A Prospective Multicenter Clinical Trial of MRD-based Treatment Strategy in Children and Young Adults With AML

Overview

Minimal-residual disease (MRD) will be measured either by flow cytometry, or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods, in 3 check-points and it will be one of the decision-making control parameter for the optimal therapy tactics. Patients with initially high-risk group and those with high MRD after 2 initial courses of chemotherapy will be assigned to the allogenic transplantation of the hematopoietic stem cells from Human Leucocyte Antigen (HLA) matched or haploidentical family donors.

Genetic alterations in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) clone are well known prognostic risk factors of AML relapse. Standard risk group includes favorable t (15;17) (q22; q21) and inv (16)/t (16;16). High-risk patients have a complex karyotype rearrangement (3 and more), inversion of the long arm in 3rd chromosome and EVI1 gene rearrangement, monosomy 5 and 7, translocations involving KMT2A gene and several rare translocations. All other genotype alterations attributed to the moderate risk group. Besides genetic factors, detection of the minimal residual disease (MRD) after initial chemotherapy and its decrease rate after 1st postremission chemotherapy with high dose Cytarabine and anthracyclines, plays a crucial role in the development of the morphologic relapse. Patients with PCR-MRD\<0,1% after 2 courses of chemotherapy have a 30% or less risk of relapse, while PCR-MRD\>0,1% - over 70%. In the clinical trial investigators are planning to measure MRD either by immune-phenotype, or PCR methods, in 3 check-points and it will be one of decision-making control parameter for the optimal therapy tactics. Patients with initially high-risk group and those with high MRD after 2 initial courses of chemotherapy will be assigned to the allogenic transplantation of the hematopoietic stem cells from HLA- matched or haploidentical family donors.