The measurement of minimal residual disease (MRD) by multiparametric flow cytometry (MFC) before hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a ...powerful prognostic factor. The interaction of pretransplant MRD and the conditioning intensity has not yet been clarified.
The aim of this study is to analyze the transplant outcomes of patients with AML who underwent HSCT in complete remission (CR), comparing patients with positive MRD (MRD+) and negative MRD (MRD-) before HSCT, and the interaction between conditioning intensity and pre-HSCT MRD.
We retrospectively analyzed the transplant outcomes of 118 patients with AML who underwent HSCT in CR in a single institution, comparing patients with MRD+ and MRD- before HSCT using a cutoff of 0.1% on MFC, and the interaction between conditioning intensity and pre-HSCT MRD.
Patients with MRD+ before HSCT had a significantly worse 2-year (2y) event-free survival (EFS) (56.5% vs. 32.0%,
= 0.018) than MRD- patients, due to a higher cumulative incidence of relapse (CIR) at 2 years (49.0% vs. 18.0%,
= 0.002), with no differences in transplant-related mortality (TRM) (2y-TRM, 19.0% and 25.0%, respectively,
= 0.588). In the analysis stratified by conditioning intensity, in patients who received MAC, those with MRD- before HSCT had better EFS (
= 0.009) and overall survival (OS) (
= 0.070) due to lower CIR (
= 0.004) than MRD+ patients. On the other hand, the survival was similar in reduced intensity conditioning (RIC) patients regardless of the MRD status.
Patients with MRD+ before HSCT have worse outcomes than MRD- patients. In patients who received MAC, MRD- patients have better EFS and OS due to lower CIR than MRD+ patients, probably because they represent a more chemo-sensitive group. However, among RIC patients, results were similar regardless of the MRD status.
Secondary acute myeloid leukemia (s-AML) patients have a poor prognosis and currently the only curative therapy is allogeneic stem-cell transplant (HSCT). However, we do not yet know whether ...transplantation is sufficient to reverse the poor prognosis compared to de novo AML patients. We analyzed survival after HSCT comparing a cohort of 58 patients with s-AML versus 52 de novo patients who were transplanted between 2012 and 2020. Patients with s-AML had worse event-free survival (EFS) (p = 0.001) and overall survival (OS) (p < 0.001) compared to de novo AML due to an increased risk of relapse (p = 0.06) and non-relapse mortality (p = 0.03). The main difference in survival was observed in patients who achieved complete remission (CR) before HSCT (EFS p = 0.002 OS and <0.001), regardless minimal residual disease (MRD) by |multiparametric flow cytometry cohorts. In patients transplanted with active disease (AD), the prognosis was adverse in both s-AML and de novo AML groups (EFS p = 0.869 and OS p = 0.930). After excluding patients with AD, we stratified the cohort according to conditioning intensity, noticing that s-AML who received MAC had comparable outcomes to de novo AML, but the survival differences remained among reduce intensity conditioning group. In conclusion, transplanted s-AML patients have worse survival among patients in CR before HSCT, regardless of MRD level by flow cytometry compared to de novo AML. MAC patients had similar outcomes irrespective of leukemia ontogeny.
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