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Blood, 15 June 2006, Vol. 107, No. 12, pp. 4663-4665. Prepublished online as a Blood First Edition Paper on February 14, 2006; DOI 10.1182/blood-2005-11-4728.
CLINICAL TRIALS AND OBSERVATIONS Infants with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and a germline MLL gene are highly curable with use of chemotherapy alone: results from the Japan Infant Leukemia Study GroupFrom the Section of Pediatrics, National Kyushu Cancer Center, Fukuoka; Department of Pediatrics and Developmental Biology, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo; Department of Pediatrics, University of Tokyo, Tokyo; Department of Pediatrics, Yamaguchi University, Yamaguchi; Department of Pediatrics, Nara Medical University, Nara; Department of Pediatrics, Hirosaki University, Hirosaki; Department of Pediatrics, Osaka Medical College, Suita; Department of Pediatrics, University of Yamanashi, Chuo; Department of Pediatrics, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima; Division of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology, Nagoya Red Cross 2nd Hospital, Nagoya; Division of Pediatrics, Niigata Cancer Center Niigata Hospital, Niigata; Department of Pediatrics, Kyoto University, Kyoto; Clinical Research Center, National Nagoya Hospital, Nagoya; and Department of Pediatrics, Saga University, Saga, Japan.
Although infants with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and a germline MLL gene have a better prognosis than comparable infants with a rearranged MLL gene, their optimal therapy is controversial. In 2 consecutive studies, conducted between 1996 and 2002, we treated 22 cases of infant ALL with germline MLL using chemotherapy alone. The 5-year event-free survival rate was 95.5% with a 95% confidence interval of 86.9 to 100%. All 21 infants with precursor B-cell ALL have been in first complete remission for 3.5 to 8.8 years. Most treatment-related toxicities were predictable and well tolerated, and neither secondary malignancies nor physical growth impairments have been observed. These results indicate that chemotherapy of the type described here is both safe and highly effective against infant precursor B-cell ALL with MLL in the germline configuration.
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