Volume 69, Issue 9 e29860
ONCOLOGY: RESEARCH ARTICLE

Incidence and prognostic value of central nervous system involvement in infants with B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia treated according to the MLL-Baby protocol

Alexander Popov

Corresponding Author

Alexander Popov

National Research and Clinical Centre for Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology, Moscow, Russian Federation

Correspondence

Alexander Popov, National Research and Clinical Centre of Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology, 1, S. Mashela St, Moscow, 117998, Russian Federation.

Email: [email protected]

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Grigory Tsaur

Grigory Tsaur

Regional Children's Hospital, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation

Ural State Medical University, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation

Research Institute of Medical Cell Technologies, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation

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Zhan Permikin

Zhan Permikin

Regional Children's Hospital, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation

Ural State Medical University, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation

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Veronika Fominikh

Veronika Fominikh

National Research and Clinical Centre for Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology, Moscow, Russian Federation

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Tatiana Verzhbitskaya

Tatiana Verzhbitskaya

Regional Children's Hospital, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation

Research Institute of Medical Cell Technologies, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation

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Tatiana Riger

Tatiana Riger

Regional Children's Hospital, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation

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Anna Demina

Anna Demina

Regional Children's Hospital, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation

Research Institute of Medical Cell Technologies, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation

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Egor Shorikov

Egor Shorikov

PET-Technology Centre of Nuclear Medicine, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation

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Anatoly Kustanovich

Anatoly Kustanovich

The Sharett Institute of Oncology, Hadassah Medical Centre, Jerusalem, Israel

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Liudmila Movchan

Liudmila Movchan

Belarussian Research Centre for Pediatric Oncology, Hematology and Immunology, Minsk, Belarus

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Olga Streneva

Olga Streneva

Regional Children's Hospital, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation

Research Institute of Medical Cell Technologies, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation

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Olga Khlebnikova

Olga Khlebnikova

Regional Children's Hospital, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation

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Olga Makarova

Olga Makarova

Regional Children's Hospital, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation

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Oleg Arakaev

Oleg Arakaev

Regional Children's Hospital, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation

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Alexander Solodovnikov

Alexander Solodovnikov

Ural State Medical University, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation

Research Institute of Medical Cell Technologies, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation

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Elmira Boichenko

Elmira Boichenko

City Children's Hospital No 1, Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation

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Konstantin Kondratchik

Konstantin Kondratchik

Morozov Children's Hospital, Moscow, Russian Federation

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Natalia Ponomareva

Natalia Ponomareva

Republican Children's Hospital, Moscow, Russian Federation

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Elena Lapotentova

Elena Lapotentova

Belarussian Research Centre for Pediatric Oncology, Hematology and Immunology, Minsk, Belarus

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Olga Aleinikova

Olga Aleinikova

National Research and Clinical Centre for Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology, Moscow, Russian Federation

Belarussian Research Centre for Pediatric Oncology, Hematology and Immunology, Minsk, Belarus

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Natalia Miakova

Natalia Miakova

National Research and Clinical Centre for Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology, Moscow, Russian Federation

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Galina Novichkova

Galina Novichkova

National Research and Clinical Centre for Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology, Moscow, Russian Federation

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Alexander Karachunskiy

Alexander Karachunskiy

National Research and Clinical Centre for Pediatric Hematology, Oncology and Immunology, Moscow, Russian Federation

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Larisa Fechina

Larisa Fechina

Regional Children's Hospital, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation

Research Institute of Medical Cell Technologies, Ekaterinburg, Russian Federation

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First published: 17 June 2022
Citations: 2

Abstract

Aim

The aim of the study was to evaluate the incidence and prognostic impact of central nervous system (CNS) involvement in infants with B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia (BCP-ALL), as well as its relation with minimal residual disease (MRD) data.

Methods

A total of 139 consecutive infants with BCP-ALL from the MLL-Baby trial were studied. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples were investigated by microscopy of cytospin slides. MRD was evaluated according to the protocol schedule by flow cytometry and PCR for fusion gene transcripts (FGT).

Results

Involvement of the CNS at any level was found in 50 infants (36.0%). The incidence of CNS involvement was higher in patients with KMT2A gene rearrangements (44.0% for KMT2A-r vs. 15.4% for KMT2A-g, p = .003). The outcome of CNS-positive infants was significantly worse than that of CNS-negative infants, although this prognostic impact was limited to the KMT2A-r group (event-free survival 0.21 for CNS-positive vs. 0.48 for CNS-negative infants, p = .044). CNS-positive infants could not be treated successfully by conventional chemotherapy alone, irrespective of the rapidity of MRD response. In contrast, the combination of initial CNS negativity and FGT-MRD negativity identified a group comprising up to one-third of infants with KMT2A-r ALL who can be treated with chemotherapy and achieve very good outcomes (disease-free survival above 95%), and remaining patients should be allocated to receive other types of treatment.

Conclusion

We can conclude that this combination of initial CNS involvement and MRD data can significantly improve risk-group allocation in future clinical trials enrolling infants with ALL.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST

The authors declare that there is no relevant conflict of interest.

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