This phase III trial is studying combination chemotherapy to see how well it works in treating young patients with newly diagnosed acute promyelocytic leukemia. Drugs used in chemotherapy work in different ways to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Giving more than one drug (combination chemotherapy) may kill more cancer cells.
PRIMARY OBJECTIVES: I. To decrease the total anthracycline dose from the best current published results in standard risk childhood acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) while still maintaining a comparable event-free survival (EFS). SECONDARY OBJECTIVES: I. To assign treatment based on risk stratification by white blood cell count (WBC) at diagnosis. II. To estimate the induction failure rate, toxic death rate, disease-free survival rate and overall survival rate in both standard and high risk APL patients. III. To monitor for cardiotoxicity in an idarubicin/mitoxantrone based regimen. IV. To document the toxicity of a traditional chemotherapy/all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) (tretinoin) based regimen combined with arsenic trioxide therapy. V. To study the relationship of Fms-like tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3) mutations to clinical features and outcome in APL. VI. To study risk factors for pseudotumor cerebri in APL. VII. To study the relationship of early progenitor cell involvement to treatment failure in FLT3 positive APL. VIII. To compare the EFS of children enrolled on AAML0631 with the EFS of children enrolled on C9710 who were between the ages of 2 and 21 and did not receive arsenic trioxide. IX. To estimate the proportion of patients who carry a cryptic t(15;17), i.e., those who are positive for a promyelocytes.(PML)-retinoic acid receptor alpha (RARA) fusion transcript by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis but have normal chromosomes. X. To estimate the proportion of patients with variant RARA partners. XI. To compare the outcome of patients with only a t(15;17) with that of patients who carry a t(15;17) and other chromosomal abnormalities. OUTLINE: This is a multicenter study. Patients are assigned to 1 of 2 arms based on risk factor (standard-risk \[WBC less than 10,000/mm\^3\] or high-risk \[WBC 10,000/mm\^3 or higher\]). ARM I (STANDARD-RISK): INDUCTION THERAPY: Patients receive tretinoin orally (PO) twice daily (BID) on days 1-30 and idarubicin intravenously (IV) over 15 minutes once on days 3, 5, and 7. CONSOLIDATION THERAPY: CONSOLIDATION 1: Patients receive arsenic trioxide IV over 2 hours on days 1-5, 8-12, 15-19, 22-26, and 29-33 and tretinoin PO BID on days 1-14. Treatment repeats every 5 weeks for 2 courses, followed by a 2-week break, and then treatment repeats for 2 more courses. Beginning 1 week later or when blood counts recover, patients proceed to consolidation 2. CONSOLIDATION 2: Patients receive cytarabine intrathecally (IT) on day 1, tretinoin PO BID on days 1-14, high-dose cytarabine IV over 3 hours every 12 hours on days 1-3, and mitoxantrone hydrochloride IV over 15-30 minutes once on days 3 and 4. Patients proceed to consolidation 3 1 week later or when blood counts recover. CONSOLIDATION 3: Patients receive cytarabine IT on day 1, tretinoin PO BID on days 1-14, and idarubicin IV over 15 minutes once daily on days 1, 3, and 5. High-risk patients and those standard-risk patients who are positive for minimal residual disease by real-time quantitative (RQ)-PCR receive consolidation 4 one week later or when blood counts recover. All other standard-risk patients proceed to maintenance therapy. MAINTENANCE THERAPY: Patients receive cytarabine IT on day 1 (course 1 only), tretinoin PO BID on days 1-14, mercaptopurine PO once daily (QD) on days 1-84, methotrexate PO once on days 1, 8, 15, 22, 29, 36, 43, 50, 57, 64, 71, and 78. Treatment repeats every 12 weeks for 9 courses. ARM II (HIGH-RISK): INDUCTION THERAPY: Patients receive tretinoin PO BID on days 1-30 and idarubicin IV over 15 minutes once on days 1, 3, and 5. Patients proceed to consolidation therapy one week later or when blood counts recover. CONSOLIDATION THERAPY: Patients receive consolidation 1, 2, and 3 as in Arm I. CONSOLIDATION 4: Patients receive cytarabine IT on day 1, tretinoin PO BID on days 1-14, high-dose cytarabine IV over 3 hours every 12 hours on days 1-3, and idarubicin IV over 15 minutes once on day 4. Patients who demonstrate molecular complete remission (CR) and remain in hematological CR proceed to maintenance therapy 1 week later or when blood counts recover. MAINTENANCE THERAPY: Patients receive maintenance therapy as in Arm I. After completion of study treatment, patients are followed every month for 1 year, every 3 months for 2 years, every 6 months for 2 years, and then annually for 5 years.
Event-free Survival (EFS)
EFS - time from study entry until failure to achieve complete remission during consolidation, relapse, or death. For further clarification see definitions provided in the protocol.
Time frame: At 3 years from study entry
Hematologic Remission Rate
Proportion of patients in hematologic remission at end of consolidation, course 1 are reported.
Time frame: End of consolidation, course 1: up to 5 months
Hematologic, Molecular, and Cytogenetic Remission Rate
Proportion of patients in hematologic, molecular, and cytogenetic remission at end of consolidation, course 3 and 4 are reported. Patients were determined to be in remission by all three criteria.
Time frame: End of consolidation, course 3; up to 7 months (for Standard Risk) or end of consolidation, course 4; up to 9 months (for High Risk)
Overall Survival (OS)
OS - time from study entry to death.
Time frame: At 3 years from study entry
This platform is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
NONE
Enrollment
106
Given IV
Given orally
Given orally
Given IV
Given orally
Children's Hospital of Alabama
Birmingham, Alabama, United States
University of Alabama at Birmingham Cancer Center
Birmingham, Alabama, United States
Phoenix Childrens Hospital
Phoenix, Arizona, United States
Arkansas Children's Hospital
Little Rock, Arkansas, United States
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Little Rock, Arkansas, United States
Kaiser Permanente Downey Medical Center
Downey, California, United States
Loma Linda University Medical Center
Loma Linda, California, United States
Miller Children's and Women's Hospital Long Beach
Long Beach, California, United States
Children's Hospital Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California, United States
UCLA / Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center
Los Angeles, California, United States
...and 111 more locations