Evans syndrome (ES) is a rare autoimmune disorder whose long-term outcome is not well known. In France, a collaborative pediatric network set up via the National Rare Disease Plan now provides ...comprehensive clinical data in children with this disease. Patients aged less than 18 years at the initial presentation of autoimmune cytopenia have been prospectively included into a national observational cohort since 2004. The definition of ES was restricted to the simultaneous or sequential association of autoimmune hemolytic anemia (AIHA) and immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP). Cases were deemed secondary if associated with a primitive immunodeficiency or systemic lupus erythematosus. In December 2014, we analyzed the data pertaining to 156 children from 26 centers with ES whose diagnosis was made between 1981 and 2014. Median age (range) at the onset of cytopenia was 5.4 years (0.2-17.2). In 85 sequential cases, the time lapse between the first episodes of AIHA and ITP was 2.4 years (0.1-16.3). The follow-up period as from ES diagnosis was 6.5 years (0.1-28.8). ES was secondary, revealing another underlying disease, in 10% of cases; various associated immune manifestations (mainly lymphoproliferation, other autoimmune diseases, and hypogammaglobulinemia) were observed in 60% of cases; and ES remained primary in 30% of cases. Five-year ITP and AIHA relapse-free survival were 25 and 61%, respectively. Overall, 69% of children required one or more second-line immune treatments, and 15 patients (10%) died at the age of 14.3 years (1.7-28.1). To our knowledge, this is the first consistent long-term clinical description of this rare syndrome. It underscores the high rate of associated immune manifestations and the burden of long-term complications and treatment toxicity. Future challenges include (1) the identification of the underlying genetic defects inducing immune dysregulation and (2) the need to better characterize patient subgroups and second-line treatment strategies.
Germline hSNF5/INI1 mutations are responsible for hereditary cases of rhabdoid tumors (RT) that constitute the rhabdoid predisposition syndrome (RPS). Our study provides the first precise overview of ...the prevalence of RPS within a large cohort of RT.
hSNF5/INI1 coding exons were investigated by sequencing and by multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification.
Seventy-four constitutional DNAs from 115 apparently sporadic RT were analyzed from 1999 to 2009. Germline mutations were found in 26 patients (35%). Data from 9 individuals from 5 RPS families (siblings) were also studied. The median age at diagnosis was much lower (6 months) in patients with germline mutation (P < 0.01) than in patients without (18 months). Nevertheless, 7 of 35 patients with germline mutation (20%) developed the disease after 2 years of age. The mutation could be detected in only 1 parent whereas germline blood DNA was wild type in the 20 other parent pairs, therefore indicating the very high proportion of germ-cell mosaicism or of de novo mutations in RPS. The former hypothesis could be clearly documented in 1 case in which prenatal diagnosis was positive in a new pregnancy. Finally, the 2 years' overall survival was 7% in mutated and 29% in wild-type patients, mainly due to the worse outcome of RT in younger patients.
Our results show a high proportion of germline mutations in patients with RT that can be found at any age and up to 60% in the youngest patients. Genetic counseling is recommended given the low but actual risk of familial recurrence.
Background
With the growing rate of childhood cancer cure and the risks of sequelae, long‐term follow‐up (FU) of survivors is a central issue. Several models have been proven far from satisfactory. ...Shared care FU is the result of collaboration between general practitioners (GPs) and cancer centers. We sought to demonstrate the feasibility of setting up a shared care program based on the patient‐centered education of GPs and to evaluate the impact of this model in an intervention study.
Methods
We compared the FU care achievement in two childhood cancer survivor cohorts in the same pediatric oncology center, (i) control group (n = 134) and (ii) intervention study cohort (n = 137), after setting up the program.
Results
The rate of survivors answering the survey and the rate of patients involved in FU by their GPs were higher in intervention study cohort than in baseline one (132/137 vs. 72/134 and 110/132 vs. 13/72; P ≤ 0.0001). The lack of any FU was definitely lower (10/132 vs. 18/72; P = 0.001) in the intervention study cohort.
Conclusion
In this shared care program, survivors overcame distrust in their GP's knowledge and entered the FU program after their GPs had been involved in patient‐centered education. Personalized and incentive‐based guidance was very useful in helping survivors to adhere to FU. Support of a dedicated long‐term FU team was very useful. A nationwide organization, consideration of special needs in subgroups of survivors and sustained funding are needed to adjust the program in the very long term.
Castleman disease (CD) is a rare non-malignant lymphoproliferation of undetermined origin. Two major disease phenotypes can be distinguished: unicentric CD (UCD) and multicentric CD (MCD). Diagnosis ...confirmation is based on histopathological findings in a lymph node. We attempted to survey all cases of paediatric CD identified to date in France to set up a national registry aiming to improve CD early recognition, treatment and follow-up, within the context of a new national reference center (http://www.castleman.fr).
In 2016, we e-mailed a questionnaire to members of the French paediatric immunohaematology society, the paediatric rheumatology society and the Reference Centre for Castleman Disease to retrospectively collect cases of paediatric CD (first symptoms before age 18 years). Anatomopathological confirmation was mandatory.
We identified 23 patients (12 girls) with a diagnosis of UCD (n = 17) and MCD (n = 6) between 1994 and 2018. The mean age at first symptoms was 11.47 ± 4.23 years for UCD and 8.3 ± 3.4 years for MCD. The mean diagnosis delay was 8.16 ± 10.32 months for UCD and 5.16 ± 5.81 years for MCD. In UCD, the initial symptoms were isolated lymph nodes (n = 10) or lymph node associated with other symptoms (n = 7); fever was present in 3 patients. Five patients with MCD presented fever. No patients had HIV or human herpesvirus 8 infection. Autoinflammatory gene mutations were investigated in five patients. One patient with MCD carried a K695R heterozygous mutation in MEFV, another patient with MCD and Duchenne myopathy carried two variants in TNFRSF1A and one patient with UCD and fever episodes carried two heterozygous mutations, in IL10RA and IL36RN, respectively. Treatment of UCD was mainly surgical resection, steroids, and radiotherapy. Treatment of MCD included tocilizumab, rituximab, anakinra, steroids, chemotherapy, and splenectomy. Overall survival after a mean of 6.1 ± 6.4 years of follow-up, was 100% for both forms.
Paediatric CD still seems underdiagnosed, with a significant diagnosis delay, especially for MCD, but new international criteria will help in the future. Unlike adult CD, which is strongly associated with HIV and human herpesvirus 8 infection, paediatric CD could be favored by primary activation of innate immunity and may affect life expectancy less.
To compare pediatric and adult therapeutic practices in the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in adolescents.
From June 1993 to September 1994, 77 and 100 adolescents (15 to 20 years of ...age) were enrolled in the pediatric FRALLE-93 and adult LALA-94 protocols, respectively. Among the different prognostic factors, we retrospectively analyzed the effect of the trial on achieving complete remission (CR) and event-free survival (EFS).
Patients were younger in the FRALLE-93 than in the LALA-94 protocol (median age, 15.9 v 17.9 years, respectively), but other characteristics were similar, including median WBC count (18 x 10(9) cells/L v 16 x 10(9) cells/L), B/T-lineage (54 of 23 v 72 of 28 patients), CD10-negative ALL (13% v 15%), and poor-risk cytogenetics (t(9;22), t(4;11), or hypodiploidy less than 45 chromosomes: 6% v 5%). The CR rate depended on WBC count (P =.005) and trial (94% v 83% in FRALLE-93 and LALA-94, respectively; P =.04). Univariate analysis showed that unfavorable prognostic factors for EFS were as follows: the trial (estimated 5-year EFS, 67% v 41% for FRALLE-93 and LALA-94, respectively; P <.0001), an increasing WBC count (P <.0001), poor-risk cytogenetics (P =.005), and T-lineage (P =.01). The trial and WBC count remained significant parameters for EFS in multivariate analysis (P <.0001 and P =.0004). Lineage subgroup analysis showed an advantage for the FRALLE-93 trial for CR achievement (98% v 81%; P =.002) and EFS (P =.0002) in B-lineage ALL and for EFS (P =.05) in T-lineage ALL. Age was not a significant prognostic factor in this population of adolescents.
This study's findings indicate that adolescents should be included in intensive pediatric protocols and that new trials should be designed, inspired by pediatric protocols, for the treatment of young adults with ALL.
Objectives
Nationwide prospective cohort study exploring (i) the factors associated with treatment initiation (vs. watchful waiting) in children with primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) followed in ...routine clinical practice and (ii) the predictors of chronicity at 12 months.
Procedure
Between 2008 and 2013, 23 centers throughout France consecutively included 257 children aged 6 months–18 years and diagnosed with primary ITP over a 5‐year period. Data on ITP clinical features along with medical management were collected at baseline and 12 months. Multivariate logistic regressions were used to determine (i) and (ii) as defined above, providing odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI).
Results
One hundred thirty‐seven (53%) children were males, median age was 4.6 years, median platelet count was 7 × 109/l, and 214 (81%) patients initiated medication. Factors independently associated with treatment initiation included platelet counts <10 × 109/l (P < 0.0001) and mucocutaneous bleeding symptoms at baseline (P < 0.001). At 12 months, data were available for 211 (82%) children, of whom 160 (74%) had recovered. Predictors of chronicity included female gender (OR = 2.2; 95% CI = 1.0–4.8), age ≥10 years (OR = 2.6; 95% CI = 1.1–6.0), and platelet counts ≥10 × 109/l (OR = 3.2; 95% CI = 1.5–6.9).
Conclusions
In routine clinical practice, the decision to apply a watchful waiting strategy seems to be driven by platelet counts even in the absence of bleeding symptoms, resulting in treatment being initiated in more than 80% of the children surveyed. Overall, younger children with ITP showed good prognosis, with lower platelet counts and, to a lesser extent, male gender predicting more favorable outcomes.
The prognosis of patients with relapses of ETV6/RUNX1-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia remains to be evaluated, particularly with regards to the frequency of late relapses. We performed a ...long-term, follow-up retrospective study to address the outcome of patients with ETV6/RUNX1-positive leukemia relapses.
Among the 713 children tested for ETV6/RUNX1 enrolled into the FRALLE 93 protocol, 43 ETV6/RUNX1-positive patients relapsed (19.4%). Most were initially stratified in the low or intermediate risk groups. The median follow-up after relapse was 54.2 months. All but three received second-line salvage therapy and 16 underwent allogeneic transplantation.
ETV6/RUNX1 had a strong effect on overall survival after relapse (3-year survival= 64.7% for positive cases versus 46.5% for negative cases) (P=0.007). The 5-year cumulative incidence of relapse was 19.4% and testes were more frequently involved in ETV6/RUNX1-positive relapses (P=0.04). In 81.4% of cases the relapses were late, early combined or isolated extramedullary relapses. The 5-year survival rate of patients with ETV6-RUNX1-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia relapses reached 80.8% when the relapse occurred after 36 months (versus 31.2% when the relapse occurred earlier). In univariate analysis, female gender was associated with a poor survival, whereas site of relapse, age at diagnosis, leukocytosis and consolidation strategy had no effect. In multivariate analysis, only the duration of first remission remained associated with outcome.
We found an excellent outcome for patients with ETV6/RUNX1-positive leukemia relapses that occurred more than 36 months after diagnosis. The duration of first complete remission may, therefore, be a guide to define the treatment strategy for patients with relapsed ETV6/RUNX1- positive leukemia.
To identify prognostic factors and to evaluate the outcome of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) failure after induction therapy.
Between June 1993 and December 1999, 1,395 leukemic ...children were included in the French Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia 93 study.
Fifty-three patients (3.8%) had a leukemic induction failure (LIF) after three- or four-drug induction therapy. In univariate analysis, high WBC count (P = .001), mediastinal mass (P = .017), T-cell phenotype (T-ALL; P = .001), t(9;22) translocation (P = .001), and a slow early response (at day 8 and/or on day 21, P = .001) were predictive of LIF. The following three prognostic groups for LIF were identified by multivariate analysis: a low-risk group with B-cell progenitor (BCP) ALL without t(9;22) (odds ratio OR = 1), an intermediate-risk group with T-ALL and a mediastinal mass (OR = 7.4, P < .0001), and a high-risk group with BCP-ALL and t(9;22) or T-ALL without a mediastinal mass (OR = 28.4, P < .0001). Complete remission (CR) was subsequently obtained in 43 patients (81%). The 5-year overall survival (OS) rate of the 53 patients was 30% +/- 6%. The 5-year OS rate among allogeneic graft recipients, autologous graft recipients, and after chemotherapy were 30.4% +/- 9.6% (50% +/- 26% after genoidentical transplantation), 50% +/- 17.7%, and 41.7% +/- 14.2%, respectively (P = .18). Fourteen patients (26%) were still in first CR after a median of 83 months (range, 53 to 117 months).
Three risk categories for LIF in children with ALL were identified. Approximately one third of patients with LIF can be successfully treated with salvage therapy overall. Subsequent CR after LIF is mandatory for cure.
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