Replacing Cyclophosphamide/Cytarabine
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ARTICLE Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Replacing cyclophosphamide/cytarabine/ Ferrata Storti Foundation mercaptopurine with cyclophosphamide/ etoposide during consolidation/delayed intensification does not improve outcome for pediatric B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a report from the COG Haematologica 2019 Michael J. Burke,1* Wanda L. Salzer,2* Meenakshi Devidas,3 Yunfeng Dai,3 Lia Volume 104(5):986-992 Gore,4 Joanne M. Hilden,4 Eric Larsen,5 Karen R. Rabin,6 Patrick A. Zweidler- McKay,7 Michael J. Borowitz,8 Brent Wood,9 Nyla A. Heerema,10 Andrew J. Carroll,11 Naomi Winick,12 William L. Carroll,13 Elizabeth A. Raetz,13** Mignon L. Loh14** and Stephen P. Hunger15** 1Department of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI; 2U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, Fort Detrick, MD; 3Department of Biostatistics, Colleges of Medicine and Public Health & Health Professions, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL; 4Department of Pediatrics, Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders, Children’s Hospital Colorado and The University of Colorado School of Medicine, Aurora, CO; 5Department of Pediatrics, Maine Children’s Cancer Program, Scarborough, ME; 6Department of Pediatrics, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX; 7ImmunoGen, Inc, Waltham, MA; 8Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD; 9Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA; 10Department of Pathology, The Ohio State University School of Medicine, Columbus, OH; 11Department of Genetics, University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL; 12Department of Pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX; 13Department of Pediatrics, Perlmutter Cancer Center, New York University Langone Health, New York, NY; 14Department of Pediatrics, Benioff Children’s Hospital and the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California at San Francisco, CA and 15Department of Pediatrics, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA Correspondence: *These authors contributed equally as first authors. MICHAEL J. BURKE **These authors contributed equally as senior authors. [email protected] ABSTRACT Received: August 20, 2018. ith modern chemotherapy, approximately 90% of patients Accepted: December 6, 2018. with pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia are now cured. Pre-published: December 13, 2018. WHowever, subsets of patients can be identified who remain at very high risk of relapse with expected 4-year disease-free survival rates <80%; such patients are appropriate candidates for intensive therapeutic doi:10.3324/haematol.2018.204545 strategies designed to improve survival. The AALL1131 trial was Check the online version for the most updated designed to determine, in a randomized fashion, whether substitution information on this article, online supplements, with cyclophosphamide/etoposide (experimental arm 1) would improve and information on authorship & disclosures: the 4-year disease-free survival of children, adolescents, and young www.haematologica.org/content/104/5/986 adults with very high-risk B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia compared to a modified Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster regimen (control arm). Patients 1- 30 years of age with newly diagnosed very high-risk B-cell acute lym- ©2019 Ferrata Storti Foundation phoblastic leukemia were randomized after induction in a 1:2 fashion to Material published in Haematologica is covered by copyright. the control arm or experimental arm 1 in which they were given All rights are reserved to the Ferrata Storti Foundation. Use of 2 2 published material is allowed under the following terms and cyclophosphamide (440 mg/m days 1-5)/ etoposide (100 mg/m days 1- conditions: 5) during part 2 of consolidation and delayed intensification. Prospective https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode. interim monitoring rules for efficacy and futility were included where Copies of published material are allowed for personal or inter- nal use. Sharing published material for non-commercial pur- futility would be determined for a one-sided P-value ≥0.7664. The study poses is subject to the following conditions: was stopped for futility as the interim monitoring boundary was crossed https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/legalcode, [hazard ratio 0.606 (95% confidence interval: 0.297 - 1.237)] and the very sect. 3. Reproducing and sharing published material for com- mercial purposes is not allowed without permission in writing high-risk arm of AALL1131 was closed in February 2017. Using data cur- from the publisher. rent as of December 31, 2017, 4-year disease-free survival rates were 85.5±6.8% (control arm) versus 72.3±6.3% (experimental arm 1) (P-value = 0.76). There were no significant differences in grade 3/4 adverse events 986 haematologica | 2019; 104(5) Cyclophosphamide/etoposide in pediatric B-ALL between the two arms. Substitution of this therapy for very high-risk B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia patients on the Children’s Oncology Group AALL1131 trial (NCT02883049) randomized to cyclophosphamide/etoposide during part 2 of consolidation and delayed intensification did not improve disease-free survival. Introduction ther classified as VHR if they had any of the following criteria: ≥13 years of age; CNS3 leukemia at diagnosis; day 29 bone marrow 7,8 With modern chemotherapy regimens, approximately minimal residual disease ≥0.01% determined by flow cytometry; 90% of patients with pediatric B-cell acute lymphoblastic induction failure [>25% bone marrow blasts (M3) on induction leukemia (B-ALL) are now cured.1,2 However, subsets of day 29], severe hypodiploidy (DNA index <0.81 and/or <44 chro- patients remain at very high-risk (VHR) of relapse with an mosomes); intrachromosomal amplification of chromosome 21, or expected 4-year disease-free survival (DFS) rate <80%. lysine methyltransferase 2A (KMT2A, formerly mixed lineage Current post-induction intensification strategies, which leukemia, MLL) rearrangement. In addition, patients with National have focused on optimizing the use of drugs commonly Cancer Institute standard-risk B-ALL, enrolled on the COG study administered in ALL therapy, have delivered sub-optimal AALL0932 (NCT01190930) for standard-risk B-ALL (≥1 to <10 results for these VHR B-ALL patients. In the absence of a years of age with a white blood cell count <50x109/L), were classi- specific targeted intervention (such as Abl-tyrosine kinase fied as VHR following induction if they met any of the above VHR inhibitors in Philadelphia chromosome-positive ALL), criteria or if they had day 29 bone marrow minimal residual dis- intensive chemotherapy continues to be the mainstay of ease ≥0.01% in the absence of favorable cytogenetics (no trisomies treatment. We hypothesized that further optimization or of chromosomes 4 and 10 and no ETV6/RUNX1 fusion). Patients intensification of the dose and schedule of established with Down syndrome were not eligible for the VHR stratum given agents or combination regimens typically used to treat the concern of increased toxicity of the regimen. Toxicities were newly diagnosed ALL patients would probably not graded using the National Cancer Institute’s Common improve outcomes further for VHR B-ALL patients, and Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events version 4.0. The study therefore novel or targeted therapies should be investigat- was approved by the National Cancer Institute, the Pediatric ed. Given that there was not a molecularly targeted agent Central Institutional Review Board, and institutional review available for this population of patients at the time the boards at each participating COG institution. study was conceived, this trial was designed to test the use The AALL1131 study was originally designed to investigate the of different consolidation strategies, based on drugs not addition of clofarabine to cyclophosphamide/etoposide as experi- commonly used in frontline ALL trials, including fractionat- mental arm 2 versus cyclophosphamide/etoposide (experimental ed cyclophosphamide and etoposide. arm 1) versus the control arm in a 2:2:1 randomization for patients The Children’s Oncology Group (COG) AALL1131 trial with VHR B-ALL. The study design was later amended to a 2:1 thus aimed to determine, in a randomized fashion, whether randomization between experimental arm 1 and the control arm, replacing cyclophosphamide, cytarabine, and 6-mercaptop- retaining those patients initially randomized to experimental arm urine during consolidation or cyclophosphamide, cytara- 1 and the control arm, after the clofarabine arm (experimental arm bine, and 6-thioguanine during delayed intensification with 2) was closed because of unacceptable toxicity (September 2014).7 cyclophosphamide and etoposide (experimental arm 1) dur- Patients classified as VHR were subsequently randomized after ing the consolidation and reconsolidation phases of COG induction in a 1:2 fashion to cyclophosphamide (1 g/m2 day augmented Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster therapy (control arm)3 29)/cytarabine (75 mg/m2 days 29-33 and 36-40)/6-mercaptopurine would improve the 4-year DFS of children, adolescents, and (60 mg/m2 days 29-42 consolidation) or thioguanine (60 mg/m2 young adults with VHR B-ALL. The cyclophosphamide/ days 29-42 during part 2 of delayed intensification) (control arm) etoposide combination was well tolerated in prior relapse or cyclophosphamide (440 mg/m2, days 29-33)/etoposide (100 B-ALL studies4,5 and a similar