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Resume Propos Le but de notre etude est de decrire les leucemies aigues lymphoblastiques du 1 er mois de vie sur une base populationnelle exhaustive, d’en analyser les modalites de prise en charge et l’approche ethique. Methodes Nous avons effectue une etude retrospective multicentrique des cas de leucemie aigue lymphoblastique congenitale diagnostiques en France de 1990 a 2010, repertories dans le Registre national des hemopathies malignes de l’enfant et avons analyse leurs caracteristiques cliniques et biologiques, les modalites de traitement, l’evolution et les facteurs pronostiques. Resultats Vingt-deux enfants ont ete inclus, avec un âge median au diagnostic de 5,5 jours. Il est identifie un remaniement en 11q23 ou rearrangement MLL dans 17/22 cas. Le traitement a ete administre avec une ambition curative chez 14 patients ou centre sur une prise en charge palliative chez 7 patients. La survie globale a 2 ans est de 4,5 % ; un seul patient est survivant a long terme, avec de lourdes sequelles neurologiques. En analyse univariee, l’âge inferieur a huit jours au diagnostic, la corticoresistance et l’absence d’obtention de remission complete constituent des facteurs significatifs de mauvais pronostic. Conclusion Dans l’experience que nous rapportons, basee sur un enregistrement national exhaustif, les LAL congenitales apparaissent plus precoces et plus severes que dans les essais therapeutiques ou les nouveau-nes sont inclus de facon selective. Le pronostic oncologique extremement pejoratif conduit a inclure dans la strategie therapeutique la necessite ethique de preserver le confort de l’enfant et d’accompagner les processus d’attachement voire de deuil des parents et de la famille.

Background/Aims: Oxidative stress is involved in sepsis-related endothelium dysfunction. Selenoprotein-P (Sel-P), the main plasma selenoprotein, may have high antioxidant potential, and binds to endothelium. We hypothesize that, in septic shock, and similar syndromes such as systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS), Sel-P binds massively to endothelium, causing a drop in Sel-P plasma concentration. Methods: Plasma Se, Sel-P and albumin concentrations, and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity were measured in patients with septic shock and SIRS with organ failure (S group, n = 7 and n = 3, respectively) admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) and compared to non-SIRS patients (NS group, n = 11) and healthy volunteers (HV group, n = 7). Results: On ICU admission, plasma Sel-P concentrations were 70% lower in the S group than in the other groups [15 (10–26) vs. 44 (29–71) and 50 (45–53) nmol/l] and were lower in nonsurviving septic-shock patients. GPx activity did not differ between groups. Sel-P was significantly lower before ICU death in the 3 deceased patients of the S group (septic shock) than in the 3 patients of the non-SIRS group. Conclusions: Early decrease in Sel-P plasma concentrations was specifically observed in septic shock and was similar in SIRS patients whereas GPx activity remained unchanged. Further studies are needed to determine whether Sel-P can be an early marker of septic shock linked to microvascular injury.

The triple association of leukemia, xanthogranulomas, and type 1 neurofibromatosis was first described in 1958. Most leukemias were juvenile myelomonocytic leukemias (JMML), usually called juvenile chronic myelogenous leukemia. We describe a 22-month-old female child with neurofibromatosis 1, xanthomagranulomas, and a JMML. Her mother and her brother also had cutaneous cafe-au-lait spots. Our patient was treated with mercaptopurine and improved. However, 9 months later she experienced a blastic transformation. The presence of xanthomagranulomas and NF1 in a young child should alert to a possible development of JMML, especially in patients with a family history of NF1.

Purpose: To evaluate the frequency of metabolic complications and dialysis due to tumor lysis syndrome in patients with B-cell advanced-stage non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (NHL) and L3 leukemia at initiation of chemotherapy including the use of urate-oxidase. Patients and methods: Retrospective review of the clinical records of 410 patients with stage III and IV B-cell NHL and L3 leukemia treated in France and prospectively registered in the LMB89 protocol. Results: During the first week of chemotherapy, only 34 of 410 patients recorded metabolic problems that included hypocalcemia ( 6.5 mg/dl) in 28 and elevation of creatinine ≥2 SD in 16. Six patients underwent dialysis for life-threatening problems and a seventh as a preventive measure. In the other 27 cases, metabolic problems were successfully resolved using urate-oxidase in combination with alkaline hyperhydration. Among the 410 patients, one case of hemolysis was reported and there was no severe allergic reaction to urate-oxidase. Conclusions: Only 1.7% of patients in our study receiving urate-oxidase during their induction chemotherapy needed renal dialysis. Urate-oxidase was well tolerated, and used as prophylaxis and/or treatment of hyperuricemia and tumor lysis syndrome consistently gave a lower rate of renal and metabolic complications than in other series of similar patients.

resume Les laboratoires Boehringer ont developpe une nouvelle technique, l'electrochimiluminescence, adaptee sur un appareil automatique, l'Elecsys ™ . Nous presentons d'une part les resultats analytiques de trois marqueurs tumoraux, ACE, PSA, AFP, doses sur cet automate et d'autre part la comparaison des resultats obtenus sur l'Elecsys ™ et sur l'ES 300 ™ . Les resultats des etudes d'imprecision (repetabilite, reproductibilite) pour les trois parametres sont satisfaisants (repetabilite ™ et l'ES 300 ™ sont satisfaisantes. Pour le PSA, les resultats sont superposables entre les deux appareils. Pour l'AFP, les resultats obtenus sur l'Elecsys ™ sont inferieurs de 10 % a ceux obtenus sur l'ES 300 ™ ; pour l'ACE dans une fourchette de concentration de 0 a 40 ng/mL, les resultats donnes par l'Elecsys ™ sont superieurs de 20 % a ceux obtenus sur l'ES 300 ™ . Outre les qualites analytiques de l'Elecsys ™ , nous avons apprecie la conviviabilite de cet automate, sa rapidite de prise en main, de fonctionnement et sa facilite de gestion.

Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) from matched sibling donors is the therapy of choice for children with high-risk acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in children. It is however not available to more than two-thirds of patients who lack a matched donor. Here, we review the outcome of 28 patients with high-risk ALL who were transplanted in France with alternative marrow sources such as HLA-phenoidentical unrelated volunteers and HLA-partially incompatible relatives. For these patients, we tested the possibility to prevent T-depleted marrow graft rejection by infusing in vivo two monoclonal antibodies directed against adhesion receptors i.e., LFA-1 and CD2. Two previous multicenter trials in children transplanted with partially incompatible bone marrow for inborn errors of metabolism showed their efficacy in this setting. Twenty eight patients were enrolled in this study and followed for a median of 4.4 years. Bone marrow engraftment occurred in 81% of the evaluable patients. Post-transplantation leukaemic relapse was the most frequent cause of death in this group of patients, and occurred in 39% of patients. The second most frequent complication was infectious disease, while an EBV-induced B-lymphocyte proliferative disorder occurred in four patients. In conclusion, T-cell-depletion combined with infusion of anti-LFA-1 and anti-CD2 antibodies is efficient in preventing graft failure and GVHD in this group of children with high-risk leukaemia undergoing partially incompatible BMT. The overall DFS is not improved in contrast to what has been previously observed in patients with immunodeficiencies transplanted with a similar rejection prophylaxis. Other approaches are therefore needed aiming either at preserving donor T-cell mediated immunity or accelerating immune reconstitution.

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a multifactorial disease. Rare causes of monogenic SLE have been described, including the complement deficiencies.

Sodium selenite (Na2SeO3) has been proposed as an early treatment of septic shock with discrepant results [1-3]. Beneficial action is mainly believed through improvement of major antioxidant selenoenzymes, but could on the contrary be related to a therapeutic oxidant action reducing activity of hyperactivated circulating phagocytic cells [4]. It has been suggested that the absence of beneficial effect of high-dose Na2SeO3 continuously administered [2] might be related to toxicity, especially on the lung, of too much selenium (Se) as mentioned in recent parenteral nutrition guidelines in intensive care [5]. On additional clinical and biological data, our purpose was to assess if there was argument for Na2SeO3 toxicity, especially on the lung, under continuous administration of high-dose Na2SeO3 in the SERENITE study.

The National Kidney Foundation/Kidney-Dialysis Outcome Quality Initiative guidelines recommend to maintain the serum intact parathyroid hormone (PTH) concentration between 150 and 300 ng/l in chronic kidney disease (CKD) stage 5 patients. As these limits were derived from studies that used the Allegro intact PTH assay, we aimed to evaluate whether they were applicable to other PTH assays. We compared the PTH concentrations measured with 15 commercial immunoassays in 47 serum pools from dialysis patients, using the Allegro intact PTH assay as the reference. We also evaluated the recovery of graded amounts of synthetic 1–84 and 7–84 PTH added separately to a serum pool. Although the assays were highly correlated, the concentrations differed from one assay to another. The median bias between the tested assays and the Allegro intact PTH assay ranged from -44.9 to 123.0%. When the PTH concentrations were 150 or 300 ng/l with the Allegro intact PTH assay, they ranged with other assays from 83 to 323 ng/l and from 160 to 638 ng/l, respectively. The tested assays recognized 7–84 PTH with various cross-reactivities, whereas a given amount of 1–84 PTH was recovered differently by these assays. We found important inter-method variability in PTH results owing to both antibody specificity and standardization reasons. The unacceptable consequence is that opposite therapeutic attitudes may be reached in a single patient depending on the PTH assay used. We propose to use assay-specific decision limits for CKD patients, or to apply a correcting factor to the PTH results obtained with a given assay.

International audience; This cross-sectional study aimed to investigate, during a short period between 2000 and 2001, in a large population of patients with chronic hepatitis C, the epidemiological characteristics of hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes in France. Data from 26 referral centres, corresponding to 1769 patients with chronic hepatitis C were collected consecutively during a 6-month period. HCV genotyping in the 5'-non-coding region (NCR) was performed in each center using the line probe assay (LiPA, in 63% of cases), sequencing (25%) or primer-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) (12%). HCV genotypes 1a, 1b, 2, 3, 4, 5, non-subtyped 1 and mixed infection were found in 18, 27, 9, 21, 9, 3, 11 and 1% of our population, respectively. HCV genotype distribution was associated with gender, age, source and duration of infection, alanine aminotransferase (ALT) levels, cirrhosis, alcohol consumption, hepatitis B virus (HBV) and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) coinfection. In multivariate analysis, only the source of infection was the independent factor significantly associated with genotype (P = 0.0001). In conclusion, this study shows a changing pattern of HCV genotypes in France, with i.v. drug abuse as the major risk factor, an increase of genotype 4, and to a lesser extent 1a and 5, and a decrease of genotypes 1b and 2. The modification of the HCV genotype pattern in France in the next 10 years may require new therapeutic strategies, and further survey studies.

The triple association of leukemia, xanthogranulomas, and type 1 neurofibromatosis was first described in 1958. Most leukemias were juvenile myelomonocytic leukemias (JMML), usually called juvenile chronic myelogenous leukemia. We describe a 22-month-old female child with neurofibromatosis 1, xanthomagranulomas, and a JMML. Her mother and her brother also had cutaneous café-au-lait spots. Our patient was treated with mercaptopurine and improved. However, 9 months later she experienced a blastic transformation. The presence of xanthomagranulomas and NF1 in a young child should alert to a possible development of JMML, especially in patients with a family history of NF1.

Biochemical markers of bone turnover have for several years been considered as valuable parameters in research clinical studies, but their use in individual patients is still debated. Recently several position papers have proposed guidelines for their use in clinical practice in patients with post menopausal osteoporosis. In the present article, we report the results of a survey which aims at comparing the actual modalities of prescription of French physicians with the above-mentioned recommendations. We contacted by phone clinical chemists from 158 different hospitals and asked them to transmit to the concerned physicians of their hospital a detailed questionnaire for assessing which bone marker(s) is (are) prescribed and for which purpose (s), and if not prescribed, the reason of non prescription. We were able to analyze 309 questionnaires from 89 hospitals including 5 specialties, rheumatology (35.9%), endocrinology (18.1%), gynecology (11.0%), internal medicine (22.0%) and geriatry (12.9%). The results showed large discrepancies between the mode of prescription of a subset of physicians and the guidelines. The most often evoked reason for non prescription was a lack of information about bone markers suggesting a need for teaching courses. This survey has also shown that many physicians do not know exactly which parameters are effectively measured in their hospital and which are addressed to specialized laboratories underlining the importance of the dialogue between clinicians and clinical chemists. We propose that in a given hospital, the present article may serve as a basis for a discussion between clinicians and biologists about the development and/or the optimization of the measurements of these markers of bone turnover.

We report the results of the cross-cultural adaptation and validation into the French language of two health status instruments. The Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire (CHAQ) is a disease specific instrument that measures functional ability in daily living activities in children with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA). The Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ) is a generic health related quality of life instrument designed to capture the physical and psychosocial well-being of children independently from the underlying disease. Five hundred children were enrolled including 306 patients with JIA classified into systemic (23%), polyarticular (22%), extended oligoarticular (25%), and persistent oligoarticular (30%) subtypes, and 194 healthy children. Both instruments were reliable with intra-class correlation (ICC) coefficients for the test-retest procedure of 0.91 for the CHAQ, and 0.87 and 0.89 for the physical and psychosocial summary scores of CHQ, respectively. Agreement between parents and children evaluated for the CHAQ was high with an ICC of 0.89 for the disability index; weighted kappa coefficients for the 8 domains ranged from 0.61 to 0.72. Convergent validity was demonstrated by significant correlations with the JIA core set of variables (physician and parent global assessment, scores for active joints and joints with limited range of motion, erythrocyte sedimentation rate) for both instruments. Both CHAQ and CHQ discriminated between healthy and JIA children, but only the disease specific CHAQ questionnaire discriminated clearly between the 4 JIA subtypes. In conclusion, the French versions of the CHAQ and the CHQ are reliable, and valid health assessment questionnaires to be used in children suffering from JIA.

We present here the long-term results of three randomized clinical trials conducted on children with newly diagnosed acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) between 1983 and 1998 by the Children Leukemia Cooperative Group (CLCG) from EORTC. In study 58831/32, the overall event-free survival (EFS) rates (+/- s.e.) at 6 and 10 years were 66% +/- 1.8% and 65% +/- 1.8%, respectively, and the risk of isolated central nervous system (CNS) relapse was 6% +/- 1% and 7% +/- 1%, respectively. In patients with a standard risk of relapse the omission of cyclophosphamide had no adverse effect on disease-free survival rates at 10 years (trial 58831). In medium- and high-risk patients the omission of radiotherapy did not increase the risk of CNS or systemic relapse (trial 58832). In study 58881 (1989-1998) the overall EFS rate at 8 years was 68.4% +/- 1.2% and the risk of isolated CNS relapse was 4.2%+/-0.5%. In this trial which adressed three randomized questions, the following results were obtained: the combination of cytarabine at high doses with methotrexate at high doses during interval therapy did not improve prognosis. The addition of 6-mercaptopurine iv during maintenance increased the risk of late relapse. E. coli asparaginase was more toxic and has a higher efficacy than Erwinia asparaginase. Leukocyte counts100 x 10(9)/l, specific genetic abnormalities, a poor initial response to steroids or a high level of minimal residual disease at early time points were consistently associated with an adverse prognosis in the 58881 trial.

We report two cases of leptomeningeal metastatic dissemination to the spinal cord of a grade B oligodendroglioma. Diagnosis was suspected on MRI but imaging findings were nonspecific. The pathways by which the intramedullary part of the spinal is reached by metastatic cells remains controversial. In the reported cases, both frontal and cystic primary intracerebral lesions were observed. Chemotherapy after radiotherapy appears to improve outcome. Nevertheless, prognosis remains very poor.

Biochemical markers of bone turnover have been developed over the past 20 years that are more specific for bone tissue than conventional ones such as total alkaline phosphatase and urinary hydroxyproline. They have been widely used in clinical research and in clinical trials of new therapies as secondary end points of treatment efficacy. Most of the interest has been devoted to their use in postmenopausal osteoporosis, a condition characterized by subtle modifications of bone metabolism that cannot be detected readily by conventional markers of bone turnover. Although several recent studies have suggested that biochemical markers may be used for the management of the individual patient in routine clinical practice, this has not been clearly defined and is a matter of debate. Because of the crucial importance to clarify this issue, the Société Francaise de Biologie Clinique prompted an expert committee to summarize the available data and to make recommendations. The following paper includes a review on the biochemical and analytical aspects of the markers of bone formation and resorption and on the sources of variability such as sex, age, menstrual cycle, pregnancy and lactation, physical activity, seasonal variation and effects of diseases and treatments. We will also describe the effects of pre-analytical factors on the measurements of the different markers. Finally based on that review, we will make practical recommendations for the use of these markers in order to minimize the variability of the measurements and improve the clinical interpretation of the data.

The thrombocytopenia and absent radii (TAR) syndrome is a rare disease associating bilateral radial agenesis and congenital thrombocytopenia. Here, we investigated in vitro megakaryocyte (MK) differentiation and expression of c-mpl in 6 patients. Using blood or marrow CD34(+) cells, the colony-forming unit (CFU)-MK number was markedly reduced. CD34(+) cells were also cultured in liquid medium in the presence of a combination of 3 cytokines (stem cell factor, interleukin-3, and interleukin-6) or megakaryocyte growth and development factor (PEG-rHuMGDF) with or without SCF. In the presence of PEG-rHuMGDF, the majority of mature megakaryocytes (CD41 high, CD42 high) underwent apoptosis. This phenomenon was also observed in cultures stimulated by three cytokines. However, this last combination of cytokines allowed a more complete terminal MK differentiation. Surprisingly, a homogeneous population of CD34(-)CD41(+)CD42(-) cells accumulated during the cultures. This population was unable to differentiate along the myeloid pathways. This result suggests that a fraction of MK cells is unable to differentiate in the TAR syndrome. We subsequently investigated whether this could be related to an abnormality in c-mpl. No mutation or rearrangement in the c-mpl gene was found by Southern blots or by sequencing of the c-mpl coding region and its promoter in any of the patients. Using Western blot analysis, a decreased level of Mpl was found in patient platelets. A decreased level of c-mpl messenger RNA in TAR platelets was also detected with a lower c-mpl-P to c-mpl-K ratio in comparison to adult platelets. Altogether, these results demonstrate that the thrombocytopenia of the TAR syndrome is associated with a dysmegakaryocytopoiesis characterized by cells blocked at an early stage of differentiation. (Blood. 2000;95:1633-1641)

We have analyzed factors influencing the outcome of 102 children with acute leukemia given a cord blood transplantation (CBT) and reported to the Eurocord Registry. Seventy patients with acute lymphoblastic and 32 with acute myeloid leukemia were given either a related (n = 42) or an unrelated (n = 60) CBT. Children given CBT during first or second complete remission were considered as belonging to the good-risk group (n = 66), whereas those who received a transplant in a more advanced stage of disease were assigned to the poor-risk group (n = 36). In the related group (RCBT), 12 of 42 patients received transplantation from an HLA-disparate donor, whereas in the unrelated group (UCBT) 54 of 60 received an HLA mismatched CBT. Kaplan-Meier estimates for neutrophil recovery at day 60 were 84% +/- 7% in RCBT and 79 +/- 6% in UCBT (P =.16). In multivariate analysis, the most important factor influencing neutrophil engraftment in UCBT was a nucleated cell dose infused greater than 3.7 x 10(7)/kg (P =.05, relative risk [RR] of 1.85, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.98-3.4). The incidence of grade II through IV acute graft-versus-host disease was 41% +/- 8% in the RCBT group and 37% +/- 6% in the UCBT group (P =.59). Kaplan-Meier estimates of 2-year event-free survival (EFS) after RCBT or UCBT were 39% +/- 8% and 30% +/- 7%, respectively (P =.19). In multivariate analysis, the most important factor influencing EFS was disease status at time of transplantation: good-risk patients had a 2-year EFS of 49% +/- 7% as compared to 8% +/- 5% in patients with more advanced disease (P =.0003, RR: 0.40, 95% CI: 0.24 to 0. 65). This was a consequence of both an increased 1-year transplant related mortality and a higher 2-year relapse rate in the poor-risk group (65% +/- 9% and 77% +/- 14%, respectively), as compared with good risk patients (34% +/- 6% and 31% +/- 9%, respectively). These data confirm that allogeneic CBT from either a related or an unrelated donor is a feasible procedure able to cure a significant proportion of children with acute leukemia, especially if transplanted in a favorable phase of disease.

Resume Les auteurs rapportent un cas d'encephalocele bilaterale de la lame criblee de l'ethmoide, responsable d'infections meningees a repetition, dans les suites d'une greffe de moelle osseuse allogenique. Puis ils rappellent que les meningites purulentes recidivantes de l'enfant sont le plus souvent dues a une breche osseuse et dure-merienne, qui met en communication l'espace sous-arachnoidien avec le nasopharynx, l'oreille moyenne, la peau voire l'intestin. Parmi les investigations necessaires dans une telle situation, le scanner crânien avec coupes coronales fines, centrees sur l'etage anterieur de la base du crâne, occupe une place de choix.

Eurocord Transplant has established a registry for studying results of cord blood transplant. We have analyzed 78 patients who have received a related CBT between October 1988 and December 1996. The median follow-up time was 29 months (1-99). The median age was 5 years (0.2-20), median weight 19 kg (5-50). Forty-six patients had a malignant disease: 32 acute leukemia (AL), six chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), four myelodysplastic syndrome, two neuroblastoma and two non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Thirty-two patients were transplanted for non-malignant diseases including 17 bone marrow failure syndromes (BMFS), three sickle cell anemia, five thalassemia and seven inborn errors. The donor was an HLA-identical sibling in 60 cases and an HLA-mismatched donor in 18 cases. As conditioning, 36 patients received irradiation and 40 patients received associated busulfan-containing regimens. GVHD prophylaxis consisted of CsA alone in 36 cases, CsA associated with prednisone in eight cases, CsA, methotrexate (Mtx) with or without prednisone in 28 cases and CsA with monoclonal antibody or ATG in four cases. The median number of nucleated cells (NC) infused/kg was 3.9 x 10(7) (0.7-15). One-year survival was 63 +/- 6%. Age, weight, HLA identity and negative cytomegalovirus (CMV) serology in the recipient were significant favorable prognostic factors. Among these 78 patients, the incidence of gradeor = II GVHD was 9% in HLA-matched CBT and 50% in mismatched CBT (P0.001). Neutrophil engraftment was associated with age6 years (P = 0.02) and weight20 kg (P = 0.02). It was 73% in patients receiving3.7 x 10(7) nucleated cells (NC) infused/kg and 85% in patients receiving more (P = 0.06). Favorable factors for platelets engraftment were age6 years (P = 0.03), weight20 kg (P = 0.002) and HLA identity (P0.0001). Related cord blood transplantation offers a good alternative to BMT. Theses results are in favor of freezing cord blood in families in whom a transplant might be indicated.

Skin involvement in children with acute monocytic leukemia or CD30-positive anaplastic large-cell lymphoma is well-known. In contrast, very little is known about the malignant cutaneous infiltrates in children with acute lymphoblatic leukemia (ALL) or lymphoblastic lymphoma (LBL). This study was designed to determine the frequency of these specific lesions in childhood ALL or LBL and the characteristics of such patients.We studied the clinical and biological findings of children with cutaneous involvement at initial diagnosis of ALL or LBL enrolled between August 1989 and March 1995 in the multicentric trial 58881 of the Children's Leukemia Cooperative Group of the European Organization of Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC).Among the 1359 children enrolled in the multicenter trial EORTC 58881, 24 presented with skin involvement at diagnosis. ALL was diagnosed in 15 patients and LBL in 9. In 15 cases, skin lesions were observed within a median time of 6 weeks (range, a few days to 8 months) before the diagnosis of the hematologic disease. Twenty-one children had at least one skin lesion located on the head. Diffuse cutaneous lesions were observed in 7 infants with high-risk ALL. Seventeen of the 24 children remain in the first complete remission (median follow-up of 3 years; range 2 months to 5 years) and 3 are in the second remission with a follow-up of 14 to 24 months.The present study demonstrates that cutaneous involvement can be an early manifestation of ALL or LBL. Cutaneous leukemic infiltrates can be observed in children with standard risk as well as in high-risk ALL. Cutaneous involvement in children with LBL is mainly associated with a B-cell precursor immunophenotype of the lymphomatous cells. The most frequent location of skin lesions in children with ALL or LBL is on the head. Further studies are needed to evaluate the prognosis of children with such involvement at diagnosis.

More than 600 mutations have been identified in the Cystic Fibrosis Transmembrane Conductance Regulator (CFTR) gene and are known to cause cystic fibrosis (CF). This large number of mutations makes the search of the molecular defects in CF patients difficult. We have used the techniques of denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE) and direct DNA sequencing to detect the mutations in 334 CF chromosomes mostly of French origin. The whole coding sequence of the CFTR gene corresponding to the 27 exons and their exon-intron boundaries was studied. 45 different mutations were identified. This method allowed us to detect the molecular defect in 90.5% of the mutant alleles and to report a novel mutation D979V.

Forty-six children with juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) diagnosed between 1978 and 1993 in 12 centers were retrospectively studied. There is no evidence that any conventional treatment influences the long-term evolution of JMML. Among 28 patients treated without bone marrow transplantation (BMT), 26 died (median survival: 17 months), two are alive, one in complete remission (CR) after intensive chemotherapy. Allogenic BMT is the best treatment: 18 patients underwent BMT, 11 are in CR (at 9, 15, 22, 25, 41, 45, 49, 53, 66, 90 and 108 months). Conditioning regimens using chemotherapy alone may cure some patients (3/6) occasionally despite autologous reconstitution (1/3); if relapse occurs, a second BMT may be curative (2/3). Among the 12 patients conditioned immediately with TBI, six are in CR, one is in relapse, five died (one of them in durable autologus CR from Schwannoma). It is our opinion that splenectomy is of therapeutic value and seems not to have influenced the incidence of infections complications. We found no argument in favor of intensive chemotherapy before conditioning. Results with HLA-matched unrelated donors are satisfactory. One patient relapsed at 4 months after an unrelated BMT and entered a new CR after discontinuation of cyclosporine.

Bone marrow transplantation (BMT) from matched sibling donors has been useful for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia in children with a poor prognosis but is not available to more than two-thirds of patients who do not have a matched allogeneic donor. This study was undertaken to assess one strategy of marrow graft rejection prevention when alternative marrow sources such as HLA-phenoidentical unrelated volunteers and HLA-partially incompatible relatives were used. Results have been compared with two matched groups of children with the same risks factors and disease status who underwent HLA-genoidentical or autologous BMT. The conditioning regimen was the same for the three groups of patients; in the study group anti-LFA-1 and anti-CD2 monoclonal antibodies combined with T-cell depletion of the marrow was added to prevent graft rejection and graft-versus-host disease. Nineteen patients were included and followed for a median of 25 months (14 months to 3 years). Bone marrow engraftment occurred in 83% of the evaluable patients. Post-transplantation infectious diseases were the most frequent causes of death in the study group, occurring in 31% of patients. No fatal infections occurred in the two control groups. Post-transplantation relapse of leukaemia occurred in 26% of study group's patients, in 58% of autologous BMT control group's patients and 5% of HLA-genoidentical allogeneic group's patients. The event-free survival was 83% in the HLA-genoidentical control group, and 30% and 24% in the study group and in the autologous control group, respectively. In conclusion, a high rate of engraftment was achieved by the use of anti-LFA-1 and anti CD2 antibodies. Occurrence of a long-lasting immunodeficiency, however, led to a high incidence of lethal infections and relapses. Combined approaches are therefore to be investigated accelerating immune reconstitution after transplantations of T-depleted HLA partially incompatible marrow.

Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD)* is a frequent complication of allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. The potentially beneficial effect of phototherapy for treatment of cutaneous manifestations of GVHD led us to investigate retrospectively the effect of this therapy in a larger series of patients. Eleven patients with cutaneous GVHD (acute GVHD in 4 patients, chronic lichenoid GVHD in 6 patients, and chronic sclerodermatous GVHD in 1 patient) resistant to standard immunosuppressive drugs were treated with phototherapy. Skin lesions showed a complete clearing in 75% of patients with acute GVHD, and a response rate of 70% was observed in patients with chronic GVHD. No effect of phototherapy was achieved in 3 patients. Our results suggest that phototherapy is a nonaggressive treatment that may benefit patients with cutaneous GVHD, who already take high doses of immunosuppressive drugs.

Since the treatment of leukaemia by autologous bone marrow transplantation is becoming increasingly frequent, a retrospective study was undertaken to ascertain factors influencing the evolution of the disease (death and relapse). Data were collected over a period of 11 years for 105 patients with acute leukaemia (60 lymphoid cases and 45 myeloid cases). Multivariate analysis by the Cox model was used to determine prognostic factors for survival and disease free survival (DFS). Overall survival for the entire population was 35% after 8 years while DFS was 33% after 3 years. The major prognostic criteria were granulocyte recovery time (p0.001 at 5 weeks) and platelet recovery time (p0.02 at 6 weeks). Patients conditioned by an association of polychemotherapy and total body irradiation (TBI) showed a better survival rate than those conditioned by polychemotherapy alone (p0.01), with an overall survival of 48% after 3 years for the former group as compared to 19% for the latter. Other parameters influencing survival were the number of graft CFU-GM, sex and age. A knowledge of these factors could provide a means of predicting the long term evolution of leukaemia following autologous bone marrow transplantation. However, the present results require validation by a prospective study taking into account recent therapeutic protocols with haematopoietic growth factors.

Fifteen S/S children with severe SCD were transplanted with marrow from HLA identical siblings. All developed frequent (3/y) vaso-occlusive crises (VOC) associated with recurrent acute chest syndrome episodes (n = 10), osteitis (n = 3), osteonecrosis (n = 3), strokes (n = 3) or frequent massive deglobulisation (n = 2). Two children undergone splenectomy, two were chelated and two had an erythroid allo-immunization. Ethnic origins were from various countries in Africa (n = 11), North-Africa (n = 3) or West Indies (n = 1). At BMT, they were 2y 3m to 14y 9m old (mean: 8y 7m). Donors were AS (n = 11) or AA (n = 4). At first, various conditioning regimens were used consisting of busulfan (BU) plus Cyclophosphamide (CY) at different doses: CY:200 mg/kg (n = 13) or 260 mg/kg (n = 2); BU: 14 mg/kg (n = 1), 16 mg/kg (n = 9),16 mg/kg (n = 5); one patient received also TLI and the last two anti-thymoglobulin (ATG): 20 mg/kg. GVHD prophylaxis was CSA alone (n = 4) or CSA plus short-term MTX (n = 11). Median follow-up is 28 months (5 m to 53 m). All patients had an engraftment (d12 to d32) with a stable total chimerism in 10/14 patients. In the 4 others, partial chimerism was observed: one patient had a early and progressive rejection of his graft but is doing very well (35 m follow-up) without any manifestation of SCD, with a high stable 22% Hb F level.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Fourteen S/S children with severe SCD were transplanted with marrow from HLA identical siblings. All developed frequent (4/y) vasoocclusive crises (VOC) and recurrent acute chest syndrome episodes (n:10), osteitis (n:3), osteonecrosis (n:3), strokes (n:3) or frequent massive deglobulisation (n:2). Two children undergone splenectomy, 2 were chelated and 2 had erythroid allo-immunization. Ethnic origins were from various countries in Africa (n:10), North-Africa (n:3) or West Indies (n:1). At BMT, they were 2y 3m to 14y 9m old (mean:8y 7m). Donors were AS (n:11) or AA (n:3). At first, various conditioning regimens were used consisting of busulfan (BU) plus Cyclophosphamide (CY) at different doses: CY:200 mg/kg (n:12) or 260 mg/kg (n:2); BU:14 mg/kg (n:1), 16 mg/kg (n:9),16 mg/kg (n:4); 1 patient received also TLI and one other antithymoglobulin (ATG): 20 mg/kg. GVHD prophylaxis was CSA alone (n:4) or CSA plus short-term MTX (n:10). Median follow-up was 23 months (8 m. to 48 m.). All patients had an engraftment (d13 to d32) with a stable total chimerism in 10/14 patients who are cured. In the 4 others, partial chimerism was observed: one patient had a early and progressive rejection of his graft but is doing very well (28 m. follow-up) without any manifestation of SCD, with a high stable 22% Hb F level. One patient developed an aplastic anaemia 15 m after BMT: a second BMT was achieved 21 m after the first one with engraftment and total chimerism. Two patients have a relatively stable partial chimerism with still undergoing CSA therapy (11 m. and 23 m. follow-up).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

DNA ploidy and N-myc genomic content were analyzed in a series of stage IVS neuroblastomas by flow cytometry and Southern blot hybridization, respectively. Of the 12 stage IVS neuroblastomas studied, nine were aneuploid (DNA index [DI] greater than 1), two were diploid (DI = 1), and one was not assessable for DNA content due to insufficient tumor material. N-myc gene amplification was present in two of 12 tumors. None of the aneuploid tumors exhibited N-myc amplification. Among the aneuploid neuroblastomas, the DIs were between 1.27 and 1.60, ie, in the near-triploid range. The follow-up from diagnosis ranged from 1 to 41 months (mean, 20 months). The nine neuroblastomas with near-triploid DNA content were free of disease at the end of the follow-up period. In contrast, a rapid and fatal tumor progression was observed for the three neuroblastomas with N-myc amplification and/or diploidy. Although involving only a limited series, these results strongly suggest that the combined analysis of DNA ploidy and N-myc genomic content could predict clinical outcome in stage IVS neuroblastoma and should help to identify patients for whom a more aggressive therapy is required.

A total of 62 patients with high-risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) were treated with fractionated total body irradiation, high-dose cytosine arabinoside and melphalan followed by bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Thirty-six patients received allogeneic and 26 autologous BMT. Eight patients were treated in CR1, 36 in CR2 (first relapse occurring on therapy for 32), seven in further CR, 10 in relapse (five early first relapse, four second relapse and one fourth relapse) and one with refractory ALL. Severe toxicity occurred in 26 of the 62 patients (42%) and 14 died (22.5%) from non-leukemic causes. The actuarial event-free survival at 3.6 years was 28% after autologous BMT and 52% after allogeneic BMT with actuarial relapse rates of 62% and 35%, respectively. The results of this pilot study seem promising for this group of poor risk ALL, but the relapse rate remains high after autologous BMT and needs to be improved.