Abstract
A high complete remission (CR) rate has been reported in newly diagnosed Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph+ALL) following imatinib-based therapy. However, the overall effect of imatinib on the outcomes of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) is undetermined. Between 2002 and 2005, 100 newly diagnosed adult patients with Ph+ALL were registered to a phase II study of imatinib-combined chemotherapy (Japan Adult Leukemia Study Group Ph+ALL202 study) and 97 patients achieved CR. We compared clinical outcomes of 51 patients who received allo-HSCT in their first CR (imatinib cohort) with those of 122 historical control patients in the pre-imatinib era (pre-imatinib cohort). The probability of overall survival at 3 years after allo-HSCT was 65% (95% confidence interval (CI), 49–78%) for the imatinib cohort and 44% (95% CI, 35–52%) for the pre-imatinib cohort. Multivariate analysis confirmed that this difference was statistically significant (adjusted hazard ratio, 0.44, P=0.005). Favorable outcomes of the imatinib cohort were also observed for disease-free survival (P=0.007) and relapse (P=0.002), but not for non-relapse mortality (P=0.265). Imatinib-based therapy is a potentially useful strategy for newly diagnosed patients with Ph+ALL, not only providing them more chance to receive allo-HSCT, but also improving the outcome of allo-HSCT.
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Acknowledgements
We thank Dr Masamitsu Yanada and all of the physicians and staff members of the collaborating institutes of the JALSG and JSHCT. This work was supported by a Research Grant for Cancer from the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare.
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Dr Naoe has received research funding and honoraria from Novartis Japan. Dr Ohnishi has received research funding from Novartis Japan. Dr Miyazaki has received honoraria from Novartis Japan. The remaining authors declare no conflict of interest.
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Mizuta, S., Matsuo, K., Yagasaki, F. et al. Pre-transplant imatinib-based therapy improves the outcome of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for BCR–ABL-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Leukemia 25, 41–47 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/leu.2010.228
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/leu.2010.228
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