 were retrieved from the Swedish Cancer Register and the Swedish Cause of Death Register. The 5-year overall survival increased from 0.18 to 0.82, during the observed time period. Between 2006 and 2012, the 5-year relative survival was close to normal for 40-year-old, but considerably lower for 80-year-old CML patients. The observed prevalence tripled from 1985 to 2012, from 3.9 to 11.9 per 100 000 inhabitants. Assuming no further improvements in relative survival, the prevalence is projected to further increase by 2060 to 22.0 per 100 000 inhabitants (2587 persons in Sweden). The projected dramatic increase in CML prevalence has major medical and health economic implications and needs to be considered in planning how to organize future care of CML patients.

Changes in the immune system induced by tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) have been shown to positively correlate with therapy responses in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). However, only a few longitudinal studies exist and no randomized comparisons between two TKIs have been reported. Therefore, we prospectively analyzed the immune system of newly diagnosed CML patients treated with imatinib (n = 20) or bosutinib (n = 13), that participated in the randomized BFORE trial (NCT02130557). Comprehensive immunophenotyping, plasma protein profiling, and functional assays to determine activation levels of T and NK cells were performed at diagnosis, 3, and 12 months after therapy start. All results were correlated with clinical parameters such as Sokal risk and BCR-ABL load measured according to IS%. At diagnosis, low Sokal risk CML patients had a higher frequency of cytotoxic cells (CD8 + T and NK cells), increased cytotoxic potential of NK cells and lower frequency of naïve and central memory CD4 + T cells. Further, soluble plasma protein profile divided patients into two distinct clusters with different disease burden at diagnosis. During treatment, BCR-ABL IS% correlated with immunological parameters such as plasma proteins, together with different memory subsets of CD4+ and CD8 + T cells. Interestingly, the proportion and cytotoxic potential of NK cells together with several soluble proteins increased during imatinib treatment. In contrast, no major immunological changes were observed during bosutinib treatment. In conclusion, imatinib and bosutinib were shown to have differential effects on the immune system in this randomized clinical trial. Increased number and function of NK cells were especially observed during imatinib therapy. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way.

The title of Chapter 38 was published with a typo error. It should read "NADPH Oxidases in Inflammatory Bowel Disease", whereas the title was mistakenly printed as "NAPDH Oxidases in Inflammatory Bowel Disease" and the book has been updated for this error.

The aim of this study was to describe the fate of patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who did not achieve an initial remission while being treated on a contemporary cooperative group trial. We analyzed the outcome of patients entered into S0106, a recently reported cooperative group trial for patients with newly diagnosed AML. A total of 589 eligible patients was treated, of whom 150 (25%) did not achieve a remission while on study and were available for further analysis. The 4-year survival rate for the entire cohort of 150 patients was 23%. Among the 64 patients who received an allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant, the 4-year survival rate was 48% compared with 4% for the 86 patients who did not undergo transplantation. Among those transplanted, we could not detect a difference in outcome according to remission status, donor source, type of preparative regimen, or cytogenetic risk category. More than 20% of patients with newly diagnosed AML who fail induction therapy can still be cured, particularly if they are able to receive an allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplant. These results suggest that early HLA typing and donor identification are important components of the initial therapy of AML.

Background: Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have improved the survival of patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia. Many patients have deep molecular responses, a prerequisite for TKI therapy discontinuation. We aimed to define precise conditions for stopping treatment. Methods: In this prospective, non-randomised trial, we enrolled patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia at 61 European centres in 11 countries. Eligible patients had chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukaemia, had received any TKI for at least 3 years (without treatment failure according to European LeukemiaNet [ELN] recommendations), and had a confirmed deep molecular response for at least 1 year. The primary endpoint was molecular relapse-free survival, defined by loss of major molecular response (MMR; >0·1% BCR-ABL1 on the International Scale) and assessed in all patients with at least one molecular result. Secondary endpoints were a prognostic analysis of factors affecting maintenance of MMR at 6 months in learning and validation samples and the cost impact of stopping TKI therapy. We considered loss of haematological response, progress to accelerated-phase chronic myeloid leukaemia, or blast crisis as serious adverse events. This study presents the results of the prespecified interim analysis, which was done after the 6-month molecular relapse-free survival status was known for 200 patients. The study is ongoing and is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01596114. Findings: Between May 30, 2012, and Dec 3, 2014, we assessed 868 patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia for eligibility, of whom 758 were enrolled. Median follow-up of the 755 patients evaluable for molecular response was 27 months (IQR 21–34). Molecular relapse-free survival for these patients was 61% (95% CI 57–64) at 6 months and 50% (46–54) at 24 months. Of these 755 patients, 371 (49%) lost MMR after TKI discontinuation, four (1%) died while in MMR for reasons unrelated to chronic myeloid leukaemia (myocardial infarction, lung cancer, renal cancer, and heart failure), and 13 (2%) restarted TKI therapy while in MMR. A further six (1%) patients died in chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukaemia after loss of MMR and re-initiation of TKI therapy for reasons unrelated to chronic myeloid leukaemia, and two (

Crohn’s disease (CD) is a lifelong inflammatory bowel disease with a rapidly rising incidence in the pediatric population. A common complication of CD is the development of fibrotic strictures, which may be present at initial diagnosis or develop many years later. Clinical presentation depends on stricture location and degree of obstruction, and strictures frequently contain a mixture of inflammatory and fibrotic tissue. Histological examination of Crohn’s strictures shows thickening of the muscular layers and the submucosa, where increased collagen deposition by activated myofibroblasts is concentrated around islands of smooth muscle cells and at the superficial margin of the muscularis propria. No antifibrotic therapies for Crohn’s strictures exist. Profibrotic transforming growth factor-β (TGFβ)/bone morphogenetic protein signaling stimulates myofibroblast differentiation and extracellular matrix deposition. Understanding and targeting TGFβ1 downstream signaling is the main focus of current research, raising the possibility of specific antifibrotic therapy in CD becoming available in the future.

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published a clinical guideline in 2013 entitled 'Ulcerative colitis: Management in adults, children and young people (NICE Clinical Guideline CG166)'. This guideline review discusses the evidence base, compares the guideline with current practice and published guidelines, and summarises the key points relevant to pediatricians who manage children with UC.

This randomized phase 3 clinical trial evaluated the potential benefit of the addition of gemtuzumab ozogamicin (GO) to standard induction and postconsolidation therapy in patients with acute myeloid leukemia. Patients were randomly assigned to receive daunorubicin (45 mg/m2 per day on days 1, 2, and 3), cytarabine (100 mg/m2 per day by continuous infusion on days 1–7), and GO (6 mg/m2 on day 4; DA+GO) vs standard induction therapy with daunorubicin (60 mg/m2 per day on days 1, 2, and 3) and cytarabine alone (DA). Patients who achieved complete remission (CR) received 3 courses of high-dose cytarabine. Those remaining in CR after consolidation were randomly assigned to receive either no additional therapy or 3 doses of GO (5 mg/m2 every 28 days). From August 2004 until August 2009, 637 patients were registered for induction. The CR rate was 69% for DA+GO and 70% for DA (P = .59). Among those who achieved a CR, the 5-year relapse-free survival rate was 43% in the DA+GO group and 42% in the DA group (P = .40). The 5-year overall survival rate was 46% in the DA+GO group and 50% in the DA group (P = .85). One hundred seventy-four patients in CR after consolidation underwent the postconsolidation randomization. Disease-free survival was not improved with postconsolidation GO (HR, 1.48; P = .97). In this study, the addition of GO to induction or postconsolidation therapy failed to show improvement in CR rate, disease-free survival, or overall survival. This trial is registered with www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT00085709.

BACKGROUND Studies of mechanisms mediating resistance to chemotherapy led to the discovery of the multidrug transporter ABCB1 (ATP-binding cassette, subfamily B, member 1), often expressed in leukemic cells of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Most clinical trials evaluating the strategy of inhibiting efflux-mediated chemotherapeutic resistance have been unsuccessful, clearly indicating the need for a better approach. METHODS This study investigated the clinical relevance of 380 genes whose expression has been shown to affect the response to chemotherapy, mostly through in vitro studies, in 11 paired samples obtained at AML diagnosis and at relapse. The expression profiling of these 380 genes was performed using TaqMan-based quantitative reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction. Patients had a median age of 58 years at diagnosis, a median duration of complete remission of 284.5 days, and a median overall survival of 563 days. Cytogenetic abnormalities were detected at diagnosis in 4 patients, whereas 5 displayed a normal karyotype and 2 were not investigated. RESULTS Hierarchical clustering shows that samples taken at diagnosis and relapse clustered in pairs for 6 patients of the 11 studied, suggesting recurrence of the same leukemic blast, whereas for the other 5 patients, the data indicate their relapse blasts arose from different origins. A patient-by-patient analysis of the paired samples led to the striking observation that each had a unique gene signature representing different mechanisms of resistance. CONCLUSIONS The data underline the need for personalized molecular analysis to tailor treatment for patients with AML. Cancer 2013;119:3076—3083. © 2013 American Cancer Society.

n chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), early treatment prediction is important to identify patients with inferior overall outcomes. We examined the feasibility of using reductions in BCR-ABL1 transcript levels after 1 month of tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) treatment to predict therapy response. Fifty-two first-line TKI-treated CML patients were included (imatinib n = 26, dasatinib n = 21, nilotinib n = 5), and BCR-ABL1 transcript levels were measured at diagnosis (dg) and 1, 3, 6, 12, 18, 24, and 36 months. The fold change of the BCR-ABL1 transcripts at 1 month compared to initial BCR-ABL1 transcript levels was used to indicate early therapy response. In our cohort, 21% of patients had no decrease in BCR-ABL1 transcript levels after 1 month and were classified as poor responders. Surprisingly, these patients had lower BCR-ABL1 transcript levels at dg compared to responders (31% vs. 48%, p = 0.0083). Poor responders also significantly more often had enlarged spleen (55% vs. 15%; p

No increased prevalence of malignancies among first-degree relatives of 800 patients with chronic myeloid leukemia : a population-based study in Sweden

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) stem cells appear resistant to tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) in vitro, but their impact and drug sensitivity in vivo has not been systematically assessed. We prospectively analyzed the proportion of Philadelphia chromosome-positive leukemic stem cells (LSCs, Ph+CD34+CD38=) and progenitor cells (LPCs, Ph+CD34+CD38+) from 46 newly diagnosed CML patients both at the diagnosis and during imatinib or dasatinib therapy (ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00852566). At diagnosis, the proportion of LSCs varied markedly (1-100%) between individual patients with a significantly lower median value as compared with LPCs (79% vs 96%, respectively, P = 0.0001). The LSC burden correlated with leukocyte count, spleen size, hemoglobin and blast percentage. A low initial LSC percentage was associated with less therapy-related hematological toxicity and superior cytogenetic and molecular responses. After initiation of TKI therapy, the LPCs and LSCs rapidly decreased in both therapy groups, but at 3 months time point the median LPC level was significantly lower in dasatinib group compared with imatinib patients (0.05% vs 0.68%, P = 0.032). These data detail for the first time the prognostic significance of the LSC burden at diagnosis and show that in contrast to in vitro data, TKI therapy rapidly eradicates the majority of LSCs in patients.

To evaluate the influence of socio-economic variables on treatment selection and survival of patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML).Using information available in population-based Swedish registries, we evaluated indices of health, education and economy from the 980 patients in the Swedish CML register diagnosed between 2002 and 2012. Apart from internal comparisons, five age-, gender- and region-matched control subjects per patient served as control cohort. Median follow-up time from CML diagnosis was 4.8 years.Among patients with CML, low personal or household income, short education, living alone, poor performance status and high age (60 years) were significantly associated with an inferior survival (in univariate analyses). However, similar findings were noted also in the matched control group, and in comparisons adjusted for calendar year, age and performance status, socio-economic variables were not significantly associated with CML survival. Meanwhile, both education and income were independently linked to TKI treatment overall and to upfront treatment with second-generation TKIs.In conclusion, socio-economic conditions were associated with survival in the studied CML cohort but these associations could be explained by differences at baseline. Meanwhile, socio-economic conditions appeared to influence treatment choice.

Although tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have dramatically improved clinical outcome in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), cure rarely occurs. This may be due to BCR-ABL-independent, aberrant signaling pathways, one of which leads to leukotriene (LT) formation. Well-recognized as inflammatory mediators, LT can also affect oncogenic mechanisms of several tumors. We have previously discovered elevated LT-synthesis and up-regulated cysteinyl-LT-inducing enzyme in CML. Here we report on dose-dependent inhibition of CML cell growth exerted by specific blockers of LT-signaling. Thus, the cysteinyl-LT1-receptor-antagonist montelukast significantly reduced the growth of K562, KCL22, and KU812 cells, as well as primary CD34

Background: Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have increased survival dramatically for patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), but continuous administration of these drugs may elicit long-term toxicity. Objective: To investigate the incidence of vascular events in patients with CML treated with first-and second-generation TKIs. Design: Retrospective cohort study using nationwide population-based registries. Setting: Sweden. Patients: All patients diagnosed with chronic-phase CML in Sweden from 2002 to 2012 and treated with a TKI, and 5 ageand sex-matched control individuals per patient. Measurements: Relative risks, expressed as incidence rate ratios comparing patients with control individuals, were calculated. Events per 1000 person-years were assessed in interdrug comparisons. Results: 896 patients, 94.4% with documented TKI treatment, were followed for a median of 4.2 years. There were 54 arterial and 20 venous events in the CML cohort, corresponding to relative risks of 1.5 (95% CI, 1.1 to 2.1) and 2.0 (CI, 1.2 to 3.3), respectively. The event rate for myocardial infarction was higher in patients treated with nilotinib or dasatinib (29 and 19 per 1000 person-years, respectively) than in those receiving imatinib (8 per 1000 person-years), although data are limited and the CIs were wide and overlapped. Among 31 patients treated with a TKI who had myocardial infarction, 26 (84%) had at least 1 major cardiac risk factor diagnosed before the event occurred. Limitations: Patients may have been exposed to multiple TKIs. Data on second-and third-generation TKIs were limited. Conclusion: An increased risk for arterial and venous vascular events was seen in patients with CML treated with a TKI. Further study is needed to determine whether the risk for myocardial infarction increases with second-generation drugs.

Summary Background Ponatinib has shown potent activity against chronic myeloid leukaemia that is resistant to available treatment, although it is associated with arterial occlusion. We investigated whether this activity and safety profile would result in superior outcomes compared with imatinib in previously untreated patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia. Methods The Evaluation of Ponatinib versus Imatinib in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (EPIC) study was a randomised, open-label, phase 3 trial designed to assess the efficacy and safety of ponatinib, compared with imatinib, in newly diagnosed patients with chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukaemia. Patients from 106 centres in 21 countries were randomly assigned (1:1, with stratification by Sokal score at diagnosis) using an interactive voice and web response system to receive oral ponatinib (45 mg) or imatinib (400 mg) once daily until progression, unacceptable toxicity, or other criteria for withdrawal were met. Eligible patients were at least 18 years of age, within 6 months of diagnosis, and Philadelphia chromosome-positive by cytogenetic assessment, with Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0–2, and had not previously been treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors. The primary endpoint was major molecular response at 12 months. Patients who remained on study and had molecular assessments at specified timepoints were studied at those timepoints. Safety analyses included all treated patients, as per study protocol. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01650805. Findings Between Aug 14, 2012, and Oct 9, 2013, 307 patients were randomly assigned to receive ponatinib (n=155) or imatinib (n=152). The trial was terminated early, on Oct 17, 2013, following concerns about vascular adverse events observed in patients given ponatinib in other trials. Trial termination limited assessment of the primary endpoint of major molecular response at 12 months, as only 13 patients in the imatinib group and ten patients in the ponatinib group could be assessed at this timepoint; the proportion of patients achieving a major molecular response at 12 months did not differ significantly between the two groups (eight [80%] of ten patients given ponatinib and five [38%] of 13 patients given imatinib; p=0·074). 11 (7%) of 154 patients given ponatinib and three (2%) of 152 patients given imatinib had arterial occlusive events (p=0·052); arterial occlusive events were designated serious in ten (6%) of 154 patients given ponatinib and in one (1%) of 152 patients given imatinib (p=0·010). The data monitoring committee criterion for risk assessment (significant difference in serious grade 3 or 4 ischaemic events between groups) was not met (five [3%] of 154 vs one [1%] of 152; p=0·21). Grade 3 or 4 adverse events observed in more than 5% of patients in the ponatinib group were increased lipase (22 [14%] of 154 vs three [2%] of 152 with imatinib), thrombocytopenia (19 [12%] of 154 vs ten [7%] of 152 with imatinib), rash (ten [6%] of 154 vs two [1%] of 152 with imatinib). In the imatinib group, grade 3 or 4 adverse events observed in more than 5% of patients were neutropenia (12 [8%] of 152 vs five [3%] of 154 with ponatinib) and thrombocytopenia (ten [7%] of 152 vs 19 [12%] of 154 with ponatinib). Serious adverse events that occurred in three or more patients given ponatinib were pancreatitis (n=5), atrial fibrillation (n=3), and thrombocytopenia (n=3). No serious adverse event occurred in three or more patients given imatinib. Interpretation The efficacy of ponatinib treatment of newly diagnosed chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukaemia compared with imatinib could not be assessed due to trial termination, but preliminary data suggest there might be benefit, although with more arterial occlusive events than with imatinib at the doses studied. Because the EPIC trial was terminated early, efficacy of ponatinib in this setting remains to be established. Funding ARIAD Pharmaceuticals.

Dasatinib (DAS) and interferon-α have antileukemic and immunostimulatory effects and induce deep responses in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). We assigned 40 newly diagnosed chronic-phase CML patients to receive DAS 100 mg o.d. followed by addition of pegylated interferon-α2b (PegIFN) after 3 months (M3). The starting dose of PegIFN was 15 μg/week and it increased to 25 μg/week at M6 until M15. The combination was well tolerated with manageable toxicity. Of the patients, 84% remained on PegIFN at M12 and 91% (DAS) and 73% (PegIFN) of assigned dose was given. Only one patient had a pleural effusion during first year, and three more during the second year. After introduction of PegIFN we observed a steep increase in response rates. Major molecular response was achieved in 10%, 57%, 84% and 89% of patients at M3, M6, M12 and M18, respectively. At M12, MR(4) was achieved by 46% and MR(4.5) by 27% of patients. No patients progressed to advanced phase. In conclusion, the combination treatment appeared safe with very promising efficacy. A randomized comparison of DAS±PegIFN is warranted.

Objective:Hematopoietic syndrome (HS) is a clinical diagnosis assigned to people who present with ≥1 new-onset cytopenias in the setting of acute radiation exposure. The World Health Organization convened a panel of experts to evaluate the evidence and develop recommendations for medical countermeasures for the management of HS in a hypothetical scenario involving the hospitalization of 100 to 200 individuals exposed to radiation. The objective of this consultancy was to develop recommendations for treatment of the HS based upon the quality of evidence.Methods:English-language articles were identified in MEDLINE and PubMed. Reference lists of retrieved articles were distributed to panel members before the meeting and updated during the meeting. Published case series and case reports of individuals with HS, published randomized controlled trials of relevant interventions used to treat nonirradiated individuals, reports of studies in irradiated animals, and prior recommendations of subject matter experts were selected. Studies were extracted using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment Development and Evaluation (GRADE) system. In cases in which data were limited or incomplete, a narrative review of the observations was made. No randomized controlled trials of medical countermeasures have been completed for individuals with radiation-associated HS. The use of GRADE analysis of countermeasures for injury to hematopoietic tissue was restricted by the lack of comparator groups in humans. Reliance on data generated in nonirradiated humans and experimental animals was necessary.Results:Based upon GRADE analysis and narrative review, a strong recommendation was made for the administration of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor or granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor and a weak recommendation was made for the use of erythropoiesis-stimulating agents or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.Conclusions:Assessment of therapeutic interventions for HS in humans exposed to nontherapeutic radiation is difficult because of the limits of the evidence.(Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2011;5:202-212)

Objectives:The World Health Organization convened a panel of experts to rank the evidence for medical countermeasures for management of acute radiation syndrome (ARS) in a hypothetical scenario involving the hospitalization of 100 to 200 victims. The goal of this panel was to achieve consensus on optimal management of ARS affecting nonhematopoietic organ systems based upon evidence in the published literature.Methods:English-language articles were identified in MEDLINE and PubMed. Reference lists of retrieved articles were distributed to conferees in advance of and updated during the meeting. Published case series and case reports of ARS, publications of randomized controlled trials of relevant interventions used to treat nonirradiated individuals, reports of studies in irradiated animals, and prior recommendations of subject matter experts were selected. Studies were extracted using the Grading of Recommendations Assessment Development and Evaluation system. In cases in which data were limited or incomplete, a narrative review of the observations was made.Results:No randomized controlled trials of medical countermeasures have been completed for individuals with ARS. Reports of countermeasures were often incompletely described, making it necessary to rely on data generated in nonirradiated humans and in experimental animals. A strong recommendation is made for the administration of a serotonin-receptor antagonist prophylactically when the suspected exposure is >2 Gy and topical steroids, antibiotics, and antihistamines for radiation burns, ulcers, or blisters; excision and grafting of radiation ulcers or necrosis with intractable pain; provision of supportive care to individuals with neurovascular syndrome; and administration of electrolyte replacement therapy and sedatives to individuals with significant burns, hypovolemia, and/or shock. A strong recommendation is made against the use of systemic steroids in the absence of a specific indication. A weak recommendation is made for the use of fluoroquinolones, bowel decontamination, loperamide, and enteral nutrition, and for selective oropharyngeal/digestive decontamination, blood glucose maintenance, and stress ulcer prophylaxis in critically ill patients.Conclusions:High-quality studies of therapeutic interventions in humans exposed to nontherapeutic radiation are not available, and because of ethical concerns regarding the conduct of controlled studies in humans, such studies are unlikely to emerge in the near future.(Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2011;5:183–201)

Musculoskeletal pain in patients with chronic myeloid leukemia after discontinuation of Imatinib : a Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor withdrawal syndrome?

Clinical imatinib mesylate treatment induces early normalisation of aberrant neutrophil leukotriene C4 synthase expression and activity in chronic myeloid leukaemia

Background To retrospectively access outcome and prognostic parameters of linear accelerator-based stereotactic radiosurgery in brain metastases from malignant melanoma. Methods Between 1990 and 2011 140 brain metastases in 84 patients with malignant melanoma (median age 56 years) were treated with stereotactic radiosurgery. At initial stereotactic radiosurgery 48 % of patients showed extracerebral control. The median count of brain metastases in a single patient was 1, the median diameter was 12 mm. The median dose applied was 20 Gy/80 % isodose enclosing. Results The median follow-up was 7 months and the median overall survival 9 months. The 6-, 12- and 24 month overall survival rates were 71 %, 39 % and 25 % respectively. Cerebral follow-up imaging showed complete remission in 20 brain metastases, partial remission in 39 brain metastases, stable disease in 54 brain metastases, progressive disease in 24 brain metastases and pseudo-progression in 3 brain metastases. Median intracerebral control was 5.3 months and the 6- and 12-month intracerebral progression-free survival rates 48 % and 38 %, respectively. Upon univariate analysis, extracerebral control (log-rank, p Conclusion Stereotactic radiosurgery is a well-tolerated and effective treatment option for brain metastases in malignant melanoma and was able to achieve local remissions in several cases. Furthermore, especially patients with controlled extracerebral disease and a low count of brain metastases seem to benefit from this treatment modality. Prospective trials analysing the effects of combined stereotactic radiosurgery and new systemic agents are warranted.

The aim of the study was to investigate the feasibility of mobilizing Philadelphia chromosome negative (Ph-) blood stem cells (BSC) with intensive chemotherapy and lenograstim (G-CSF) in patients with CML in first chronic phase (CP1). During 1994-1999 12 centers included 37 patients56 years. All patients received 6 months' IFN, stopping at median 36 (1-290) days prior to the mobilization chemotherapy. All received one cycle of daunorubicin 50 mg/m2 and 1 hour infusion on days 1-3, and cytarabine (ara-C) 200 mg/m2 24 hours' i.v. infusion on days 1-7 (DA) followed by G-CSF 526 microg s.c. once daily from day 8 after the start of chemotherapy. Leukaphereses were initiated when the number of CD 34+ cells was5/microl blood. Patients mobilizing poorly could receive a 4-day cycle of chemotherapy with mitoxantrone 12 mg/m2/day and 1 hour i.v infusion, etoposide 100 mg/m2/day and 1 hour i.v. infusion and ara-C 1 g/m2/twice a day with 2 hours' i.v infusion (MEA) or a second DA, followed by G-CSF 526 microg s.c once daily from day 8 after the start of chemotherapy. Twenty-seven patients received one cycle of chemotherapy and G-CSF, whereas 10 were mobilized twice. Twenty-three patients (62%) were successfully (MNC3.5 x 10(8)/kg, CFU-GM1.0 x 10(4)/kg, CD34+ cells2.0 x 10(6)/kg and no Ph+ cells in the apheresis product) [n = 16] or partially successfully (as defined above but 1-34% Ph+ cells in the apheresis product) [n = 7] mobilized. There was no mortality during the mobilization procedure. Twenty-one/23 patients subsequently underwent auto-SCT. The time with PMN0.5 x 10(9)/l was 10 (range 7-49) and with platelets20 x 10(9)/l was also 10 (2-173) days. There was no transplant related mortality. The estimated 5-year overall survival after auto-SCT was 68% (95% CI 47 - 90%), with a median follow-up time of 5.2 years.We conclude that in a significant proportion of patients with CML in CP 1, intensive chemotherapy combined with G-CSF mobilizes Ph- BSC sufficient for use in auto-SCT.

In the present study we combined interferon (IFN) and hydroxyurea (HU) treatment, intensive chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation (SCT) in newly diagnosed chronic myelogenous leukemia patients aged below 56 years, not eligible for allogeneic SCT. Patients who had an HLA-identical sibling donor and no contraindication went for an allogeneic SCT (related donor, RD). After diagnosis, patients not allotransplanted received HU and IFN to keep WBC and platelet counts low. After 6 months patients with Ph-positive cells still present in the bone marrow received 1–3 courses of intensive chemotherapy. Those who became Ph-negative after IFN + HU or after 1–3 chemotherapy courses underwent autologous SCT. Some patients with poor cytogenetic response were allotransplanted with an unrelated donor (URD). IFN + HU reduced the percentage of Ph-positive metaphases in 56% of patients, and 1 patient became Ph-negative. After one or two intensive cytotherapies 86 and 88% had a Ph reduction, and 34 and 40% became Ph-negative, respectively. In patients receiving a third intensive chemotherapy 92% achieved a Ph reduction and 8% became Ph-negative. The median survival after auto-SCT (n = 46) was 7.5 years. The chance of remaining Ph-negative for up to 10 years after autologous SCT was around 20%. The overall survival for allo-SCT RD (n = 91) and URD (n = 28) was almost the same, i.e. ≈60% at 10 years. The median survival for all 251 patients registered was 8 years (historical controls 3.5 years). The role of the treatment schedule presented in the imatinib era is discussed.

background The use of aspirin for the prevention of thrombotic complications in polycythemia vera is controversial. methods We enrolled 518 patients with polycythemia vera, no clear indication for aspirin treatment, and no contraindication to such treatment in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized trial to assess the safety and efficacy of prophylaxis with low-dose aspirin (100 mg daily). The two primary end points were the cumulative rate of nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or death from cardiovascular causes and the cumulative rate of nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, pulmonary embolism, major venous thrombosis, or death from cardiovascular causes. The mean duration of follow-up was about three years. results Treatment with aspirin, as compared with placebo, reduced the risk of the combined end point of nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or death from cardiovascular causes (relative risk, 0.41; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.15 to 1.15; P=0.09) and the risk of the combined end point of nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, pulmonary embolism, major venous thrombosis, or death from cardiovascular causes (relative risk, 0.40; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.18 to 0.91; P=0.03). Overall mortality and cardiovascular mortality were not reduced significantly. The incidence of major bleeding episodes was not significantly increased in the aspirin group (relative risk, 1.62; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.27 to 9.71). conclusions Low-dose aspirin can safely prevent thrombotic complications in patients with polycythemia vera who have no contraindications to such treatment.

We randomised 46 newly diagnosed patients with chronic myeloid leukaemia (median age 56) to receive dasatinib 100 mg QD or imatinib 400 mg QD and report outcome as an intention-to-treat analysis with 36 months follow-up. Early cytogenetic and molecular responses were superior in the dasatinib group, with a tendency that imatinib patients caught up with time. For instance, MR3.0 was reached at 3 months in 36% vs. 8% (P = 0.02), at 12 months in 81% vs. 46% (P = 0.02) and at 18 months in 73% vs. 65% (n.s.) of the patients in the two groups. In contrast, MR4.5 was consistently superior in the dasatinib group at all time points from 6 months onwards, reaching 61% vs. 21% (P < 0.05) at 36 months. Sixty-four vs. 71% of the patients in the dasatinib and imatinib arms, respectively, remained on assigned drug. Dasatinib dose was frequently reduced, but with maintained excellent effect. One imatinib patient progressed to blastic phase, but no CML-related deaths occurred. In conclusion, our data compare favourably with those of the dasatinib registration study, DASISION. The fast and deep molecular responses induced by dasatinib compared with imatinib may be exploited to increase the proportion of patients who can achieve a treatment-free remission after treatment discontinuation © 2014 The Authors. European Journal of Haematology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 243 This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made

In attempting to restore the chronic phase (CP) of chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML), the Swedish CML group utilized an intensive chemotherapy protocol for 83 patients (aged 16-79 years) in accelerated (AP, n = 22) or blastic phase (BC, n = 61). Most patients received a combination of mitoxantrone (12 mg/m(2) /d) and etoposide (100 mg/m(2) /d) together with cytosine arabinoside (1 g/m(2) b.i.d) for 4 d. Overall, 39 patients (47%) achieved a second CP (CP2)/partial remission (PR). Responding patients < 65 years were eligible for ablative chemotherapy followed by an allogeneic (SCT) or a double autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT). Seventeen of 34 responders < 65 years failed to proceed to transplantation as a result of early disease progression (n = 15) or disease-related complications (n = 2). The remaining 17 patients underwent SCT (n = 9; including four unrelated donor SCT) or ASCT (n = 8). Only one of the eight ASCT patients had a second ASCT; the remaining seven failed because of progression (n = 5) or hypoplasia (n = 2). The median duration of CP2/PR was 6 months (range 1-72 months). Five patients achieved a longer CP2/PR than CP1. The 1 year survival was 70% for SCT/ASCT patients (median survival 21 months), 50% for responding patients overall, but only 7% for non-responders (P < 0.001). Three SCT/ASCT patients are long-term survivors (65+, 66+ and 73+ months). In conclusion, approximately half of the patients achieved a CP2/PR after intensive chemotherapy, with a clear survival advantage for responders vs non-responders. Subsequent SCT/ASCT was feasible for half of the responders (< 65 years), and one individual underwent double ASCT. Novel therapeutic options for CML patients in AP/BP are needed.

High-dose cytarabine in upfront therapy for adult patients with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

It is still controversial how to treat elderly patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), and results have been poor with most regimens. We report the long-term results of a randomised study performed by the Leukaemia Group of Middle Sweden during 1984-88 comparing two intensive chemotherapeutic drug combinations. Ninety patients >or=60-yr old with untreated AML were randomly allocated to treatment with daunorubicin, cytosine arabinoside (ara-C), and thioguanine (TAD) (43 patients) or a combination in which aclarubicin was substituted for daunorubicin (TAA) (47 patients). Forty-four patients (49%) entered complete remission (CR), 22/43 (51%) in the TAD group and 22/47 (47%) in the TAA group (ns). The CR rate in patients 70 yr 14/48 (29%) (P 70 yr than in patients or=10 yr after inclusion of the last patient, 5/90 patients (one in the TAD group and four in the TAA group, respectively) were still alive, four in continuous complete remission and one in second complete remission. Thus, both treatment regimens appear to have similar efficacy, with a relatively high complete remission rate, and a reasonable survival as compared to other studies including some long-term survivors. However, early deaths are still numerous, particularly in patients above 70 yr of age, and the relapse rate is substantial.

Imatinib has revolutionized the treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). We evaluated clinical outcome and cost-effectiveness, using Swedish registry data based on patients with CML diagnosed 1973-2008. Outcome from three time periods (I: 1973-1979; II: 1991-1997; III: 2002-2008) associated with symptomatic treatment, interferon-α/stem cell transplant and implementation of imatinib, respectively, were compared and a lifetime cost-effectiveness model developed. Survival data from population registries, estimated resource use from clinical practice and quality of life estimates were employed. Substantial health gains were noted over time, paralleled by increased treatment costs. Median survival was 1.9, 4.0 and 13 years during the respective time periods. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) between periods III and II was €52,700 per quality-adjusted life year (QALY) gained. An estimated 80% price reduction of imatinib, related to patent expiry, would reduce this ICER to €22,700. Our data from four decades reveal dramatically improved survival in CML, paralleled by ICER levels generally accepted by health authorities.

The outcome of continued EPO therapy was studied in 18 responding MDS patients. The EPO dose was reduced in a stepwise fashion to find the lowest possible maintenance dose. Relapses of anemia were associated with either progressive disease or reduction of the administered EPO dose. In the latter group second responses to renewed EPO therapy were readily achieved. Long-term responses were seen in about a third of the patients. Thus, it seems safe to reduce the EPO dose among responding patients. This approach may have advantages both from a medical and a socio-economic perspective.

Clinical management guidelines on malignant disorders are generally based on data from clinical trials with selected patient cohorts. In Sweden, more than 95% of all patients diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) are reported to the national CML registry, providing unique possibilities to compile population-based information. This report is based on registry data from 2002 to 2010, when a total of 779 patients (425 men, 354 women; median age, 60 years) were diagnosed with CML (93% chronic, 5% accelerated, and 2% blastic phase) corresponding to an annual incidence of 0.9/100,000. In 2002, approximately half of the patients received a tyrosine kinase inhibitor as initial therapy, a proportion that increased to 94% for younger (70 years) and 79% for older (80 years) patients during 2007-2009. With a median follow-up of 61 months, the relative survival at 5 years was close to 1.0 for patients younger than 60 years and 0.9 for those aged 60 to 80 years, but only 0.6 for those older than 80 years. At 12 months, 3% had progressed to accelerated or blastic phase. Sokal, but not European Treatment and Outcome Study, high-risk scores were significantly linked to inferior overall and relative survival. Patients living in university vs nonuniversity catchment areas more often received tyrosine kinase inhibitors up front but showed comparable survival.

Background: The etiology of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is essentially unknown with high doses of ionizing radiation being the only well established risk factor. We have recently published two large population-based studies showing an increased prevalence of other malignancies prior, as well as subsequent to a diagnosis of CML (Gunnarsson et al, Br J Haematol. 2015 Jun; 169(5): 683-8 and Gunnarsson et al, Leukemia. 2016 Jul; 30(7): 1562-7). One may therefore speculate that CML patients may have an increased congenital or acquired susceptibility to develop cancer. In the former case, one would expect an increased prevalence of malignancies among first-degree relatives (FDR) to CML patients. In a previous report based on the Swedish Cancer Registry, no increased aggregation of malignancies was detected among family members to CML patients diagnosed between 1958 and 2004 (Bjorkholm et al, Blood. 2013 Jul 18; 122(3): 460-1). However, a more strict definition of CML (requiring e.g. thepresence of a Philadelphia chromosome or the BCR/ABL fusion gene) was introduced with the updated WHO classification in 2002, making subsequently diagnosed CML cohorts more homogenous. Materials and methods: Aiming to establish the prevalence of malignancies among FDR of a large and well-defined contemporary CML cohort in Sweden compared to carefully matched controls, we have used four large Swedish population based registers. To identify Swedish patients with CML diagnosed between 2002 and 2013, we used the Swedish CML Register to which all CML patients diagnosed January 1st 2002 and later are reported. FDR were identified by use of the Swedish Multi-Generation Register, which comprises information about parent-sibling-offspring relationships of persons that has been registered in Sweden at some time since 1961 and born later than 1932. By linking this cohort to the Swedish Cancer Register, we retrieved information about malignancies for each FDR. Each CML patient was matched with five, age-, gender- and county of residence-matched controls, selected from the Swedish Total Population Register. All controls had to be alive and free of CML at the time of CML diagnosis for the matching CML patient. To calculate odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI), conditional logistic regression were used. Results: In the Swedish CML register, 984 patients were identified. Among them 184 patients were excluded due to a birth year prior to 1932. Among the 800 remaining CML patients, 4 287 FDR were identified and included in the analysis (parents: 1 346, siblings: 1 497 and children: 1 444). Correspondingly, 20 930 matched controls were included in the analysis. In total, 611 malignancies were identified among the FDR of CML patients compared to 2844 in the control group yielding an OR of 1.057 (95% CI 0.962 - 1.162). Neither hematological malignancies nor solid tumors were increased in the CML-FDR group (Table 1). Notably, none of the FDRs in the CML-FDR group had a CML diagnosis. Conclusions: Using data from four large Swedish population based registers and based on the fate of more than 4 000 FDR of 800 CML patients diagnosed in the modern era of cytogenetics, as well as closely matched CML-free controls, we show that there is no familial aggregation of malignancies in FDRs of patients with CML. These results suggest that a hereditary predisposition to develop cancer is unlikely to be a part of the pathogenesis of CML. Disclosures Höglund: Akinion Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy; Janssen-Cilag: Honoraria. Lambe:AstraZeneca: Other: Stock Ownership ; Pfizer: Other: Stock Ownership . Richter:Pfizer: Honoraria, Research Funding; BMS: Honoraria, Research Funding; Novartis: Honoraria, Research Funding; Ariad: Honoraria, Research Funding. Själander:ARIAD: Consultancy.

Imatinib has dramatically improved the clinical outcome in chronic myeloid leukemia, chronic phase (CMLcp), but a risk of resistance and serious disease progression still prevails. We have studied 45 newly diagnosed CMLcp patients initiated on imatinib, assessing treatment responses by interphase extral signal (ES)-fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), quantitative real-time (q-RT) polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and chromosome banding analysis. In a landmark analysis, an early favorable response, defined as less than 10% BCR-ABL-positive cells by FISH after 3 months of treatment, was identified as a predictive marker of an improved long-term clinical outcome. Of evaluable patients, 51% achieved this response. A large majority, 95% of such responders reached complete cytogenetic responses (CCyR) within 12 months and 100% event-free survival (EFS) at 48 months, when compared with 67 and 65%, respectively, of patients with higher breakpoint cluster region - Abelson (BCR-ABL) positivity at 3 months (P = 0.04; P = 0.006). No similar, significant correlations were noted between early disease assessments with PCR of BCR-ABL mRNA transcripts or of cytogenetics versus a 12-month CCyR or long-term EFS. Our data, based on a limited patient cohort, indicate that (i) FISH can effectively be used in the early assessment of remaining Ph-positive cells to identify patients at risk for a long-term nonoptimal response to imatinib and that (ii) FISH may be more useful than PCR for this purpose. Am. J. Hematol., 2012. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Nilotinib has shown greater efficacy than imatinib in patients with newly diagnosed Philadelphia chromosome-positive chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) in chronic phase after a minimum follow-up of 12 months. We present data from the Evaluating Nilotinib Efficacy and Safety in clinical Trials-newly diagnosed patients (ENESTnd) study after a minimum follow-up of 24 months.ENESTnd was a phase 3, multicentre, open-label, randomised study. Adult patients were eligible if they had been diagnosed with chronic phase, Philadelphia chromosome-positive CML within the previous 6 months. Patients were randomly assigned (1:1:1) to receive nilotinib 300 mg twice a day, nilotinib 400 mg twice a day, or imatinib 400 mg once a day, all administered orally, by use of a computer-generated randomisation schedule, using permuted blocks, and stratified according to Sokal score. Efficacy results are reported for the intention-to-treat population. The primary endpoint was major molecular response at 12 months, defined as BCR-ABL transcript levels on the International Scale (BCR-ABL(IS)) of 0·1% or less by real-time quantitative PCR in peripheral blood. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00471497.282 patients were randomly assigned to receive nilotinib 300 mg twice daily, 281 to receive nilotinib 400 mg twice daily, and 283 to receive imatinib. By 24 months, significantly more patients had a major molecular response with nilotinib than with imatinib (201 [71%] with nilotinib 300 mg twice daily, 187 [67%] with nilotinib 400 mg twice daily, and 124 [44%] with imatinib; p0·0001 for both comparisons). Significantly more patients in the nilotinib groups achieved a complete molecular response (defined as a reduction of BCR-ABL(IS) levels to ≤0·0032%) at any time than did those in the imatinib group (74 [26%] with nilotinib 300 mg twice daily, 59 [21%] with nilotinib 400 mg twice daily, and 29 [10%] with imatinib; p0·0001 for nilotinib 300 mg twice daily vs imatinib, p=0·0004 for nilotinib 400 mg twice daily vs imatinib). There were fewer progressions to accelerated or blast phase on treatment, including clonal evolution, in the nilotinib groups than in the imatinib group (two with nilotinib 300 mg twice daily, five with nilotinib 400 mg twice daily, and 17 with imatinib; p=0·0003 for nilotinib 300 mg twice daily vs imatinib, p=0·0089 for nilotinib 400 mg twice daily vs imatinib). At 24 months, survival was comparable in all treatment groups, but fewer CML-related deaths had occurred in both the nilotinib groups than in the imatinib group (five with nilotinib 300 mg twice daily, three with nilotinib 400 mg twice daily, and ten with imatinib). Overall, the only grade 3 or 4 non-haematological adverse events that occurred in at least 2·5% of patients were headache (eight [3%] with nilotinib 300 mg twice daily, four [1%] with nilotinib 400 mg twice daily, and two [1%] with imatinib) and rash (two [1%], seven [3%], and five [2%], respectively). Grade 3 or 4 neutropenia was more common with imatinib than with either dose of nilotinib (33 [12%] with nilotinib 300 mg twice daily, 30 [11%] with nilotinib 400 mg twice daily, and 59 [21%] with imatinib). Serious adverse events were reported in eight additional patients in the second year of the study (four with nilotinib 300 mg twice daily, three with nilotinib 400 mg twice daily, and one with imatinib).Nilotinib continues to show better efficacy than imatinib for the treatment of patients with newly diagnosed CML in chronic phase. These results support nilotinib as a first-line treatment option for patients with newly diagnosed disease.Novartis.

The regulatory role of leukotrienes (LT) on human myelopoiesis was investigated. Mononuclear bone marrow cells from 31 healthy donors were cultivated in the presence of suboptimal concentrations of recombinant granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) for 10 days in semisolid agar. The addition of LTC4 or LTB4 to the cultures dose- dependently stimulated myeloid stem cell proliferation. Maximal effects were observed at 10(-8) mol/L, at which LTC4 induced a 91% +/- 23% (mean +/- SEM; P = .004) and LTB4 a 73% +/- 22% (P = .008) increase in colony formation. In contrast, addition of the LTB4 isomer 5(S), 12(S)- diHETE did not affect the growth. LTD4 exerted a weak potentiating effect on progenitor proliferation (17% +/- 7% growth stimulation at 10(-10) mol/L; P = .034), whereas LTE4 was without consistent effect. Furthermore, LTC4-induced stimulation of colony formation was insensitive to the LTD4 antagonist ICI 198615. The dual lipoxygenase and prostaglandin endoperoxide synthase inhibitor CL42A potently suppressed the proliferation of myeloid colonies, a suppression that could be reversed by parallel addition of LTB4 or LTC4. The results suggest that both LTB4 and LTC4 possess strong and specific synergistic stimulatory effects on GM-CSF-induced human myeloid progenitor cell growth.

The capacity to convert exogenous leukotriene A4 to lipoxins (LXs) was investigated in platelet suspensions from patients with myeloproliferative disorders (MPD) (n = 22) and healthy control subjects (n = 14). Platelets isolated from the controls produced mainly LXA4, but also 6(S)-LXA4 and the all-trans isomers of lipoxins A4 and B4, as determined by high-performance liquid chromatography and computerized UV spectroscopy. In comparison to control levels, the mean LX synthesis was significantly lower in platelets from the MPD patients (438.7 +/- 62.8 and 157.4 +/- 31.2 pmol LXA4 per 10(9) platelets, respectively; mean +/- SEM; P = .0001). Platelets from six of the patients showed a particularly low capacity to produce LXs, resulting in LX levels below the detection limit or less than 7% of mean control levels. Notably, all these patients were in blastic crisis of chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML). This severely deficient LX production was paralleled by a dramatically attenuated conversion of arachidonic acid to 12-HETE (12-hydroxyheptadecatrienoic acid), a product formed via the prostaglandin endoperoxide synthase pathway, was normal. In addition, longitudinal studies of CML patients showed that blastic metamorphosis was associated with a markedly reduced capability to synthesize LXs, while this capacity improved after retransformation into a second chronic phase. The results reveal deficient LX synthesis as a novel platelet dysfunction in MPD, particularly in blastic crisis of CML in which an essentially abolished 12-lipoxygenase activity may be a general phenomenon.