Abstract:
Objective To evaluate the clinical outcomes of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with poor prognosis induced by standard chemotherapy.
Methods The clinical and laboratory data of 98 AML patients with poor prognosis treated with standard chemotherapy during their first induction therapy who were admitted at Zhujiang Hospital of Southern Medical University from January 2016 to December 2020 were retrospectively analyzed.
Results In the AML patients with poor prognosis, the mean age was 37 (18–67) years, and 61.2% were men. Complex karyotype (30.0%), +8 (20.0%) and monosomal karyotype (18.9%) were the most common cytogenetic abnormalities. Besides, FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3-internal tandem duplications (FLT3-ITD) (34.1%), additional sex combs like-1 (ASXL1) (20.5%), runt-related transcription factor 1 (RUNX1) (15.9%), DNA methyltransferase 3 alpha (DNMT3A) (15.9%), and TET methylcytosine dioxygenase 2 (TET2) (15.9%) were the most common gene mutations. The complete remission rate following the first course of treatment was 37.8%. The median overall survival (mOS) and median event-free survival (mEFS) times were 17.0 and 6.0 months, respectively. The median relapse-free survival (mRFS) was 12.0 months. In terms of transplantation, 55 patients had undergone allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation with a median follow-up of 16.0 months, while the mOS was not yet reached, which was significantly higher than 9.0 months in patients who did not undergo transplantation (P< 0.001). The analyses of relapse after transplantation showed that the cumulative relapse rates at 1 and 2 years after transplantation were 22.7% and 31.8%, respectively. The non-relapse mortality rate at 1 year after transplantation was 15.8%. In 34 AML patients with no remission after the first course of induction therapy, the comparison of the therapeutic effects of different regimens showed that treatment with CAG±hypomethylating agents showed better reinduced complete remission compared with the standard “3+7” regimens (77.8% vs. 23.1%; P=0.027).
Conclusions AML patients assigned to the poor prognosis group have low remission rate, high relapse rate, and short survival time. CAG combined with hypomethylating agents may be considered as a reinduction option for AML patients with poor prognosis who respond poorly to the first course of induction chemotherapy.