Infections During Induction Therapy of Protocol CCLG-2008 in Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia： A Single-center Experience with 256 Cases in China

Background：Infections remain a major cause of therapy-associated morbidity and mortality in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia （ALL）.Methods：We retrospectively analyzed the medical charts of 256 children treated for ALL under the CCLG-2008 protocol in Beijing Children＇s Hospital.Results：There were 65 infectious complications in 50 patients during vincristine,daunorubicin,L-asparaginase and dexamethasone induction therapy,including microbiologically documented infections （n =12; 18.5％）,clinically documented infections （n =23; 35.3％） and fever of unknown origin （n =30; 46.2％）.Neutropenia was present in 83.1％ of the infectious episodes.In all,most infections occurred around the 15t1h day of induction treatment （n =28）,and no patients died of infection-associated complications.Conclusions：The infections in this study was independent of treatment response,minimal residual diseases at the end of induction therapy,gender,immunophenotype,infection at first visit,risk stratification at diagnosis,unfavorable karyotypes at diagnosis and morphologic type.The infection rate of CCLG-2008 induction therapy is low,and the outcome of patients is favorable.

The percentage of peripheral blood blasts on day 7 of induction chemotherapy predicts response to therapy and survival in patients with acute myeloid leukemia

Background Rapid clearance of peripheral blood blasts （PBBs） predicts complete remission （CR） and survival in patients with acute myeloid leukemia （AML）.We aimed to explore the correlation between induction therapy response,outcome,and the PBB percentage.Methods Forty-six consecutive patients with de novo AML （excluding acute promyelocytic leukemia） were enrolled in this study.Flow cytometry was performed to identify cells with a leukemia-associated aberrant immunophenotype in the initial bone marrow aspirate and in peripheral blood on day 7 of induction therapy.Results The PBB percentage on day 7 （D7PBBP） was significantly lower in patients who achieved CR （0.03% （0.0%,0.45%）） than in those who did not （10.85% （1.13%,19.38%）; u =-3.92,P 〈0.001）.The CR rate was significantly higher among patients with a D7PBBP of 〈0.945% （84.62%,22/26） than among those with a D7PBBP of 〉0.945% （25.0%,5/20;Х^2 =16.571,P 〈0.001）.D7PBBP was significantly correlated with overall survival （OS; r=-0.437,P=0.003） and relapsefree survival （RFS; r=-0.388,P=0.007）.OS and RFS were significantly higher in patients with a D7PBBP of 〈0.43% than in those with a D7PBBP of 〉0.43% （P 〈0.001 and P=0.039,respectively）.D7PBBP was also found to be an independent prognostic indicator in multivariate analysis for both OS （P=-0.036） and RFS （P=0.035）.Conclusion D7PBBP may be an important risk factor for the achievement of complete remission,for overall survival,and for relapse-free survival.

Benefit of rituximab maintenance is associated with Follicular Lymphoma International Prognostic Index in patients with follicular lymphoma

Rituximab maintenance(RM)prolongs the progression-free survival(PFS)of responding patients with follicular lymphoma(FL),but the maintenance efficacy in different Follicular Lymphoma International Prognostic Index(FLIPI)risk group is still confusing.We performed a retrospective analysis of the effect of RM treatments in patients with FL responding to induction therapy based on their FLIPI risk assessment carried out prior to treatment.We identified 93 patients between 2013 and 2019 who received RM every 3 months for≥4 doses(RM group),and 60 patients who did not accept RM or received rituximab less than 4 doses(control group).After a median follow-up of 39 months,neither median overall survival(OS)nor PFS was reached for the entire population.The PFS was significantly prolonged in the RM group compared to the control group(median PFS NA vs 83.1 months,P=.00027).When the population was divided into the 3 FLIPI risk groups,the PFS differed significantly(4-year PFS rates,97.5%vs 88.8%vs 72.3%,P=.01)according to group.There was no significant difference in PFS for FLIPI low-risk patients with RM compared to the control group(4-year PFS rates,100%vs 93.8%,P=.23).However,the PFS of the RM group was significantly prolonged for FLIPI intermediate-risk(4-year PFS rates,100%vs 70.3%,P=.00077)and high-risk patients(4-year PFS rates,86.7%vs 57.1%,P=.023).These data suggest that standard RM significantly prolongs the PFS of patients assigned to intermediate-and high-risk FLIPI groups but not to low-risk FLIPI group,and pending larger-scale studies to validate.