Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Original Article
  • Published:

Acute Leukemia

Outcome after failure of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in children with acute leukemia: a study by the société Francophone de greffe de moelle et de thérapie cellulaire (SFGM-TC)

Abstract

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (SCT) contributes to improved outcome in childhood acute leukemia (AL). However, therapeutic options are poorly defined in the case of post-transplantation relapse. We aimed to compare treatment strategies in 334 consecutive children with acute leukemia relapse or progression after SCT in a recent 10-year period. Data could be analyzed in 288 patients (157 ALL, 123 AML and 8 biphenotypic AL) with a median age of 8.16 years at transplantation. The median delay from first SCT to relapse or progression was 182 days. The treatment consisted of chemotherapy alone (n=108), chemotherapy followed by second SCT (n=70), supportive/palliative care (n=67), combination of chemotherapy and donor lymphocyte infusion (DLI; n=30), or isolated reinfusion of donor lymphocytes (DLI; n=13). The median OS duration after relapse was 164 days and differed according to therapy: DLI after chemotherapy=385 days, second allograft=391 days, chemotherapy=174 days, DLI alone=140 days, palliative care=43 days. A second SCT or a combination of chemotherapy and DLI yielded similar outcome (hazard ratio (HR)=0.85, P=0.53) unlike chemotherapy alone (HR=1.43 P=0.04), palliative care (HR=4.24, P<0.0001) or isolated DLI (HR=1,94, P<0.04). Despite limitations in this retrospective setting, strategies including immunointervention appear superior to other approaches, mostly in AML.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Frassoni F, Barrett AJ, Granena A, Ernst P, Garthon G, Kolb HJ et al. Relapse after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation for acute leukaemia: a survey by the E.B.M.T. of 117 cases. Br J Haematol 1988; 70: 317–320.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Mortimer J, Blinder MA, Schulman S, Schulman S, Appelbaum FR, Buckner CD et al. Relapse of acute leukemia after marrow transplantation: natural history and results of subsequent therapy. J Clin Oncol 1989; 7: 50–57.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Radich JP, Sanders JE, Buckner CD, Martin PJ, Petersen FB, Bensinger W et al. Second allogeneic marrow transplantation for patients with recurrent leukemia after initial transplant with total body irradiation containing regimens. J Clin Oncol 1993; 11: 304–313.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Barrett AJ, Locatelli F, Treleaven JG, Gratwohl A, Szydło R, Zwaan FE . Second transplants for leukaemic relapse after bone marrow transplantation: high early mortality but favourable effect of chronic GVHD on continued remission. A report by the EBMT Leukaemia Working Party. Br J Haematol 1991; 79: 567–574.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Michallet M, Tanguy ML, Socie G, Thiébaut A, Belhabri A, Milpied N et al. Second allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell trans- plantation in relapsed acute and chronic leukaemias for patients who underwent a first allogeneic bone marrow transplantation: a survey of the Societe Francaise de Greffe de moelle (SFGM). Br J Haematol 2000; 108: 400–407.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Eapen M, Giralt SA, Horowitz MM, Klein JP, Wagner JE, Zhang MJ et al. Second transplant for acute and chronic leukemia relapsing after first HLA-identical sibling transplant. Bone Marrow Transplant 2004; 34: 721–727.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Bosi A, Laszlo D, Labopin M, Reffeirs J, Michallet M, Gluckman E et al. Second allogeneic bone marrow transplantation in acute leukemia: results of a survey by the European Cooperative Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation. J Clin Oncol 2001; 19: 3675–3684.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Hosing C, Saliba RM, Shahjahan M, Estey EH, Couriel D, Giralt S et al. Disease burden may identify patients more likely to benefit from second allogeneic hematopoietic stemcell transplantation to treat relapsed acute myelogenous leukemia. Bone Marrow Transplant 2005; 36: 157–162.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Kolb HJ, Schattenberg A, Goldman JM, Hertenstein B, Jacobsen N, Arcese W et al. Graft-versus-leukemia effect of donor lymphocyte transfusions in marrow grafted patients: European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation Working Party Chronic Leukemia. Blood 1995; 86: 2041–2050.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Porter DL, Roth MS, Lee SJ, McGarigle C, Ferrara JL, Antin JH . Adoptive immunotherapy with donor mononuclear cell infusions to treat relapse of acute leukemia or myelodysplasia after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. Bone Marrow Transplant 1996; 18: 975–980.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  11. Collins RH Jr, Shpilberg O, Drobyski WR, Porter DL, Giralt S, Champlin R et al. Donor leukocyte infusions in 140 patients with relapsed malignancy after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. J Clin Oncol 1997; 15: 433–444.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Levine JE, Braun T, Penza SL, Beatty P, Cornetta K, Martino R et al. Prospective trial of chemotherapy and donor leukocyte infusions for relapse of advanced myeloid malignancies after allogeneic stem-cell transplantation. J Clin Oncol 2002; 20: 405–412.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Schmid C, Labopin M, Nagler A, Bornhäuser M, Finke J, Fassas A et al. Donor lymphocyte infusion in the treatment of first hematological relapse after allogeneic stem-cell transplantation in adults with acute myeloid leukemia: a retrospective risk factors analysis and comparison with other strategies by the EBMT Acute Leukemia Working Party. J Clin Oncol 2007; 25: 4938–4945.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Kaplan EL, Meier P . Nonparametric estimation from incomplete observations. J Am Stat Assoc 1958; 53: 457–481.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Rubin D . Multiple Imputation for Nonresponse in Surveys. Wiley: New York, NY, USA, 1987.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  16. Meshinchi S, Leisenring WM, Carpenter PA, Woolfrey AE, Sievers EL, Radich JP et al. Survival after second hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for recurrent pediatric acute myeloid leukemia. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 2003; 9: 706–713.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Von Stackelberg A, Völzke E, Kühl JS, Seeger K, Schrauder A, Escherich G et al. ALL-REZ BFM Study Group Outcome of children and adolescents with relapsed acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and non-response to salvage protocol therapy: a retrospective analysis of the ALL-REZ BFM Study Group. Eur J Cancer 2011; 47: 90–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Schroeder T, Czibere A, Platzbecker U, Bug G, Uharek L, Luft T et al. Azacitidine and donor lymphocyte infusions as first salvage therapy for relapse of AML or MDS after allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Leukemia 2013; 27: 1229–1235.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Bader P, Kreyenberg H, Henze GH, Eckert C, Reising M, Willasch A et al. Prognostic value of minimal residual disease quantification before allogeneic stem-cell transplantation in relapsed childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia: the ALL-REZ BFM Study Group. J Clin Oncol 2009; 27: 377–384.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Van der Velden VH, van der Sluijs-Geling A, Gibson BE, te Marvelde JG, Hoogeveen PG, Hop WC et al. Clinical significance of flow cytometric minimal residual disease detection in pediatric acute myeloid leukemia patients treated according to the DCOG AnLL97/MRC AML12 protocol. Leukemia 2010; 24: 1599–1606.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. Reaman GH, Smith FO . Childhood Leukemia. Springer: Berlin, Heidelberg, Germany, 2011.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  22. Rubnitz JE, Inaba H . Childhood acute myeloid leukaemia. Br J Haematol 2012; 159: 259–276.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Zugmaier G, Gökbuget N, Klinger M, Bargou RC, Topp MS et al. Long-term survival and T-cell kinetics in relapsed/refractory ALL patients who achieved MRD response after blinatumomab treatment. Blood 2015; 126: 2578–2584.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Schlegel P, Lang P, Zugmaier G, Feuchtinger T, Handgretinger R . Pediatric post-transplant relapsed/refractory B-precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia shows durable remission by therapy with the T-cell engaging bispecific antibody blinatumomab. Haematologica 2014; 99: 1212–1219.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Zhang T, Cao L, Xie J, Shi N, Zhang Z, Luo Z et al. Efficiency of CD19 chimeric antigen receptor-modified T cells for treatment of B cell malignancies in phase I clinical trials: a meta-analysis. Oncotarget 2015; 6: 33961–33971.

    PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  26. Van der Stegen SJ, Hamieh M, Sadelain M . The pharmacology of second-generation chimeric antigen receptors. Nat Rev Drug Discov 2015; 14: 499–509.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Scientific Council of the Société Francophone de Greffe de Moelle et Thérapie Cellulaire. We thank Mrs Rachel Tipton for excellent secretary assistance.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to P-S Rohrlich.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Supplementary Information accompanies this paper on Bone Marrow Transplantation website

Supplementary information

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Roux, C., Tifratene, K., Socié, G. et al. Outcome after failure of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in children with acute leukemia: a study by the société Francophone de greffe de moelle et de thérapie cellulaire (SFGM-TC). Bone Marrow Transplant 52, 678–682 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2016.360

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/bmt.2016.360

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links