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Until 1990, the survival of children with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) in Russia was below 10%. To establish a protocol feasible under conditions there, ALL-MB 91 was designed to avoid prolonged bone marrow aplasia, thereby reducing needs for extensive supportive care, blood transfusions, long-lasting hospitalization and costs. High-dose therapies were avoided, anthracycline use was limited and CNS radiation therapy only foreseen in high-risk patients (about 30%). This was randomized against a modified BFM protocol. From 1995 to 2002, 834 patients of age up to 18 years were registered in 10 centres and 713 received after central randomization the allocated risk-stratified treatment. After a median follow-up of 7 years, the event-free survival (EFS) was 67 ± 3% on ALL-MB 91 (N ¼ 358) vs 68 ± 3% on ALL-BFM 90m (N ¼ 355). The overall survival (OS) was 71±3% vs 74±2%, respectively. Anaemia, thrombocytopenia, agranulocytosis 410 days and hospitalization (median 35 vs 68 days) were lower on ALL-MB 91 (Po0.01, N ¼ 197). While EFS and OS were similar with both protocols, ALL-MB 91 significantly incurred fewer toxicity and resource requirements and, therefore, has been increasingly used across Russia.
PurposeFavorable outcomes were achieved for children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) with the first Russian multicenter trial Moscow–Berlin (ALL-MB) 91. One major component of this regimen included a total of 18 doses of weekly intramuscular (IM) native Escherichia coli-derived asparaginase (E. coli-ASP) at 10000 U/m2 during three consolidation courses. ASP was initially available from Latvia, but had to be purchased from abroad at substantial costs after the collapse of Soviet Union. Therefore, the subsequent trial ALL-MB 2002 aimed at limiting costs to a reasonable extent and also at reducing toxicity by lowering the dose for standard risk (SR−) patients to 5000 U/m2 without jeopardizing efficacy.MethodsBetween April 2002 and November 2006, 774 SR patients were registered in 34 centers across Russia and Belarus, 688 of whom were randomized. In arm ASP-5000 (n = 334), patients received 5000 U/m2 and in arm ASP-10000 (n = 354) 10 000 U/m2 IM.ResultsProbabilities of disease-free survival, overall survival and cumulative incidence of relapse at 10 years were comparable: 79 ± 2%, 86 ± 2% and 17.4 ± 2.1% (ASP-5000) vs. 75 ± 2% and 82 ± 2%, and 17.9 ± 2.0% (ASP-10000), while death in complete remission was significantly lower in arm ASP-5000 (2.7% vs. 6.5%; p = 0.029).ConclusionOur findings suggest that weekly 5000 U/m2E. coli-ASP IM during consolidation therapy are equally effective, more cost-efficient and less toxic than 10000 U/m2 for SR patients with childhood ALL.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s00432-019-02854-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
The value of adding rituximab to chemotherapy in children with aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (B-NHL) is still insufficiently studied. We enrolled 231 patients [mean age 9 years old (range 2-17); male:female ratio 3Á4:1] with Burkitt (BL, 179 patients, 76Á7%), diffuse large B-cell (32 patients, 14%), primary mediastinal B-cell (14 patients, 6%), and other (6 patients, 2Á6%) B-cell lymphomas in a prospective study of immunochemotherapy. Stages were I-II in 32% and III-IV in 68% of the patients. Four doses of 375 mg/m 2 rituximab were added to the Berlin-Frankfurt-Munster-NHL-90-like chemotherapy, with methotrexate being reduced or omitted in the first 2 induction blocks. The complete remission rate was 100% in limited-stage and 91Á4% in advanced-stage patients. Five advanced-stage patients (2Á2%) died in induction and 1 patient with stage 2 B-NHL died in remission; 11 patients in the high-risk group progressed on therapy (3 non-BL are alive after salvage) and 5 relapsed. Sixteen patients (9Á7%) with advanced stage disease proceeded to transplant. With a median follow-up of 46 months, 98Á5 AE 1% of patients with limited disease and 88Á1 AE 2% (88Á1% in Risk Group 3; 82Á6% in Risk Group 4) in advanced stages are alive. This study confirmed that combined immunochemotherapy for B-lymphomas is highly effective in children, despite reducing the intensity of the induction blocks.
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