Prognostic factors in infants with acute myeloid leukemia - Nature

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Leukemia (2000) 14, 684–687  2000 Macmillan Publishers Ltd All rights reserved 0887-6924/00 $15.00 www.nature.com/leu

Prognostic factors in infants with acute myeloid leukemia C-H Pui,1,2,3 SC Raimondi2, DK Srivastava4, X Tong4, FG Behm2, B Razzouk1, JE Rubnitz1, JT Sandlund1, WE Evans5,6 and R Ribeiro1 Departments of 1Hematology-Oncology, 2Pathology, 4Biostatistics and Epidemiology, and 5Pharmaceutical Sciences, St Jude Children’s Research Hospital; and University of Tennessee, 3College of Medicine and 6Pharmacy, Memphis, TN, USA

Little is known about the factors that affect treatment outcome in very young children with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). We therefore analyzed the prognostic impact of various presenting clinical and laboratory features by discrete age group in 299 children with AML treated in four consecutive clinical trials between 1980 and 1997. Differences in presenting features, as well as treatment outcome, were compared between children aged 12 months or less (n = 28) or 13 to 24 months (n = 28) and those more than 24 months of age (n = 243). Children in the two youngest groups (24 months of age or less) had similar presenting features and treatment outcome. Collectively, these 56 children were significantly more likely than the 243 older patients to have M4 or M5 leukemia (70% vs 30%), CNS leukemia (33% vs 22%), the t(9;11) (p22;q23) (18% vs 6%) or other 11q23 translocations (23% vs 3%), and less likely to have Auer rods (2% vs 54%) or the t(8;21) (q22;q22) (0% vs 17%). Among patients aged 24 months or less, two factors independently predicted a favorable prognosis: FAB M4 or M5 leukemia (relative risk of relapse, 0.4; 95% confidence interval, 0.2–0.9) and the t(9;11) (relative risk, 0.3; 95% confidence interval , 0.1–1.0). Leukocyte count and 11q23 translocations other than the t(9;11) lacked prognostic significance. Among older patients, a leukocyte count ⬍50 × 109/l and the presence of the t(9;11) conferred a favorable prognosis. Leukemia (2000) 14, 684–687. Keywords: karyotyping; t(9;11); infant leukemia; infant AML

Introduction Prognostic factors in infants with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) are well defined. Adverse factors include hyperleukocytosis, very young age (eg ⬍3 or ⬍6 months), the presence of central nervous system leukemia, the lack of CD10 expression on leukemic cells, MLL/11q23 rearrangements and a poor initial response to prednisone.1–13 In multivariate analyses, only MLL/11q23 rearrangement2,5–9,11 and poor prednisone response13 emerged with independent predictive strength. Recent studies suggest that the adverse prognosis of MLL/11q23 rearrangement is limited to cases with the t(4;11) (q21;q23),13–15 although we have found that cases of infant ALL with the t(11;19) (q23;p13.3) also have a poor prognosis.16 The factors that influence outcome in infants with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) remain generally obscure, for several reasons. First, there is no consistency among age cutpoints in reported series. Many studies combined infants less than 12 months of age with those 1–2 years old in a single group.17–22 Second, the prognosis of AML in very young patients as compared to older patients varied among different clinical protocols, underscoring the overriding importance of treatment efficacy. Some studies have shown an unfavorable outcome in very young patients,18,22 others have found comparable survival rates between the two age groups,17,21,23–26 while still others indicated a better prognosis for infants.19 Third, there Correspondence: C-H Pui, St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 332 North Lauderdale, Memphis, TN 38105, USA; Fax: (901)521-9005 Received 2 December 1999; accepted 10 December 1999

are very few data on the blast cell genetics of infants with AML. Only four studies have attempted to assess the prognostic significance of MLL/11q23 rearrangements, the most common genetic lesion in infants with AML.9,27–29 In each, the findings were questionable due to the small number of patients, short follow-up duration or failure to distinguish between various subtypes of MLL/11q23 rearrangements. Here, we report on the prognostic factors in 56 very young children with AML, 28 ⭐ 12 months of age at diagnosis and 28 13–24 months of age, and contrast the findings with those in older children with this disease. Materials and methods From 1980 to 1997, 299 patients with newly diagnosed AML were enrolled in four successive clinical trials at this center (AML-80, AML-83, AML-87 and AML-91).30–32 Diagnoses were based on standard morphologic, cytochemical and immunophenotypic studies of leukemic cells. The protocols were approved by the institutional review board, and informed consent was obtained from patients, parents, or guardians, as appropriate. Metaphases of leukemic cells from bone marrow samples were prepared by a direct method, and a modified trypsin– Wright technique was used for G-banding. Chromosomes were described according to conventions of the International System for Human Cytogenetic Nomenclature (ISCN 1995).33

Statistical analysis Differences in the distribution of clinical and biologic features between subgroups of patients were analyzed by the twotailed Fisher’s exact test. Life-table estimates of event-free survival were derived by the method of Kaplan and Meier, and compared with the long-rank test. Event-free survival was measured from the date of protocol entry to the first failure of any kind (relapse, second malignancy or death) or to the date of the last follow-up examination. Patients who did not achieve a complete remission were assigned an event-free survival time of zero. The Cox proportional-hazards model was used to analyze the influence of potential prognostic factors on event-free survival. All variables significant at the 0.10 level were entered into the multivariate model; the variables were removed if they did not contribute significantly to the model based on the likelihood ratio test. Relative risks with 95% confidence intervals were calculated. Results Of 299 patients with AML, 28 (9.4%) were ⭐12 months at diagnosis, 28 (9.4%) were 13–24 months of age, and 243 (81.3%) were ⬎24 months old. There were no significant

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differences in the presenting clinical or laboratory features between the first two age groups, except for a slightly higher frequency of the FAB M4 or M5 subtype of AML among children ⭐12 months of age (P = 0.08; Table 1). By comparison with patients ⬎24 months old, the ⭐12 month and the 13– 24 month age groups were both more likely to have M4 or M5 leukemia, the t(9;11) (p22;q23) or other 11q23 translocations, and less likely to have Auer rods or the t(8;21) (q22;q22). Because event-free survival did not differ significantly among the four clinical trials (P = 0.58, data not shown), they were combined for subsequent analyses. Eventfree survival estimates also did not differ significantly among the three age groups: the 5-year rates (±s.e.) were 32% ± 0. 1% for the youngest group, 34% ± 0.1% for the intermediate age group, and 27% ± 3% for the oldest group. Because children in the two younger groups had similar presenting features and treatment outcome, they were combined for the analysis of prognostic factors. Among these 56 children, M4 or M5 leukemia, the presence of the t(9;11) and female gender were associated with a favorable prognosis in univariate analysis (Table 2). A Cox proportional-hazards model identified M4 or M5 leukemia (relative risk of relapse, 0.4; 95% confidence interval, 0.2–0.9) and the presence of the t(9;11) (relative risk, 0.3; 95% confidence interval, 0.1– 1.0) as independent prognostic factors. The outcome of patients with 11q23 rearrangements other than the t(9;11) did not differ significantly from that of other patients (5-year eventfree survival, 23% ± 14% vs 25% ± 7%). Among patients ⬎24 months of age, a low leukocyte count (⬍50 × 109/l) and the presence of the t(9;11) conferred a favorable prognosis (data not shown). Likewise, 11q23 rearrangements other than the t(9;11) lacked prognostic impact in this older age group.

Table 1

Table 2 Adverse prognostic factors in children ⭐24 months of age at diagnosis of AMLa

Variable

5-year eventfree survival (% ± s.e.)

FAB type Others (n = 17) M4 or M5 (n = 39) Cytogenetics Others (n = 46) t(9;11) (p22;q23) (n = 10) Gender Male (n = 27) Female (n = 29)

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Relative risk (95% CI)

7±5 44 ± 9 P ⬍ 0.001b

0.4 (0.2–0.9) P = 0.03c

25 ± 7 70 ± 16 P = 0.01b

0.3 (0.1–1.0) P = 0.06c

16 ± 7 48 ± 10 P = 0.02b

0.6 (0.3–1.2) P = 0.20c

CI, confidence interval; s.e., standard error. a Variables without prognostic significance include leukocyte count, liver size and CNS leukemia. b From the log-rank test. c From the Cox proportional-hazard model.

Discussion We demonstrate that the M4 and M5 subtypes of AML, the presence of the t(9;11) and female gender are all associated with a favorable prognosis in very young children with AML. In the study of Grier et al,18 the M4 and M5 subtypes and age ⬍2 years were adverse prognostic features, and the poor prognosis of patients ⬍2 years old was largely due to the pre-

Comparison of presenting features among AML patients of different agesa

Feature

⭐12 months (n = 28) No. P

Leukocyte count (×109/l) ⬍50 ⭓50

14 14

CNS leukemia Absent Present

14 10

FAB subtype M4 or M5 Others

23 5

Auer rods Yes No

0 28

Cytogenetics findings t(9;11) (p22;q23) Other 11q23 t(8;21) (q22;q22) t(15;17) (q22;q12-21) inv (16) +21 Normal Miscellaneous

5 7 0 0 1 0 4 10

13–24 months (n = 28) No. P

0.03

NS 21 7

0.04

173 70 0.81

21 7 ⬍0.001

184 53 0.01

16 12 ⬍0.001

72 171 ⬍0.001

1 27 0.02 ⬍0.001 0.02 NS NS NS NS NS

⬎24 months (n = 243) No.

5 6 0 0 2 0 2 10

130 110 0.02 0.001 0.02 NS NS NS NS NS

13 8 39 14 16 1 50 65

a P values refer to comparisons between the ⭐12 month or 13–24 months age group with ⬎24 month group. NS, not significant. Data sets incomplete for some patients.

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ponderance of M5 leukemia in this age group. This difference in the prognostic impact of M4 and M5 subtypes could be due to the use of different treatment regimens. Our treatment protocols included the epipodophyllotoxins, which are highly effective against M5 leukemia in infants34,35 and in recent years they also incorporated 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine, an agent which appears particularly effective against M5 AML (RC Ribeiro, unpublished observation). While male gender is a recognized adverse feature in childhood ALL,36,37 it generally lacks prognostic significance in studies of AML. However, Lie et al25 found male gender to be the strongest predictor of a poor outcome among patients treated in two consecutive trials for childhood AML. We also found that boys fared worse than girls, although the comparison did not attain statistical significance in multivariate analysis. There were no significant differences between boys and girls in the frequency of M4 and M5 leukemia or the t(9;11) (data not shown). Hence, the basis for the poor outcome of males observed in our study and that of Lie et al25 is unclear, especially in view of the lack of similarities between treatment regimens. There have been four studies of MLL/11q23 rearrangements in infant AML.9,27–29 These abnormalities were found in approximately 50% to 60% of cases in each of the four studies and were associated with an M4 or M5 subtype and hyperleukocytosis. MLL/11q23 rearrangements lacked prognostic significance in three studies,9,27,29 but were associated with a trend towards a worse outcome in the fourth.28 None of the studies analyzed treatment outcome according to specific MLL/11q23 rearrangements. In the present study, we demonstrate for the first time that the t(9;11) confers a favorable outcome, whereas other MLL/11q23 rearrangements lack prognostic significance among very young children with AML. The t(9;11) was also associated with a favorable prognosis in older children with AML, a finding that confirms previous reports.38–40 Similarly, MLL/11q23 rearrangements in childhood ALL denote heterogeneous diseases with varying prognoses ranging from very favorable to dismal.41 The prognostic significance of other genetic abnormalities could not be assessed in this study because of the small number of cases in each subgroup. The t(8;21) and t(15;17), two of the most common translocations in older children with AML, were conspicuously absent in the very young age group. In fact, these two translocations apparently have not been reported in infant AML, suggesting different mechanisms of leukemogenesis, including different target cells, in very young children with this disease. Acknowledgements We thank Annette C Stone for data management and Doris Hurdle for typing the manuscript. This work was supported by grant Nos CA21765 and CA20180 from the National Cancer Institute, by a Center of Excellence grant from the State of Tennessee, and by the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities (ALSAC). References 1 Pui C-H, Frankel LS, Carroll AJ, Raimondi SC, Shuster JJ, Head DR, Crist WM, Land VJ, Pullen DJ, Steuber CP, Behm FG, Borowitz MJ. Clinical characteristics and treatment outcome of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia with the t(4;11) (q21;q23): a collaborative study of 40 cases. Blood 1991; 77: 440–447.

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