Stage IV-N: a favorable subset of children with metastatic neuroblastoma

Management of High-Risk Neuroblastoma with Soft-Tissue-Only Disease in the Era of Anti-GD2 Immunotherapy

Neuroblastoma presents with two patterns of disease: locoregional or systemic. The poor prognostic risk factors of locoregional neuroblastoma (LR-NB) include age, MYCN or MDM2-CDK4 amplification, 11q, histology, diploidy with ALK or TERT mutations, and ATRX aberrations. Anti-GD2 immunotherapy has significantly improved the outcome of high-risk (HR) NB and is mostly effective against osteomedullary minimal residual disease (MRD), but less so against soft tissue disease. The question is whether adding anti-GD2 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) benefits patients with HR-NB compounded by only soft tissue. We reviewed 31 patients treated at SJD for HR-NB with no osteomedullary involvement at diagnosis. All tumors had molecular genetic features of HR-NB. The outcome after first-line treatment showed 25 (80.6%) patients achieving CR. Thirteen patients remain in continued CR, median follow-up 3.9 years. We analyzed whether adding anti-GD2 immunotherapy to first-line treatment had any prognostic significance. The EFS analysis using Cox models showed a HR of 0.20, p = 0.0054, and an 80% decrease in the risk of relapse in patients treated with anti-GD2 immunotherapy in the first line. Neither EFS nor OS were significantly different by CR status after first-line treatment. In conclusion, adding treatment with anti-GD2 mAbs at the stage of MRD helps prevent relapse that unequivocally portends poor survival.

Stage 4N neuroblastoma before and during the era of anti-GD2 immunotherapy

Patients with stage 4N neuroblastoma (distant metastases limited to lymph nodes) stand out as virtually the only survivors of high-risk neuroblastoma (HR-NB) before myeloablative therapy (MAT) and immunotherapy with anti-GD2 monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) became standard. Because no report presents more recent results with 4N, we analyzed our large 4N experience. All 51 pediatric 4N patients (<18 years old) diagnosed 1985 to 2021 were reviewed. HR-NB included MYCN-nonamplified 4N diagnosed at age ≥18 months and MYCN-amplified 4N. Among 34 MYCN-nonamplified high-risk patients, 20 are relapse-free 1.5+ to 37.5+ (median 12.5+) years post-diagnosis, including 13 without prior MAT and 5 treated with little (1 cycle; n = 2) or no mAb (n = 3), while 14 patients (7 post-MAT, 8 post-mAbs) relapsed (all soft tissue). Of 15 MYCN-amplified 4N patients, 7 are relapse-free 2.1+ to 26.4+ (median 11.6+) years from the start of chemotherapy (all received mAbs; 3 underwent MAT) and 4 are in second remission 4.2+ to 21.8+ years postrelapse (all soft tissue). Statistical analyses showed no significant association of survival with either MAT or mAbs for MYCN-nonamplified HR-NB; small numbers prevented these analyses for MYCN-amplified patients. The two patients with intermediate-risk 4N (14-months-old) are relapse-free 7+ years postresection of primary tumors; distant disease spontaneously regressed. The natural history of 4N is marked by NB confined to soft tissue without early relapse in bones or bone marrow, where mAbs have proven efficacy. These findings plus curability without MAT, as seen elsewhere and at our center, support consideration of treatment reduction for MYCN-nonamplified 4N.

KMT2A-MAML2 rearrangement emerged and regressed during neuroblastoma therapy without leukemia after 12.8-year follow-up

Twelvepatients without therapy-related leukemia were studied after completing TOP2 poison chemotherapy in a high-risk neuroblastoma regimen. One patient harbored an inv(11) that was a KMT2A rearrangement. The KMT2A-MAML2 transcript was expressed at low level. The patient was prospectively followed. The inv(11) was undetectable in ensuing samples. Leukemia never developed after a 12.8-year follow-up period. Enriched etoposide-induced TOP2A cleavage in the relevant MAML2 genomic region supports a TOP2A DNA damage mechanism. After completing TOP2 poison chemotherapies, covert KMT2A-R clones may occur in a small minority of patients; however, not all KMT2A rearrangements herald a therapy-related leukemia diagnosis.

Metastatic neuroblastoma confined to distant lymph nodes (stage 4N) predicts outcome in patients with stage 4 disease: A study from the International Neuroblastoma Risk Group Database

PURPOSE

The presence of distant metastases is one of the most powerful predictors of outcome in patients with neuroblastoma. However, the pattern of metastatic spread is not incorporated into current risk stratification systems. Small case series have suggested that patients with neuroblastoma who have metastatic disease limited to distant lymph nodes (4N disease) may have improved outcomes.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We analyzed retrospective data from the International Neuroblastoma Risk Group database for patients diagnosed from 1990 to 2002. 4N patients were compared with the remaining stage 4 patients (non-4N), excluding those with missing metastatic site data.

RESULTS

In all, 2,250 International Neuroblastoma Staging System stage 4 patients with complete data were identified, of whom 146 (6.5%) had 4N disease. For 4N patients, event-free survival (EFS; 5-year, 77% ± 4%) and overall survival (OS; 5-year, 85% ± 3%) were significantly better than EFS (5-year, 35% ± 1%) and OS (5-year, 42% ± 1%) for non-4N stage 4 patients (P < .001). 4N patients were more likely to be younger (P < .001) and have tumors with favorable characteristics, including absence of MYCN amplification (89% v 69%; P < .001). In a multivariable analysis, 4N disease remained a significant predictor of outcome (hazard ratio for non-4N v 4N: 3.40 for EFS and 3.69 for OS). Within subgroups defined by age at diagnosis and tumor MYCN status, 4N disease was significantly associated with improved outcomes.

CONCLUSION

4N represents a subgroup with better outcome than that of other patients with metastatic disease. These findings suggest that the biology and treatment response of 4N tumors differ from other stage 4 tumors, and less intensive therapy should be considered for this cohort. Future exploration of biologic factors determining the pattern of metastatic spread is warranted.

Chronic neuroblastoma

BACKGROUND

An indolent course is associated with neuroblastoma (NB) in adolescents and adults. In the current study, the authors analyzed this phenomenon in a large series of children with metastatic NB.

METHODS

The authors studied 38 patients who were diagnosed with NB in the first decade of life and had metastatic disease 5 years or more from diagnosis.

RESULTS

The median age at diagnosis was 3 years 10 months. MYCN was amplified in 2 of 28 patients tested. Of 30 patients with classic Stage 4 NB, 9 had a late first recurrence of disease (4.3-13 years from diagnosis). Of eight patients who had atypical cases at diagnosis (one isolated mandibular lesion, two Stage 4-N, five non-Stage 4), six had a late first distant recurrence of disease (4 years 11 months-38 years 8 months). Nineteen patients were off therapy continuously for 3 years or more before disease recurred a first or second time. Myeloablative therapy was used to consolidate a first or second response in 27 patients. High-dose conventional therapy helped to achieve a second remission of disease in 9 of 20 patients assessable for response of first recurrence but achieved no major responses of second or third relapse in 10 of 11 patients. The combination of anti-G(D2) immunotherapy and/or cis-retinoic acid, targeted radiotherapy, and multiple cycles of chemotherapy with modest toxicity helped prolong survival. Twelve patients survive at 5 years 6 months+ to 19 years 4 months+ from diagnosis (median, 6 years 10 months+), including four with complete remission of disease; 10 received anti-G(D2) immunotherapy after recurrence. The other 26 patients died of disease (n = 22) or toxicity (n = 4) at 5 years-41 years 5 months from diagnosis (median, 6 years 5 months).

CONCLUSIONS

The concept of indolent or smoldering NB should not be limited to adolescents/adults. The expanding repertoire of anti-NB treatments, including biologic therapies and chemotherapy regimens of modest toxicity, can convert childhood NB into a chronic disease with prolonged survival after recurrence.

Local control with multimodality therapy for stage 4 neuroblastoma

PURPOSE

To evaluate the efficacy of 21 Gy hyperfractionated radiotherapy for local control in conjunction with surgery and intensive systemic therapy for patients with Stage 4 neuroblastoma.

METHODS AND MATERIALS

After achieving a partial or complete remission, 47 children, ages 1-10 years, with Stage 4 neuroblastoma were treated on four consecutive institutional protocols (N4-N7) with dose-intensive multi-agent chemotherapy, maximal surgical debulking, and hyperfractionated radiotherapy (1.5 Gy twice a day to 21 Gy). Radiotherapy fields encompassed the initial tumor volume and regional lymph nodes plus a 3-cm margin. This was followed by consolidation with either autologous bone marrow transplantation (N4 and N5) or immunotherapy (N6 and N7).

RESULTS

Forty-five of 47 patients had a complete response to surgery and chemotherapy prior to radiotherapy. Five-year actuarial rates of local control, progression-free survival, and overall survival were 84%, 40%, and 45%, respectively. Among 26 patients who relapsed, 1 failed only at the primary site, 22 developed distant metastases exclusively, and 3 had both local and distant failures. There were no acute complications of radiotherapy.

CONCLUSION

Hyperfractionated radiotherapy to 21 Gy, in conjunction with dose-intensive systemic therapy and aggressive surgical resection, is well tolerated and is associated with durable local control for most patients with Stage 4 neuroblastoma.

Metastatic neuroblastoma with ganglioneuromatous differentiation and mandibular involvement

Neuroblastic tumors comprise neuroblastoma (NB), ganglioneuroblastoma, and ganglioneuroma (GN). NBs have shown remarkable differentiation capabilities, which include spontaneous regression. In the last 3 decades, the prognosis for metastatic NB has improved significantly. The ability to distinguish prognostic subtypes based on clinical and biologic features allows for understanding of this disease process and development of management procedures. NBs are often asymptomatic and remain undetected until a large abdominal mass or metastasis is found. GN, the most differentiated variant, is a benign neoplasm with significant growth potential and ability to cause clinical complications. GN of the mandible has seldom been reported in the literature in English. We present a case of NB metastatic to the mandible exhibiting ganglioneuromatous differentiation. We discuss the current understanding of the biology, grading, classification, and prognostic implications of NB.

Metastatic sites in stage IV and IVS neuroblastoma correlate with age, tumor biology, and survival

PURPOSE

The goal of this study was to determine the incidence of metastatic sites in neuroblastoma and the extent to which metastatic sites correlate with age, tumor biology, and survival.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

All 648 patients with stage IV and IVS neuroblastoma registered on Children's Cancer Group protocols 3881 and 3891 were analyzed. Metastatic site data were provided by treating institutions and reviewed in patients with central nervous system (CNS), intracranial, lung, or "other" metastases.

RESULTS

The incidence of metastatic sites at diagnosis was 70.5% in bone marrow, 55.7% in bone, 30.9% in lymph nodes, 29.6% in liver, 18.2% in intracranial and orbital sites, 3.3% in lung, and 0.6% in CNS. Event-free survival (EFS) was decreased in patients with bone, bone marrow, CNS, intracranial/ orbital, lung, and pleural metastases, and improved in those with liver and skin metastases. In infants, MYCN amplification and unfavorable Shimada histopathology correlated with increased frequencies of bone and intracranial or orbital metastases. In older patients, MYCN amplification correlated with increased frequencies of intracranial or orbital, liver, and lung metastases. Multivariate analysis revealed that metastatic site is not an independent prognostic factor.

CONCLUSIONS

Metastatic pattern in neuroblastoma differs with age and correlates with tumor biological features and EFS. These correlations could reflect changes in host or tumor biological features with age resulting in differences in metastatic capacity or tumor affinity for specific sites.

Stage IVN neuroblastoma: MRI diagnosis of left supraclavicular "Virchow's" nodal spread

Stage IV neuroblastoma is associated with high mortality; an exception are patients whose stage IV status includes distant positive nodes, but no skeletal metastases-stage IVN neuroblastoma. We describe our experience with preoperative MRI in three patients with extensive abdominal neuroblastoma without cortical bony involvement but with unsuspected metastatic involvement to the left supraclavicular (Virchow's) node. We review findings of left supraclavicular nodal spread in five earlier cases of IVN neuroblastoma.

Long-term survival in refractory recurrent neuroblastoma

BACKGROUND

Patients older than age 1 year with metastatic neuroblastoma have poor survival. A patient with a unique history of metastatic neuroblastoma by virtue of disseminated nodal disease with multiple relapses and a 14-year survival is presented.

METHODS

A case history of a 24-year-old man who was diagnosed at age 9 years with Evans stage IV neuroblastoma with multiple recurrences is reviewed. A review of the literature was undertaken to uncover similar patients with advanced stage disease and an absence of hematogenous metastasis.

RESULTS

Eleven patients older than age 1 year, in addition to the case presented, have been reported in the literature with stage IV disease without extralymphatic metastasis. These patients have a survival of 50% at 5 years as compared with 15% in historical controls. Long-term survival with recurrent disease has not previously been noted in this population. Other favorable prognostic factors including favorable histology, and a single N-myc oncogene copy were documented in the present case.

CONCLUSION

A tendency toward improved survival is seen in patients with nonhematogeneous stage IV neuroblastoma. It is unknown whether long-term survival with residual disease, as observed in the present case, is seen in other patients with stage IV disease without extralymphatic metastasis. Prospective analysis of other patients with stage IV neuroblastoma without extralymphatic metastasis is required to confirm these observations.

Neuropeptide Y in neuroblastoma: increased concentration in metastasis, release during surgery, and characterization of plasma and tumor extracts

Five children with neural crest tumors (two ganglioneuromas, one ganglioneuroblastoma, and two neuroblastomas) were investigated regarding neuropeptide Y-like immunoreactivity (NPY-LI) in tumor tissue and plasma at diagnosis and during surgery. Radioimmunoassay of extracted plasma revealed higher NPY-LI at diagnosis of neuroblastoma (640 and 230 pmol/L resp) than ganglioneuroblastoma or ganglioneuroma (74, 45, and 26 pmol/L resp). During surgery of neuroblastoma plasma NPY-LI increased two- to four-fold while no peroperative increase was seen in the other children. NPY-LI was considerably higher in neuroblastoma tissue (220 pmol/g and 144 pmol/g) than in ganglioneuroblastoma (40.2 pmol/g), ganglioneuroma (0.6 and 4.4 pmol/g), or healthy adrenal tissue (5.5 pmol/g). The highest NPY-LI concentration was found in neuroblastoma metastasis, 3,091 pmol/g. Gel-permeation chromatography of a neuroblastoma tumor showed that a majority of NPY-LI was representing intact NPY (NPY 1-36) while metastasis and plasma from the same child mainly contained smaller immunoreactive fragments. High concentrations of systemic NPY in neuroblastoma patients are of tumoral origin. Plasma levels of NPY and its fragments can be useful in diagnosing and monitoring neuroblastoma, and for early detection of relapse or metastatic disease. A possible involvement of NPY in neuroblastoma tumor growth and spread deserves further investigation.

Features and outcome of advanced neuroblastoma with distant lymph node metastasis

We examined 52 children with advanced neuroblastoma who were diagnosed and treated during the past 7 years, and investigated the correlation between the degree of lymph node (LN) metastasis and the prognosis of neuroblastoma. In 8 of the 52 patients, distant LN metastasis was confirmed both radiographically and histologically. The urinary homovanillic acid (HVA) level was markedly elevated in these patients, and it was higher than that in patients with regional LN metastasis (p less than .05). The urinary vanillylmandelic acid (VMA) level and the VMA/HVA ratio were not significantly different between patients with regional and distant LN metastasis. None of the four examined patients with distant LN metastasis showed N-myc amplification of neuroblastoma tumors. An analysis of the survival rate in each patient group classified according to the degree of LN metastasis showed that the prognosis of the patients without LN metastasis or with distant LN metastasis tended to be better than that of patients with regional LN metastasis. Our results indicate that patients with distant LN metastasis may belong to a subclass with different biological features and a better prognosis than those of other groups.

Surgical management of stage III and IV neuroblastoma: resection before or after chemotherapy?

Local control is vital for long-term survival for patients with stage III neuroblastoma, and although cure is difficult, ultimate success in stage IV neuroblastoma will necessitate control of the primary tumor as well as effective therapy of the metastases. The proper timing of surgical resection of the primary tumor is uncertain. Patients with stage III and IV neuroblastoma treated from 1977 to 1988 were retrospectively reviewed as to whether the resection was performed before or after chemotherapy. Complications assessed include significant blood loss, damage to adjacent organs, and delays before postsurgical chemotherapy could be given. Sixty patients were treated primarily at the authors' institution: 18 with stage III and 42 with stage IV disease. Chemotherapy consisted of combinations of nitrogen mustard, adriamycin, dacarbazine (DTIC), cisplatin, vincristine, and cyclophosphamide (MADDOC). Nine patients with stage III neuroblastoma underwent initial resection of the primary tumor before receiving chemotherapy. Three had complications, all with excessive blood loss (0.57, 2.0, and 3.0 times the estimated total blood volume [TBV]). One patient had renal infarction, and another had regrowth of the tumor before chemotherapy could be administered 35 days after surgery. There were no complications in the eight secondary explorations, four of which were complete resections. All had viable tumor in the resected specimen. Eleven of the 42 stage IV patients had primary resections, 5 of whom had complications: colocutaneous fistula, unilateral renal necrosis, chylothorax, and excessive blood loss (1.3 and 2 TBV). None of the 18 patients with delayed resection after 3 to 12 courses of chemotherapy had surgical complications with complete (14 patients), near complete (2 patients), or subtotal resections (2 patients).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Neuroblastoma

The identification of prognostic factors has greatly facilitated the rational choice of therapies in individual patients. Intensive chemotherapy, supplemented with radiation and surgery, has increased the remission rate of patients with widespread disease. The persistence of microscopic foci of malignant cells, however, remains a difficult hurdle for long-term disease-free survival. Highly toxic myeloablative therapies have had at most a modest impact on the overall cure rate of poor-risk patients. The use of novel biological therapies has provided new information on the mechanisms and potentials of immune-mediated tumor cytotoxicity. Timely clinical trials are needed to test their role in adjuvant treatment of occult microscopic disease.

Prognostic value of different staging systems in neuroblastomas and completeness of tumour excision

Two hundred and fifty three patients were retrospectively assigned to eight different staging systems proposed for neuroblastomas, and the prognostic value of each staging system was evaluated individually. The ability of each system to predict prognosis was compared with the others and the system proposed by Evans et al found to be the best predictor, even better than the recently proposed Tumour-Nodes-Metastases staging system. This is probably due to the fact that factors other than the resectability of the tumour play a major role in the survival of these children. Age was found to have independent prognostic significance whatever staging system was used.