Prognostic value of prior consolidation in acute myeloid leukemia patients undergoing hematopoietic cell transplantation in minimal residual disease-negative first complete remission

More than two courses of pre-transplant consolidation therapy benefits patients with acute myeloid leukemia in the first complete remission who underwent human leukocyte antigen-matched sibling allografts: a multicenter study

BACKGROUND

Although the need for consolidation chemotherapy after successful induction therapy is well established in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in first complete remission (CR1), the value of consolidation chemotherapy before allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation remains controversial.

METHODS

We retrospectively compared the effect of the number of pre-transplant consolidation chemotherapies on outcomes of human leukocyte antigen-matched sibling stem cell transplantation (MSDT) for patients with AML in CR1 in multicenters across China. In our study, we analyzed data of 373 AML patients in CR1 from three centers across China.

RESULTS

With a median follow-up of 969 days, patients with ≥ 3 courses of consolidation chemotherapy had higher probabilities of leukemia-free survival (LFS) (85.6% vs . 67.0%, P < 0.001) and overall survival (89.2% vs . 78.5%, P  = 0.007), and better cumulative incidences of relapse (10.5% vs . 19.6%, P  = 0.020) and non-relapse mortality (4.2% vs . 14.9%, P  = 0.001) than those with ≤ 2 courses of consolidation chemotherapy. Pre-transplantation minimal residual disease-negative patients with AML in CR1 who received MSDT with ≥ 3 courses of consolidation chemotherapy had a higher probability of LFS (85.9% vs . 67.7%, P  = 0.003) and a lower cumulative incidence of relapse (9.6% vs . 23.3%, P  = 0.013) than those with ≤ 2 courses.

CONCLUSION

Our results indicate that patients with AML in CR1 who received MSDT might benefit from pre-transplant consolidation chemotherapy.

[Effect of consolidation before allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for non-favorable acute myeloid leukemia patients with first complete remisson and negative minimal residual disease]

Objective: To probe the prognostic value of consolidation chemotherapy in non-favorable acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients who were candidates for allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) with first complete remission (CR(1)) and negative minimal residual disease (MRD(-)) . Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted on 155 patients with non-favorable AML who received allo-HSCT in CR(1)/MRD(-) from January 2010 to March 2019. The survival data were compared between patients who received and those not received pre-transplant consolidation chemotherapy. Results: A total of 102 patients received pre-transplant consolidation chemotherapy (consolidation group) , and 53 cases directly proceeded to allo-HSCT when CR(1)/MRD(-) was achieved (nonconsolidation group) . The median ages were 39 (18-56) years old and 38 (19-67) years old, respectively. Five-year post-transplant overall survival [ (59.3±7.5) % vs (62.2±6.9) %, P=0.919] and relapse-free survival [ (53.0±8.9) % vs (61.6±7.0) %, P=0.936] were not significantly different between the two groups (consolidation vs nonconsolidation) . There was a weak relationship between consolidation therapy and cumulative incidence of relapse [consolidation: (21.9±5.4) % vs nonconsolidation: (18.3±6.0) %, P=0.942], as well as non-relapse mortality [consolidation: (22.4±4.3) % vs nonconsolidation: (28.4±6.5) %,P=0.464]. Multivariate analysis indicated that pre-transplant consolidation and the consolidation courses (< 2 vs ≥2 courses) did not have an impact on allo-HSCT outcomes. Conclusion: Allo-HSCT for candidate patients without further consolidation when CR(1)/MRD(-) was attained was feasible.