The EUTOS long-term survival (ELTS) score is superior to the Sokal score for predicting survival in chronic myeloid leukemia

Prognostic scores support clinicians in selecting risk-adjusted treatments and in comparatively assessing different results. For patients with chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), four baseline prognostic scores are commonly used. Our aim was to compare the prognostic performance of the scores and to arrive at an evidence-based score recommendation. In 2949 patients not involved in any score development, higher hazard ratios and concordance indices in any comparison demonstrated the best discrimination of long-term survival with the ELTS score. In a second step, of 5154 patients analyzed to investigate risk group classification differences, 23% (n = 1197) were allocated to high-risk by the Sokal score. Of the 1197 Sokal high-risk patients, 56% were non-high-risk according to the ELTS score and had a significantly more favorable long-term survival prognosis than the 526 high-risk patients according to both scores. The Sokal score identified too many patients as high-risk and relatively few (40%) as low-risk (versus 60% with the ELTS score). Inappropriate risk classification jeopardizes optimal treatment selection. The ELTS score outperformed the Sokal score, the Euro, and the EUTOS score regarding risk group discrimination. The recent recommendation of the European LeukemiaNet for preferred use of the ELTS score was supported with significant statistical evidence

The EUTOS long-term survival (ELTS) score is superior to the Sokal score for predicting survival in chronic myeloid leukemia

Prognostic scores support clinicians in selecting risk-adjusted treatments and in comparatively assessing different results. For patients with chronic-phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), four baseline prognostic scores are commonly used. Our aim was to compare the prognostic performance of the scores and to arrive at an evidence-based score recommendation. In 2949 patients not involved in any score development, higher hazard ratios and concordance indices in any comparison demonstrated the best discrimination of long-term survival with the ELTS score. In a second step, of 5154 patients analyzed to investigate risk group classification differences, 23% (n = 1197) were allocated to high-risk by the Sokal score. Of the 1197 Sokal high-risk patients, 56% were non-high-risk according to the ELTS score and had a significantly more favorable long-term survival prognosis than the 526 high-risk patients according to both scores. The Sokal score identified too many patients as high-risk and relatively few (40%) as low-risk (versus 60% with the ELTS score). Inappropriate risk classification jeopardizes optimal treatment selection. The ELTS score outperformed the Sokal score, the Euro, and the EUTOS score regarding risk group discrimination. The recent recommendation of the European LeukemiaNet for preferred use of the ELTS score was supported with significant statistical evidence.Peer reviewe

Prognosis of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia presenting in advanced phase is defined mainly by blast count, but also by age, chromosomal aberrations and hemoglobin

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is usually diagnosed in chronic phase, yet there is a small percentage of patients that is diagnosed in accelerated phase or blast crisis. Due to this rarity, little is known about the prognosis of these patients. Our aim was to identify prognostic factors for this cohort. We identified 283 patients in the EUTOS population-based and out-study registries that were diagnosed in advanced phase. Nearly all patients were treated with tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Median survival in this heterogeneous cohort was 8.2 years. When comparing patients with more than 30% blasts to those with 20-29% blasts, the hazard ratio (HR) was 1.32 (95%-confidence interval (CI): [0.7-2.6]). Patients with 20-29% blasts had a significantly higher risk than patients with less than 20% blasts (HR: 2.24, 95%-CI: [1.2-4.0], P = .008). We found that the blast count was the most important prognostic factor; however, age, hemoglobin, basophils and other chromosomal aberrations should be considered as well. The ELTS score was able to define two groups (high risk vs non-high risk) with an HR of 3.01 (95%-CI: [1.81-5.00], P <.001). Regarding the contrasting definitions of blast crisis, our data clearly supported the 20% cut-off over the 30% cut-off in this cohort. Based on our results, we conclude that a one-phase rather than a two-phase categorization of de novo advanced phase CML patients is appropriate.Peer reviewe

Epstein-Barr virus–specific cytokine-induced killer cells for treatment of Epstein-Barr virus–related malignant lymphoma

Background: Prolonged immunosuppression or delayed T-cell recovery may favor Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection or reactivation after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), which can lead to post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease (PTLD) and high-grade malignant B-cell lymphoma. Cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells with dual specific anti-tumor and virus-specific cellular immunity may be applied in this context. Methods: CIK cells with EBV-specificity were generated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), expanded in the presence of interferon-γ, anti-CD3, interleukin (IL)-2 and IL-15 and were pulsed twice with EBV consensus peptide pool. CIK cells with EBV-specificity and conventional CIK cells were phenotypically and functionally analyzed. Additionally, CIK cells with EBV-specificity were applied to a patient with EBV-related PTLD rapidly progressing to highly aggressive B-cell lymphoma on a compassionate use basis after approval and agreement by the regulatory authorities. Results: Pre-clinical analysis showed that generation of CIK cells with EBV-specificity was feasible. In vitro cytotoxicity analyses showed increased lysis of EBV-positive target cells, enhanced proliferative capacity and increased secretion of cytolytic and proinflammatory cytokines in the presence of EBV peptide-displaying target cells. In addition, 1 week after infusion of CIK cells with EBV-specificity, the patient's highly aggressive B-cell lymphoma persistently disappeared. CIK cells with EBV-specificity remained detectable for up to 32 days after infusion and infusion did not result in acute toxicity. Discussion: The transfer of both anti-cancer potential and T-cell memory against EBV infection provided by EBV peptide-induced CIK cells might be considered a therapy for EBV-related PTLD

No influence of BCR-ABL1 transcript types e13a2 and e14a2 on long-term survival: results in 1494 patients with chronic myeloid leukemia treated with imatinib

Purpose: The genomic break on the major breakpoint cluster region of chromosome 22 results in two BCR-ABL1 transcripts of different sizes, e14a2 and e13a2. Favorable survival probabilities of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in combination with too small patient samples may yet have obstructed the observation of differences in overall survival of patients according to transcript type. To overcome potential power problems, overall survival (OS) probabilities and probabilities of CML-related death were analyzed in 1494 patients randomized to first-line imatinib treatment. Methods: OS probabilities and probabilities of dying of CML were compared using the log-rank or Gray test whichever was appropriate. Both tests were stratified for the EUTOS long-term survival score. Results: Between the groups with a single transcript, neither OS probabilities (stratified log-rank test: p\ua0=\ua00.106) nor probabilities of CML-related death were significantly different (stratified Gray test: p\ua0=\ua00.256). Regarding OS, the Cox hazard ratio (HR) of transcript type e13a2 (n\ua0=\ua0565) to type e14a2 (n\ua0=\ua0738) was 1.332 (95% CI 0.940\u20131.887). Considering probabilities of leukemia-related death, the corresponding subdistribution HR resulted in 1.284 (95% CI 0.758\u20132.176). Outcome did not change if patients with both transcripts (n\ua0=\ua0191) were added to the 738 with type e14a2 only. Conclusions: The prognostic association of transcript type and long-term survival outcome was weak and without clinical relevance. However, earlier reported differences in the rate and the depth of molecular response could be relevant for the chance of successfully discontinuing TKI treatment. The effect of transcript type on molecular relapse after discontinuation is unknown, yet

Chimeric antigen receptor-engineered cytokine-induced killer cells overcome treatment resistance of pre-B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and enhance survival

Pre-emptive cancer immunotherapy by donor lymphocyte infusion (DLI) using cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells may be beneficial to prevent relapse with a reduced risk of causing graft-versus-host-disease. CIK cells are a heterogeneous effector cell population including T cells (CD3(+) CD56(-) ), natural killer (NK) cells (CD3(-) CD56(+) ) and natural killer T (T-NK) cells (CD3(+) CD56(+) ) that exhibit non-major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-restricted cytotoxicity and are generated by ex vivo expansion of peripheral blood mononuclear cells in the presence of interferon (IFN)-γ, anti-CD3 antibody, interleukin-2 (IL-2) and interleukin-15 (IL-15). To facilitate selective target-cell recognition and enhance specific cytotoxicity against B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL), we transduced CIK cells with a lentiviral vector encoding a chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) that carries a composite CD28-CD3ζ domain for signaling and a CD19-specific scFv antibody fragment for cell binding (CAR 63.28.z). In vitro analysis revealed high and specific cell killing activity of CD19-targeted CIK/63.28.z cells against otherwise CIK-resistant cancer cell lines and primary B-ALL blasts, which was dependent on CD19 expression and CAR signaling. In a xenograft model in immunodeficient mice, treatment with CIK/63.28.z cells in contrast to therapy with unmodified CIK cells resulted in complete and durable molecular remissions of established primary pre-B-ALL. Our results demonstrate potent antileukemic activity of CAR-engineered CIK cells in vitro and in vivo, and suggest this strategy as a promising approach for adoptive immunotherapy of refractory pre-B-ALL

Development of three different NK cell subpopulations during immune reconstitution after pediatric allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation: prognostic markers in GvHD and viral infections

Natural killer (NK) cells play an important role following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) exerting graft-versus-leukemia/tumor effect and mediating pathogen-specific immunity. Although NK cells are the first donor-derived lymphocytes reconstituting post-HSCT, their distribution of CD56++CD16− (CD56bright), CD56++CD16+ (CD56intermediate=int), and CD56+CD16++ (CD56dim) NK cells is explicitly divergent from healthy adults, but to some extent comparable to the NK cell development in early childhood. The proportion of CD56bright/CD56int/CD56dim changed from 15/8/78% in early childhood to 6/4/90% in adults, respectively. Within this study, we first compared the NK cell reconstitution post-HSCT to reference values of NK cell subpopulations of healthy children. Afterward, we investigated the reconstitution of NK cell subpopulations post-HSCT in correlation to acute graft versus host disease (aGvHD) and chronic graft versus host disease (cGvHD) as well as to viral infections. Interestingly, after a HSCT follow-up phase of 12 months, the distribution of NK cell subpopulations largely matched the 50th percentile of the reference range for healthy individuals. Patients suffering from aGvHD and cGvHD showed a delayed reconstitution of NK cells. Remarkably, within the first 2 months post-HSCT, patients suffering from aGvHD had significantly lower levels of CD56bright NK cells compared to patients without viral infection or without graft versus host disease (GvHD). Therefore, the amount of CD56bright NK cells might serve as an early prognostic factor for GvHD development. Furthermore, a prolonged and elevated peak in CD56int NK cells seemed to be characteristic for the chronification of GvHD. In context of viral infection, a slightly lower CD56 and CD16 receptor expression followed by a considerable reduction in the absolute CD56dim NK cell numbers combined with reoccurrence of CD56int NK cells was observed. Our results suggest that a precise analysis of the reconstitution of NK cell subpopulations post-HSCT might indicate the occurrence of undesired events post-HSCT such as severe aGvHD.value