1. |
- Benetton, M., et al.
(author)
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Molecular Measurable Residual Disease Assessment before Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in Pediatric Acute Myeloid Leukemia Patients: A Retrospective Study by the I-BFM Study Group
- 2022
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In: Biomedicines. - : MDPI AG. - 2227-9059. ; 10:7
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is a curative post-remission treatment in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML), but relapse after transplant is still a challenging event. In recent year, several studies have investigated the molecular minimal residual disease (qPCR-MRD) as a predictor of relapse, but the lack of standardized protocols, cut-offs, and timepoints, especially in the pediatric setting, has prevented its use in several settings, including before HSCT. Here, we propose the first collaborative retrospective I-BFM-AML study assessing qPCR-MRD values in pretransplant bone marrow samples of 112 patients with a diagnosis of AML harboring t(8;21)(q22; q22)RUNX1::RUNX1T1, or inv(16)(p13q22)CBFB::MYH11, or t(9;11)(p21;q23)KMT2A::MLLT3, or FLT3-ITD genetic markers. We calculated an ROC cut-off of 2.1 x 10(-4) that revealed significantly increased OS (83.7% versus 57.1%) and EFS (80.2% versus 52.9%) for those patients with lower qPCR-MRD values. Then, we partitioned patients into three qPCR-MRD groups by combining two different thresholds, 2.1 x 10(-4) and one lower cut-off of 1 x 10(-2), and stratified patients into low-, intermediate-, and high-risk groups. We found that the 5-year OS (83.7%, 68.6%, and 39.2%, respectively) and relapse-free survival (89.2%, 73.9%, and 67.9%, respectively) were significantly different independent of the genetic lesion, conditioning regimen, donor, and stem cell source. These data support the PCR-based approach playing a clinical relevance in AML transplant management.
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2. |
- Berglund, Eva Caroline, et al.
(author)
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A Study Protocol for Validation and Implementation of Whole-Genome and -Transcriptome Sequencing as a Comprehensive Precision Diagnostic Test in Acute Leukemias
- 2022
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In: Frontiers in Medicine. - Lausanne, Switzerland : Frontiers Media SA. - 2296-858X. ; 9, s. 1-9
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and whole-transcriptome sequencing (WTS), with the ability to provide comprehensive genomic information, have become the focal point of research interest as novel techniques that can support precision diagnostics in routine clinical care of patients with various cancer types, including hematological malignancies. This national multi-center study, led by Genomic Medicine Sweden, aims to evaluate whether combined application of WGS and WTS (WGTS) is technically feasible and can be implemented as an efficient diagnostic tool in patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). In addition to clinical impact assessment, a health-economic evaluation of such strategy will be performed. Methods and Analysis: The study comprises four phases (i.e., retrospective, prospective, real-time validation, and follow-up) including approximately 700 adult and pediatric Swedish AML and ALL patients. Results of WGS for tumor (90×) and normal/germline (30×) samples as well as WTS for tumors only will be compared to current standard of care diagnostics. Primary study endpoints are diagnostic efficiency and improved diagnostic yield. Secondary endpoints are technical and clinical feasibility for routine implementation, clinical utility, and health-economic impact. Discussion: Data from this national multi-center study will be used to evaluate clinical performance of the integrated WGTS diagnostic workflow compared with standard of care. The study will also elucidate clinical and health-economic impacts of a combined WGTS strategy when implemented in routine clinical care. Clinical Trial Registration: [https://doi.org/10.1186/ISRCTN66987142], identifier [ISRCTN66987142].
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3. |
- Dreisig, Karin, et al.
(author)
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TPMT polymorphisms and minimal residual disease after 6-mercaptopurine post-remission consolidation therapy of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
- 2021
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In: Pediatric Hematology and Oncology. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0888-0018 .- 1521-0669. ; 38:3, s. 227-238
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- © 2020 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. Bone marrow minimal residual disease (MRD) is the strongest predictor of relapse in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). 6-mercaptopurine (6MP) in ALL therapy has wide inter-individual variation in disposition and is strongly influenced by polymorphisms in the thiopurine methyltransferase (TPMT) gene. In 952 patients treated according to the NOPHO ALL2008 protocol, we explored the association between thiopurine disposition, TPMT genotypes and MRD levels after consolidation therapy with 6MP, high-dose methotrexate (HD-MTX), asparaginase, and vincristine. The levels of the cytotoxic DNA-incorporated thioguanine were significantly higher on day 70-79 in G460A/A719G TPMT heterozygous (TPMT HZ) compared to TPMT wild type (TPMT WT) patients (mean: 230.7 vs. 149.7 fmol/µg DNA, p = 0.002). In contrast, TPMT genotype did not associate with the end of consolidation MRD levels irrespective of randomization of the patients to fixed dose (25 mg/m2/day) or 6MP escalation (up to 50 or 75 mg/m2/day) during consolidation therapy.
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4. |
- Gottschalk Højfeldt, Sofie, et al.
(author)
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Relapse risk following truncation of PEG-asparaginase in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
- 2021
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In: Blood. - : American Society of Hematology. - 1528-0020 .- 0006-4971. ; 137:17, s. 2373-2382
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Truncation of asparaginase treatment due to asparaginase related toxicities or silent inactivation (SI) is common and may increase relapse risk in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). We investigated relapse risk following suboptimal asparaginase exposure among 1401 children aged 1-17 years, diagnosed with ALL between July 2008 and February 2016, and treated according to the NOPHO ALL2008 protocol including extended asparaginase exposure (1,000 IU/m2 intramuscularly weeks 5 to 33). Patients were included with delayed entry at their last administered asparaginase treatment or detection of SI and followed until relapse, death, secondary malignancy, or end of follow-up (median: 5.71 years, interquartile range: 4.02-7.64). In a multiple Cox model comparing patients with (n=358) and without (n=1043) truncated asparaginase treatment due to clinical toxicity, the adjusted relapse-specific hazard ratio (aHR) was 1.33 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.86-2.06, P=0.20). In a substudy including only patients with information on enzyme activity (n=1115), the 7-year cumulative incidence of relapse for the 301 patients with truncation of asparaginase treatment or SI (157 hypersensitivity, 53 pancreatitis, 14 thrombosis, 31 other, 46 SI) was 11.1% (95% CI: 6.9-15.4) versus 6.7% (95% CI: 4.7-8.6) for the 814 remaining patients. The relapse-specific aHR was 1.69 (95% CI: 1.05-2.74, P=0.03). The unadjusted bone-marrow relapse-specific HR was 1.83 (95% CI: 1.07-3.14, P=0.03) and 1.86 (95% CI: 0.90- 3.87, P=0.095) for any CNS relapse. These results emphasize the importance of therapeutic drug monitoring and appropriate adjustment of asparaginase therapy when feasible.
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5. |
- Helenius, Marianne, et al.
(author)
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Characteristics of white blood cell count in acute lymphoblastic leukemia: A COST LEGEND phenotype-genotype study.
- 2022
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In: Pediatric blood & cancer. - : Wiley. - 1545-5017 .- 1545-5009. ; 69:6
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- White blood cell count (WBC) as a measure of extramedullary leukemic cell survival is a well-known prognostic factor in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), but its biology, including impact of host genome variants, is poorly understood.We included patients treated with the Nordic Society of Paediatric Haematology and Oncology (NOPHO) ALL-2008 protocol (N = 2347, 72% were genotyped by Illumina Omni2.5exome-8-Bead chip) aged 1-45 years, diagnosed with B-cell precursor (BCP-) or T-cell ALL (T-ALL) to investigate the variation in WBC. Spline functions of WBC were fitted correcting for association with age across ALL subgroups of immunophenotypes and karyotypes. The residuals between spline WBC and actual WBC were used to identify WBC-associated germline genetic variants in a genome-wide association study (GWAS) while adjusting for age and ALL subtype associations.We observed an overall inverse correlation between age and WBC, which was stronger for the selected patient subgroups of immunophenotype and karyotypes (ρBCP-ALL = -.17, ρT-ALL = -.19; p < 3 × 10-4 ). Spline functions fitted to age, immunophenotype, and karyotype explained WBC variation better than age alone (ρ = .43, p << 2 × 10-6 ). However, when the spline-adjusted WBC residuals were used as phenotype, no GWAS significant associations were found. Based on available annotation, the top 50 genetic variants suggested effects on signal transduction, translation initiation, cell development, and proliferation.These results indicate that host genome variants do not strongly influence WBC across ALL subsets, and future studies of why some patients are more prone to hyperleukocytosis should be performed within specific ALL subsets that apply more complex analyses to capture potential germline variant interactions and impact on WBC.
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6. |
- Juul-Dam, K. L., et al.
(author)
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Measurable residual disease assessment by qPCR in peripheral blood is an informative tool for disease surveillance in childhood acute myeloid leukaemia
- 2020
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In: British Journal of Haematology. - : Wiley. - 0007-1048 .- 1365-2141. ; 190:2, s. 198-208
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Serial assessments of measurable (or minimal) residual disease (MRD) by qPCR may identify nascent relapse in children with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and enable pre-emptive therapy. We investigated the kinetics and prognostic impact of recurrent fusion transcripts (RUNX1-RUNX1T1, CBFB-MYH11, KMT2A-MLLT3 or KMT2A-ELL) in 774 post-induction samples from bone marrow (BM, 347) and peripheral blood (PB, 427) from 75 children with AML. BM MRD persistence during consolidation did not increase the risk of relapse, and MRD at therapy completion did not correlate to outcome (HR=0·64/MRD log reduction (CI: 0·32–1·26), P=0·19). In contrast, 8/8 patients with detectable MRD in PB after first consolidation relapsed. Persistence (n=4) and shifting from negative to positive (n=10) in PB during follow-up predicted relapse in 14/14 patients. All 253PB samples collected during follow-up from 36 patients in continuous complete remission were MRD negative. In core-binding factor AML, persistent low-level MRD positivity in BM during follow-up was frequent but an increment to above 5×10−4 heralded subsequent haematological relapse in 12/12 patients. We demonstrate that MRD monitoring in PB after induction therapy is highly informative and propose an MRD increment above 5×10−4 in PB and BM as a definition of molecular relapse since it always leads to haematological relapse. © 2020 British Society for Haematology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd
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7. |
- Karlsson, Lene, et al.
(author)
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Characteristics and outcome of primary resistant disease in paediatric acute myeloid leukaemia
- 2023
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In: British Journal of Haematology. - : Wiley. - 0007-1048 .- 1365-2141. ; 201:4, s. 757-765
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- A significant proportion of events in paediatric acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) are caused by resistant disease (RD). We investigated clinical and biological characteristics in 66 patients with RD from 1013 children with AML registered and treated according to the NOPHO-AML 93, NOPHO-AML 2004, DB AML-01 and NOPHO-DBH AML 2012 protocols. Risk factors for RD were age10 years or older and a white-blood-cell count (WBC) of 100 x 10(9)/L or more at diagnosis. The five-year overall survival (OS) was 38% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 28%-52%). Of the 63 children that received salvage therapy with chemotherapy, 59% (N = 37) achieved complete remission (CR) with OS 57% (95% CI: 42%-75%) compared to 12% (95% CI: 4%-35%) for children that did not achieve CR. Giving more than two salvage chemotherapy courses did not increase CR rates. OS for all 43 patients receiving allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) was 49% (95% CI: 36%-66%). Those achieving CR and proceeding to HSCT had an OS of 56% (95% CI: 41%-77%, N = 30). This study showed that almost 40% of children with primary resistant AML can be cured with salvage therapy followed by HSCT. Children that did not achieve CR after two salvage courses with chemotherapy did not benefit from additional chemotherapy.
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8. |
- Karlsson, Lene, et al.
(author)
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Fusion transcript analysis reveals slower response kinetics than multiparameter flow cytometry in childhood acute myeloid leukaemia
- 2022
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In: International Journal of Laboratory Hematology. - : Wiley. - 1751-5521 .- 1751-553X. ; 44:6, s. 1094-1101
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Introduction Analysis of measurable residual disease (MRD) is increasingly being implemented in the clinical care of children and adults with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). However, MRD methodologies differ and discordances in results lead to difficulties in interpretation and clinical decision-making. The aim of this study was to compare results from reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR) and multiparameter flow cytometry (MFC) in childhood AML and describe the kinetics of residual leukaemic burden during induction treatment. Methods In 15 children who were treated in the NOPHO-AML 2004 trial and had fusion transcripts quantified by RT-qPCR, we compared MFC with RT-qPCR for analysis of MRD during (day 15) and after induction therapy. Eight children had RUNX1::RUNX1T1, one CBFB::MYH11 and six KMT2A::MLLT3. Results When >= 0.1% was used as cut-off for positivity, 10 of 22 samples were discordant. The majority (9/10) were MRD positive with RT-qPCR but MRD negative with MFC, and several such cases showed the presence of mature myeloid cells. Fusion transcript expression was verified in mature cells as well as in CD34 expressing cells sorted from diagnostic samples. Conclusions Measurement with RT-qPCR suggests slower response kinetics than indicated from MFC, presumably due to the presence of mature cells expressing fusion transcript. The prognostic impact of early measurements with RT-qPCR remains to be determined.
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9. |
- Källström, Jonatan, 1976, et al.
(author)
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Effects of allopurinol on 6-mercaptopurine metabolism in unselected patients with pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia: a prospective phase II study.
- 2024
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In: Haematologica. - 1592-8721.
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Allopurinol can be used in maintenance therapy (MT) for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) to mitigate hepatic toxicity in patients with skewed 6- mercaptopurine metabolism. Allopurinol increases the erythrocyte levels of thioguanine nucleotides (e-TGN), which is the proposed main mediator of the antileukemic effect and decreases methyl mercaptopurine (e-MeMP) levels, associated with hepatotoxicity. We investigated the effects of allopurinol in thiopurine methyltransferase (TPMT) wild-type patients without previous clinical signs of skewed 6MP metabolism. Fifty-one patients from Sweden and Finland were enrolled in this prospective beforeafter trial during ALL MT. Mean e-TGN increased from 280 nmol/mmol Hb after 12 weeks of standard MT to 440 after 12 weeks of MT with addition of allopurinol 50 mg/m2 (p.
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10. |
- Modvig, S, et al.
(author)
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Value of flow cytometry for MRD-based relapse prediction in B-cell precursor ALL in a multicenter setting.
- 2021
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In: Leukemia. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1476-5551 .- 0887-6924. ; 35, s. 1894-1906
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- PCR of TCR/Ig gene rearrangements is considered the method of choice for minimal residual disease (MRD) quantification in BCP-ALL, but flow cytometry analysis of leukemia-associated immunophenotypes (FCM-MRD) is faster and biologically more informative. FCM-MRD performed in 18 laboratories across seven countries was used for risk stratification of 1487 patients with BCP-ALL enrolled in the NOPHO ALL2008 protocol. When no informative FCM-marker was available, risk stratification was based on real-time quantitative PCR. An informative FCM-marker was found in 96.2% and only two patients (0.14%) had non-informative FCM and non-informative PCR-markers. The overall 5-year event-free survival was 86.1% with a cumulative incidence of relapse (CIR5y) of 9.5%. FCM-MRD levels on days 15 (HzR 4.0, p<0.0001), 29 (HzR 2.7, p<0.0001), and 79 (HzR 3.5, p<0.0001) associated with hazard of relapse adjusted for age, cytogenetics, and WBC. The early (day 15) response associated with CIR5y adjusted for day 29 FCM-MRD, with higher levels in adults (median 2.4×10-2 versus 5.2×10-3, p<0.0001). Undetectable FCM- and/or PCR-MRD on day 29 identified patients with a very good outcome (CIR5y=3.2%). For patients who did not undergo transplantation, day 79 FCM-MRD>10-4 associated with a CIR5y=22.1%. In conclusion, FCM-MRD performed in a multicenter setting is a clinically useful method for MRD-based treatment stratification in BCP-ALL.
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