Abstract
The monitoring of the minimal residual disease by Wilms' tumor 1 expression (MRDWT1) is a standardized test, which can be used in over 80% of patients with AML. To investigate the prognostic value of MRDWT1 in patients undergoing allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-SCT) for AML, MRDWT1 was monitored 3 months after transplantation in 139 patients. MRDWT1 positivity did not lead to any therapeutic intervention. Median follow-up was 39.3 (6.4–99.8) months. Patients with positive MRDWT1 at 3 months experienced more often post-transplant relapse (27/30, 90%) than those with negative MRDWT1 (16/109, 14.7%) (P<0.0001). Similarly, a shorter 3-year event-free survival (EFS) was observed in MRDWT1-positive patients (10% vs 72.3% in MRDWT1-negative patients, P<0.0001). The correlation between relapse and MRDWT1 was stronger in blood than in bone marrow samples. Multivariate analysis confirmed the detrimental role of 3-month positive MRDWT1 for relapse (hazard ratio (HR): 15.42; 95% confidence interval (CI): 7.53–31.59; P<0.0001) and EFS (HR: 10.71; 95% CI: 5.41–21.21; P<0.0001). Interestingly, 3-month chimerism was less predictive of relapse than positive MRDWT1. In conclusion, our results demonstrate the usefulness of peripheral blood MRDWT1 monitoring in identifying very high-risk patients, who could benefit from an early preemptive treatment, and those who do not need such an intervention.
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Acknowledgements
We thank all of the team members and nursing staff for providing our patients with high-quality care. We are also grateful to the association Capucine for their help in our research.
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First presented at the 2014 Annual Meeting of the French Society of Bone Marrow Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (SFGM-TC) (Best Oral Presentation Award).
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Duléry, R., Nibourel, O., Gauthier, J. et al. Impact of Wilms' tumor 1 expression on outcome of patients undergoing allogeneic stem cell transplantation for AML. Bone Marrow Transplant 52, 539–543 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2016.318
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2016.318
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