Pediatric-inspired chemotherapy incorporating pegaspargase is safe and results in high rates of minimal residual disease negativity in adults up to age 60 with Philadelphia chromosome-negative acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Pediatric-inspired chemotherapy incorporating pegaspargase is safe and results in high rates of minimal residual disease negativity in adults up to age 60 with Philadelphia chromosome-negative acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Haematologica. 2020 Oct 13;Online ahead of print: Authors: Geyer MB, Ritchie EK, Rao AV, Vemuri S, Flynn J, Hsu M, Devlin SM, Roshal M, Gao Q, Shukla M, Salcedo JM, Maslak P, Tallman MS, Douer D, Park JH Abstract Administration of pediatric-inspired chemotherapy to adults up to age 60 with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is challenging in part due to toxicities of asparaginase as well as myelosuppression. We conducted a multicenter phase II clinical trial (NCT01920737) investigating a pediatric-inspired regimen, based on the augmented arm of the Children's Cancer Group 1882 protocol, incorporating 6 doses of pegaspargase 2000 IU/m2, rationally synchronized to avoid overlapping toxicity with other agents. We treated 39 adults ages 20-60 years (median, 38 years) with newly-diagnosed ALL (n=31) or lymphoblastic lymphoma (n=8). Grade 3-4 hyperbilirubinemia occurred frequently and at higher rates in patients 40-60 (n=18) vs 18-39 (n=21) years (44 vs 10%, p=0.025). However, 8/9 patients re-challenged with pegaspargase did not experience recurrent grade 3-4 hyperbilirubinemia. Grade 3-4 hypertriglyceridemia and hypofibrinogenemia were common (each 59%). Asparaginase activity at 7-days post-infusion reflected levels ass...
Source: Haematologica - Category: Hematology Authors: Tags: Haematologica Source Type: research