Low absolute neutrophil count during induction therapy is an adverse prognostic factor in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

This study aims to explore whether variations in normal haematopoiesis determine prognosis as well as to improve risk-stratified treatment in childhood ALL. A retrospective study of 279 cases of ALL treated with the CCCG-ALL-2015 regimen in the Division of Pediatric Blood Diseases Center, Institute of Hematology& Blood Diseases Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences& Peking Union Medical College, from May 2015 to January 2017 was performed to analyse the prognostic impact of blood cell levels on day 19 of induction therapy by Kaplan-Meier method. Patients with childhood ALL with absolute neutrophil count (ANC) ≤ 90 cells/μl, absolute monocyte count (AMC) ≤ 10 cells/μl or absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) ≤ 1000 cells/μl on day 19 of induction therapy had a lower event-free survival (EFS) rate than those with higher values (allP< 0.05). Multivariate analysis confirmed that ANC ≤ 90 cells/μl and ALC ≤ 1000 cells/μl were independent adverse prognostic factors (HR = 1.981 and 2.162, respectively, bothP< 0.05). Among patients with minimal residual disease (MRD)< 1% on day 19 of induction therapy, those with ANC ≤ 90 cells/μl had lower EFS than those with ANC> 90 cells/ μl (70.8 ± 6.1% vs 86.4 ± 3.1%,P = 0.001). In the subgroup with the BCR/ABL1 fusion gene, patients with ANC ≤ 90 cells/μl on day 19 of induction therapy also had lower EFS than those with ANC> 90 cells/ μl (34.4 ± 25.2% vs 25.0 ± 21.7%,P = 0.041). ANC and ALC du...
Source: Annals of Hematology - Category: Hematology Source Type: research