ALBERT

Description: The advent of more intensive chemotherapy and the improvement of supportive cares have dramatically changed the natural history of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), with current estimated 5-year overall survival of about 80%. The increased survival rate and the establishment of follow-up survey for long term survivors (LTS) have allowed the identification of late chemo-radiotherapy adverse effects on psychological and general health. We retrospectively evaluate the incidence and type of sequelae and / or late effects in a cohort of 301 childhood ALL LTS, followed in a single pediatric AIEOP center. From June 1986 to June 2013, 301 LTS (154 male and 147 female), aged

Description: Abstract 1578 Poster Board I-604 Background T-ALL accounts for about 15% of pediatric ALL and still represents a clinical challenge, because more than 20% of children experience a recurrent disease which has a dismal prognosis. Characterization of molecular alterations with prognostic impact may be useful for an early identification of patients at high risk of failure in whom more intensive treatments, including hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) may be considered. CALM-AF10 results from a recurring t(10;11)(p13;q14-21) chromosomal translocation and is the most frequent fusion transcript in both adult and pediatric patients with T-ALL. Its presence has been associated with a poor prognosis (Asnafi V et al. Blood 2003; van Grotel M et al Haematologica 2006). The aim of the present study was i) to define the incidence of CALM-AF10 among homogeneously treated children with T-ALL and ii) to evaluate the outcome of these patients. Materials and Methods We studied 201 patients with T-ALL, diagnosed and enrolled between 9/2000 and 12/2007 in the ALL-2000 protocol and the subsequent modified 2000 study (ALL-R-2006) of the Associazione Italiana di Ematologia ed Oncologia Pediatrica (AIEOP) which consist of an intensive chemotherapy strategy based on BFM-ALL schedules. Patients were mainly stratified according to prednisone response evaluation (good response: blast count at day 8 less than 1000/mmc) and detection of minimal residual disease (MRD) performed at day 33 (Timepoint 1) and at day 78 (Timepoint 2). When both TPs were negative children were considered to be at Standard Risk (SR); patients with TP1 and/or TP2 positive and TP2 '10-3 were considered to be at Intermediate Risk (MR); children with TP2 positive ≥10-3 belong to the high risk (HR) group. Patients with prednisone poor response and MRD-HR were considered eligible for HSCT from a sibling donor in first complete remission. Event free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) estimates with 95% CIs were calculated through the Kaplan-Meier method and differences compared with the log-rank test. RT-PCR reactions for detection of CALM-AF10 were performed as previously reported (Asnafi V et al Blood 2003) Results Ten patients resulted not eligible and were excluded from analysis. Among the 191 evaluable children with T-ALL, 14 (7,3%) were positive for CALM-AF10. Twelve (85%) of these patients were males. Median age was 8 years (range 2 – 13). Immunophenotyping showed thymic/intermediate features in 6 cases, mature in 5, early in 1, biclonal in 1 and unknown in 1, respectively. Eight cases showed a poor prednisone (PDN) response. Based on a randomized study performed in induction in the frame of the ALL-2000 protocol on the efficacy of PDN vs dexametasone (DXM) 8 children were treated with PDN and 3 with DXM The remaining 3 cases, belonging to the ALL R-2006 protocol, were treated with DXM (n=2) and PDN (n=1). MRD-based stratification allowed the allocation of 3, 8 and 3 patients in the SR, MR and HR, respectively. Four cases relapsed (3 in the central nervous system and 1 in the bone marrow). EFS at 5 years of the 14 CALM-AF10 positive T-ALL children versus the 177 who were negative was 70.1% vs 63.9%, respectively (p-value log-rank=0.61). Small numbers did not allow to fully evaluate the impact of different variables such as initial steroid treatment (PDN vs DXM) or the MRD-based risk-group assignment Conclusions This study performed in a vast cohort of children with T-ALL shows that CALM-AF10 is found in about 7% of children with T-ALL and that does not predict a poor outcome when an intensive chemotherapy strategy is employed. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Description: The phosphatidyl-inositol 3 kinase (PI3k)/Akt pathway has been implicated in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Because rapamycin suppresses the oncogenic processes sustained by PI3k/Akt, we investigated whether rapamycin affects blast survival. We found that rapamycin induces apoptosis of blasts in 56% of the bone marrow samples analyzed. Using the PI3k inhibitor wortmannin, we show that the PI3k/Akt pathway is involved in blast survival. Moreover, rapamycin increased doxorubicin-induced apoptosis even in nonresponder samples. Anthracyclines activate nuclear factor κB (NF-κB), and disruption of this signaling pathway increases the efficacy of apoptogenic stimuli. Rapamycin inhibited doxorubicin-induced NF-κB in ALL samples. Using a short interfering (si) RNA approach, we demonstrate that FKBP51, a large immunophilin inhibited by rapamycin, is essential for drug-induced NF-κB activation in human leukemia. Furthermore, rapamycin did not increase doxorubicin-induced apoptosis when NF-κB was overexpressed. In conclusion, rapamycin targets 2 pathways that are crucial for cell survival and chemoresistance of malignant lymphoblasts—PI3k/Akt through the mammalian target of rapamycin and NF-κB through FKBP51—suggesting that the drug could be beneficial in the treatment of childhood ALL. (Blood. 2005;106:1400-1406)

Description: Introduction: The International “Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster” Study Group (I-BFM-SG) pioneered the evaluation of minimal residual disease (MRD) based on Immunoglobulin and T-cell Receptor gene rearrangements as PCR targets. The prospective AIEOP (Associazione Italiana Ematologia Oncologia Pediatrica)-BFM ALL 2000 study is the largest in which standardized quantitative assessment of PCR-MRD at two time points (TP) was used for stratification in 127 centers. Objective: To assess whether PCR-MRD levels discriminate outcome in patients with childhood Philadelphia positive (Ph+) ALL treated with intensive chemotherapy. Material and Methods: Between 07–2000 and 07–2006, 79 Ph+ patients were enrolled in the AIEOP-BFM ALL 2000 study. They were eligible for the high risk (HR) treatment arm and treated with Induction (protocol IA + IB), poly-chemotherapy blocks, reinduction (by one or more Protocols II or III), followed by maintenance therapy. BM samples obtained at day 33 (Time Point 1, TP1) and 78 (TP2) of induction therapy were used for MRD analysis by patient specific PCR targets. At least one or two sensitive markers (≥ 1 × 10−4) could be determined in 62 (78.5%) and 54 (68.4%) patients, respectively. MRD-Standard Risk (SR) was defined by MRD-negative at both TP1 and TP2; MRD-HR by MRD ≥1×10−3 at TP2; MRD-Intermediate Risk (IR): all others. Median follow-up was 3 years; 5-year survival and event-free survival (EFS) (SE) estimates are given. Results: Out of 79 registered patients, 3 (3.7%) died during Induction phase, 15 (19.2%) were Prednisone-poor responders (PPR), 12 (19.2%) were resistant to phase IA and 75 (94.9%) achieved CR. Forty-six patients (58.2%) underwent hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). Overall, EFS and Survival (SE) were 44.3%(6.5) and 61.5%(6.2), respectively. Sixty-two patients were stratified by MRD (i.e. they were alive and valuable at day 78 and had at least one sensitive PCR marker). Eleven patients (17.7%) were at MRD-SR: 8 remained in CCR (4 after BMT), 1 died in CCR and 2 relapsed at 2.7 and 5.7 years from diagnosis; 28 (45.2%) were at MRD-IR: 18 remained in CCR (14 after BMT), 1 died in CCR and two for TRM after HSCT; 7 relapsed after 0.6 to 5.1 years; 23 (37.1%) were at MRD-HR and only 4 remained in CCR (all after BMT). The relapse rate was 18% in MRD-SR, 25% in MRD-IR and 61% in MRD-HR. Of note, within the Prednisone good-response subgroup (n=61), the evaluation of MRD identified those patients (MRD-HR, n=12 out of 51 PGR, MRD stratifiable) at very high risk of relapse (6/12: 50%). Conclusions: PCR-MRD is a strong predictor for outcome in Ph+ ALL patients treated with BFM therapy. MRD response detected by PCR can tailor the selection of the best treatment (Imatinib or other tyrosine kinase inhibitors and chemotherapy with or without transplant). The prognosis in the subgroup of Ph+ALL as defined HR according to PCR-MRD detection is still very poor even after HSCT and accordingly new therapeutic strategies are needed.

Description: Between May 1995 and August 2000 the Associazione Italiana di Ematologia Oncologia Pediatrica (AIEOP) conducted the ALL-95 study for risk-directed, BFM-oriented therapy of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), aimed at exploring treatment reduction in standard risk (SR) and intensification during continuation therapy in intermediate risk (IR) as randomized questions and treatment intensification in high risk (HR). The prognostic value of DNA index was explored in this setting. 1,744 patients were enrolled, 115 SR, 1,385 IR, and 244 HR risk. SR patients (DNA index ≥1.16 and

Description: Introduction: In the last two decades, treatment to prevent CNS relapses in childhood ALL has been characterized by a progressive replacement of cranial radiotherapy (CRT) with HD-MTX and/or protracted IT chemotherapy. AIEOP has already reported that HD-MTX (5 g/sqm x 4), associated with protracted use of IT MTX led to a 6-year isolated CNS relapse rate of 0.8% in a relatively small fraction of intermediate risk (IR) ALL children (30% of the total) treated in the BFM-oriented AIEOP ALL 88 study (J Clin Oncol, 13; 10: 2497–2502, 1995). Aim: To evaluate if adequate CNS relapse prevention is obtained also by using HD-MTX at lower doses (2 gr/sqm x 4 instead of 5 gr/sqm x 4) and in a larger proportion of patients (up to 80% of the overall population) when associated to protracted IT chemotherapy. Patients and methods: Eligibility: children with newly diagnosed non-T ALL with no HR features [i.e. no poor-prednisone response and/or no t(9;22) or t(4;11) clonal translocations and/or no CR after protocol IA] and no CNS or testicular involvement at the onset. Chemotherapy was based on a traditional BFM back-bone (protocols IA+B, M, II, continuation phase). CNS relapse preventive therapy consisted of one IT MTX at diagnosis; TIT x 4 in protocol IA+IB; HD-MTX (2 g/sqm x 4) + TIT x 4 in protocol M; TIT x 2 in protocol II; during the continuation phase, TIT x 6 in the IR group and TIT x 8 in the standard risk (SR) group. Results: From 4/95 to 8/2000 1745 patients were recruited in the study AIEOP ALL 95; of these, 1441 (82.6 % of the overall ALL population) were SR (n=115) or IR (n=1326) and fulfilled the eligibility criteria for the present study. Among these 1441 patients, the following events have been observed: 264 relapses, 8 deaths in induction, 13 deaths in complete remission and 3 secondary neoplasms. Among relapses, 198 were isolated in the bone marrow, 15 isolated in the CNS, 15 isolated in the testes, 12 in the CNS+bone marrow, 10 in the testis+bone marrow, 9 in other sites +bone marrow, 5 in other isolated extramedullary sites. With a median follow-up of 5.5 years, the 6-year event-free survival (EFS) of the 1441 patients was 78.6% (SE 1.2) with an isolated CNS relapse rate of 1% (SE 0.3); when also the combined relapses involving the CNS were counted, the CNS relapse rate was 2%. Conclusions: These data confirm and extend our previous findings, suggesting that, in the context of an intensive chemotherapy program, prevention of CNS relapse may be effectively obtained in non-HR ALL children using HD-MTX at 2 gr/sqm x 4, associated with protracted IT chemotherapy, thus permitting to avoid the use of CRT.

Description: Background Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in infants is a relatively rare disease with peculiar biological features and worse outcome in comparison to ALL in older children. Infant ALL is characterized by a high frequency of MLL gene rearrangements, mainly CD10-negative B-cell precursor ALL (BCP-ALL) immunophenotype and high tumor burden at diagnosis. Even with new therapeutic approaches event-free survival (EFS) in this subgroup of patients does not exceed 50%. Although flow cytometric (FCM) minimal residual disease (MRD) detection at day 15 of remission induction is well established for patients' stratification in older children treated with the AIEOP-BFM-2009 protocol, the prognostic value of FCM MRD in infant ALL is not fully known yet. Aim of the present study was to evaluate the prognostic significance of FCM MRD measurement in infants with ALL treated with Interfant-99 and Interfant-06 protocols in AIEOP (Associazione Italiana Ematologia Oncologia Pediatrica) centers in Italy. Patients and methods Between May 1999 and December 2011, 120 consecutive infants aged 0 to 365 days with newly diagnosed ALL were treated in AIEOP centers with the Interfant99 and the on-going Interfant-06 protocols. Among these patients, 51 (42.5%) with available day 15 follow-up bone marrow samples were included in this study on FCM MRD. In 39 (76.5%) cases, different types of MLL gene rearrangements were identified by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), while 12 (23.5%) patients had germline MLL. MRD detection was performed by 4-6-color FCM. Median follow-up time was 3.5 years (range: 1 month – 7.5 years). Outcome was estimated by evaluating the probability of EFS and the cumulative incidence of relapse (CIR). Analysis of prognostic relevance of FCM MRD in combination with other criteria used for stratifying patients enrolled in the Interfant-06 protocol was performed with the Cox model on the cause-specific hazard of relapse. Results and discussion We classified infants according to the AIEOP-BFM day 15 stratification into three risk groups: 14 patients (27.5%) were considered at standard risk (SR: MRD less than 0.1%), 9 patients (15.7%) at high risk (HR: MRD 10% or more), and the majority of infants (29, 56.9%) at intermediate risk (IR: MRD 0.1% to 10%). As the 14 SR patients had 3-year EFS and CIR significantly better than other patients, we considered two major groups of patients with different outcome: SR group (MRD

Description: Abstract 319 Aim: The Italian Association of Pediatric Haematology and Oncology (AIEOP) patients, diagnosed in the period September 2000-July 2006, were treated in the context of the AIEOP-BFM ALL 2000 Study. Some differences in high risk (HR) treatment and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) indications justify separate reporting of results obtained by AIEOP and BFM respectively. We report here the AIEOP experience. Patients and methods: Overall, 1999 AIEOP Ph negative Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) patients were eligible to the AIEOP-BFM ALL 2000 Study. High Risk (HR) criteria were: t(4;11) translocation, Prednisone Poor Response (PPR), no complete remission (CR) at day 33, high minimal residual disease (MRD) levels (≥10-3) at day 78 (HR-MRD). Treatment consisted of protocol I (patients were randomised to receive either dexametasone or prednisone in induction), 3 HR polychemotherapy blocks, a randomized comparison between delayed intensification based on protocol II repeated twice or protocol III repeated thrice, cranial radiotherapy (CRT), maintenance therapy for a total of 2 years of treatment. Results: 311 patients were classified as being at HR (15.6% of the total ALL population) and had an overall event-free survival (EFS) and Survival of 58.7%(standard error 2.9) and 70.1%(2.7), respectively. For the 204 patients randomized to different steroids in protocol I, we observed a 5-year EFS of 62.7%(5.0) and 62.3%(4.8) and a 5-year Survival of 72.7%(4.7) and 72.8%(4.3) for dexamethasone and prednisone arm, respectively. The 5-year EFS was 44.4%(4.5) in 132 patients at HR for MRD, 36.4%(14.5) for the 11 patients at HR for t(4;11), 41.2%(11.9) for the 17 patients at HR for no CR at day 33, 74.6%(3.7) for the 151 patients at HR only for PPR. Patients at HR with

Description: Leukemia recurrence remains the main cause of treatment failure in children with ALL. The prognosis of children with relapsed ALL is strongly influenced by the site of relapse, time elapsing between diagnosis and recurrence and by blast cell immune-phenotype. Recently, several groups reported probabilities of disease-free survival (DFS) in the order of 60% for children with low/intermediate-risk ALL in 1st relapse using different approaches. Despite this remarkable progress, the best re-induction and consolidation treatment remains to be defined. We, thus, conducted from 10/2003 to 06/2012 a multicenter randomized trial aimed at comparatively evaluating the efficacy of 2 alternative approaches in centers affiliated to the Italian AIEOP network. Included in the study were patients below the age of 18 experiencing late (i.e. more than 6 months from treatment discontinuation) isolated extramedullary (IEM) relapse (S1 patients, #22) or children with B-cell precursor (BCP)-ALL who had early (i.e. between 18 months from diagnosis and 6 months after completion of front-line treatment) or late combined bone marrow (BM) relapse, late isolated BM relapse of BCP–ALL, and very early (i.e. within 18 months from diagnosis) or early IEM of either BCP-ALL or T-cell ALL (S2 patients, # 255). S2 children were randomized to receive induction therapy consisting of either two multiagent chemotherapy courses, F1 and F2 (ARM-A), according to the ALL-REZ BFM P95/96 trial, or a classical 4-drug continuous reinduction therapy (protocol I-A-IDA, ARM-B). After induction, ARM-A patients were given a continuous treatment element including idarubicin (Protocol II-IDA), followed by 5 additional alternating R1/R2 courses and maintenance therapy (24 months). After induction therapy, ARM-B patients received 8 additional alternating R1/R2 courses and maintenance therapy (24 months, see Figure 1). S1 patients received ARM-A treatment with the exception of only 3 alternating R1/R2 consolidation courses and shorter maintenance therapy (12 months). All S2 children with an available HLA-identical sibling were candidate to receive allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT), while those relapsing within 48 months from diagnosis were eligible to receive the allograft also from an unrelated donor (UD) of BM cells or a suitable UD cord blood unit. For S1 patients, both autologous (auto) and allo-HSCT were considered acceptable post-remissional options; auto-HSCT was also employed in a minority of S2 children relapsing more than 48 months from diagnosis. Of the whole cohort of children, 143 were males and 134 were females; median age at diagnosis and at time of relapse was 5 (range 0.2-17) and 9 (range 1.1-17.9) years, respectively. Among the 255 S2 patients, 127 were allocated to ARM-A and 128 to ARM-B. All S1 children obtained a 2nd complete remission (CR), while the probability of reaching 2nd CR of S2 patients was similar in the 2 randomization arms (95% vs 96%). The 6-year DFS for the 22 S1 children was 75% (confidence interval, CI, 55-94); 13 of these children were given either auto-HSCT (#7) or allo-HSCT (#6), while 9 were treated with chemotherapy only. The 6-year DFS for the 255 S2 children was 65% (CI 57-72); the DFS for ARM-A and ARM-B patients was 60% (CI 48-71) and 69% (CI 60-79), respectively (p=ns). Among S2 patients, 179 received allo-HSCT either from an HLA-identical sibling (#51) or a BM/CB UD (#105) or an HLA-partially matched relative (#23) after T-cell depletion of the graft (TCD haplo-HSCT). Of the remaining 76 children, 12 were given auto-HSCT, while 64 received chemotherapy only. The 6-year DFS for S2 children who did or did not receive allo-HSCT was 66% (CI 58-74) and 58% (CI 38-77), respectively (p=ns). Among allo-HSCT recipients, the 6-year DFS was 59% (CI 42-75), 72% (CI 62-82) and 62% (CI 41-83) for children given HLA-identical sibling, UD or TCD haplo-HSCT, respectively (p=ns). Altogether, these results confirm that a high proportion of children with low-/intermediate-risk relapsed ALL can be rescued by second line therapy, including transplantation. A re-induction course similar to that employed in first-line therapy is as effective as that proposed in the ALL-REZ BFM P95/96 trial. UD-HSCT and TCD haplo-HSCT are suitable and effective alternatives for children candidate to an allograft but lacking an HLA-identical sibling. Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Description: Slow early response indicates poor prognosis in childhood ALL. We aimed to evaluate if post-induction MRD levels had different prognostic impact in precursor B-cell (pB) or T-cell ALL. From 07/2000 to 06/2006, 4730 pts with ALL were enrolled in trial AIEOP-BFM ALL 2000. MRD levels were centrally measured by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction using the identification of clone-specific T-cell receptor and immunoglobulin gene rearrangements. MRD study time-points (TP) were treatment day 33 (TP1, end of induction) and day 78 (TP2, after consolidation). To define MRD negativity, two markers with a sensitivity of at least 10−4 were required. Patients were treated with BFM induction (protocol I-A), consolidation (I-B), extra-compartment/intensified consolidation (HD-MTX in non-high-risk patients, pulses in high-risk patients), reinduction, and maintenance. MRD analysis at one or two time points suceeded in 3707 pts; the immunophenotype was available from 3636 pts. MRD levels and corresponding estimated 5-year event-free survival (5y-pEFS) comparing pB- and T-ALL are shown in Table 1 (3yrs median follow-up). MRD response in T-ALL was slower than in pB-ALL resulting in a higher percentage of pts with high MRD load in T-ALL. In pB-ALL as well as T-ALL, high MRD levels at TP2 were well predictive to identify pts with poor prognosis. For prediction of good prognostic subgroups, TP1 was more appropriate identifying a subgroup with excellent 5y-pEFS of 〉90% in case of MRD negativity. Specificity of TP1 was poor in T-ALL if the pB-ALL criteria of MRD negativity were applied. If MRD low positive and MRD negative T-ALL pts were combined, the discrimination was as good as in pB-ALL. The optimal choice of MRD evaluation time points depends on biological factors and treatment, and is most relevant for MRD-based risk stratification. Table 1 pB-ALL T-ALL n % 5y-pEFS % (SE) n % 5y-pEFS % (SE) all 3177 100% 82.3 (1.0) 459 100% 77.2 (2.2) MRD TP1     neg 1399 44.1 92.5 (1.0) 75 16.4 94.3 (2.8)     10E-4/−5 1122 35.4 81.9 (1.7) 116 25.4 91.2 (2.8)     10E-3 393 12.4 66.4 (3.5) 110 24.1 75.3 (4.6)     ≥10E-2 256 8.1 53.2 (4.3) 156 34.1 59.8 (4.5) MRD TP2     neg 2464 77.6 87.7 (1.0) 220 47.9 91.9 (2.0)     10E-4/−5 523 16.5 68.9 (2.9) 143 31.2 76.6 (3.9)     10E-3 107 3.4 56.3 (6.5) 58 12.6 50.2 (8.1)     ≥10E-2 82 2.6 38.0 (7.3) 38 8.3 33.2 (8.3)