Summary Background Gemtuzumab ozogamicin was the first example of antibody-directed chemotherapy in cancer, and was developed for acute myeloid leukaemia. However, randomised trials in which it was ...combined with standard induction chemotherapy in adults have produced conflicting results. We did a meta-analysis of individual patient data to assess the efficacy of adding gemtuzumab ozogamicin to induction chemotherapy in adult patients with acute myeloid leukaemia. Methods We searched PubMed for reports of randomised controlled trials published in any language up to May 1, 2013, that included an assessment of gemtuzumab ozogamicin given to adults (aged 15 years and older) in conjunction with the first course of intensive induction chemotherapy for acute myeloid leukaemia (excluding acute promyelocytic leukaemia) compared with chemotherapy alone. Published data were supplemented with additional data obtained by contacting individual trialists. The primary endpoint of interest was overall survival. We used standard meta-analytic techniques, with an assumption-free (or fixed-effect) method. We also did exploratory stratified analyses to investigate whether any baseline features predicted a greater or lesser benefit from gemtuzumab ozogamicin. Findings We obtained data from five randomised controlled trials (3325 patients); all trials were centrally randomised and open label, with overall survival as the primary endpoint. The addition of gemtuzumab ozogamicin did not increase the proportion of patients achieving complete remission with or without complete peripheral count recovery (odds ratio OR 0·91, 95% CI 0·77–1·07; p=0·3). However, the addition of gemtuzumab ozogamicin significantly reduced the risk of relapse (OR 0·81, 0·73–0·90; p=0·0001), and improved overall survival at 5 years (OR 0·90, 0·82–0·98; p=0·01). At 6 years, the absolute survival benefit was especially apparent in patients with favourable cytogenetic characteristics (20·7%; OR 0·47, 0·31–0·73; p=0·0006), but was also seen in those with intermediate characteristics (5·7%; OR 0·84, 0·75–0·95; p=0·005). Patients with adverse cytogenetic characteristics did not benefit (2·2%; OR 0·99, 0·83–1·18; p=0·9). Doses of 3 mg/m2 were associated with fewer early deaths than doses of 6 mg/m2 , with equal efficacy. Interpretation Gemtuzumab ozogamicin can be safely added to conventional induction therapy and provides a significant survival benefit for patients without adverse cytogenetic characteristics. These data suggest that the use of gemtuzumab ozogamicin should be reassessed and its licence status might need to be reviewed. Funding None.
Recent effort to build an unmanned pollen monitoring network in Japan has led to new developments in automatic pollen counters. In-the-field performance tests of these automatic counters have not ...been reported.
To characterize recently developed automatic pollen counters, with a view of using their data in pollen information systems.
We performed side-by-side comparisons between 2 recently developed automatic pollen counters and 2 reference samplers at 2 sites during the 2005 pollen season.
Both automatic counters were found to have similar overall performance in terms of their correlations with the reference samplers. The linear correlation coefficient between the hourly values of the counters and one of the reference samplers was larger than 0.8 at both sites for both counters. Although these results are encouraging, our analysis also points to weaknesses of the investigated automatic counters in the areas of pollen discrimination, minimum measurable concentration, and calibration. Both counters were found to be affected by large concentrations of particulate matter, although the conditions and extent to which the particulate matter disrupted the measurements differ for the 2 sensors. The effect of particulate matter is particularly noticeable at the start and end of the pollen season, that is, when pollen concentration is low relative to particulate matter concentration. Further, it was found that one of the automatic counters could not differentiate snow particles from pollen grains.
The tested automatic pollen counters had good overall performances, but weaknesses in the areas of pollen discrimination, minimum measurable concentration, and calibration still have to be addressed for these counters to find widespread use in the allergy community.
The prognosis of poor risk AML in elderly pts justifies either supportive care only or investigational studies without obvious benefit of post-remission chemotherapies. A phase I study has ...demonstrated that the combination of azacitidine and lenalidomide is well-tolerated in AML with efficacy superior to that of single-agent therapy in higher-risk MDS (Sekeres JCO2010). The GOELAMS group investigated the efficacy of 12 maintenance cycles alternating monthly azacitidine (sc 75 mg/m²/d1-7) and lenalidomide (10mg/d1-21) every 28 days for pts in CR and compared the results to previous SA2002 and BGMT95 prospective trials which shared the same LIA induction followed by chemotherapy-based maintenance.
Between 3/2011 and 2/2013, 117 pts from 27 centers (median age 69 yrs; 60-80, 9 pts ≥ 75) with previously untreated poor prognosis AML were included. Risk factors allowing inclusion were either: i) centrally reviewed (IL) poor risk cytogenetics (n=83) defined as complex karyotype (≥3 abnormalities), monosomal karyotype, t(6;9), del or – 5 or 7, and EVI1 or MLL rearrangement except for t(9;11); ii) preceding MDS (n=52) or iii) secondary leukemia occurring after previous cancer (n=37). Median WBC was 2.9 G/L (0.5-160), 19 pts had WBC > 30 G/L. Induction chemotherapy included lomustine 200 mg/m² po d1, Idarabucine 8 mg/m²/d (d1-5), cytarabine 100mg/m²/d CI (d1-7) and G-CSF (d15 to recovery).
At the end of induction, CR (excluding CRp) was achieved in 56% (65 pts), 9% died from infection (n=6), cerebral hemorrhage (n=1) or multiorgan failure (n=4) and 35% (41pts) failed to achieve CR. Despite a trend towards a higher CR rate in pts without previous MDS (59% vs 48% CR), CR was not related to any of the risk factors studied. Median follow-up for survivors is 16 months (3-25). Monthly alternating azacitidine-lenalidomide maintenance therapy was started in 65 pts. Except for 1 pt who died during cycle1 of lenalidomide without any obvious explanation, tolerance was good. Median nadir of neutrophils and platelets was 1 and 96 G/L respectively. Grade 3/4 adverse events occurred in 6% of cycles and were due to infection, haemorrhage, hepatitis or fatigue (3%, 1%, 0.5%, 0.5% of cycles respectively). Median CR duration was 4.5 mo (1-23) and 40 pts relapsed. Allogeneic SCT with non myelo-ablative preparative regimen was performed in 4 pts less than 70 years in CR1: 1 is alive in relapse, 2 died of GVH and 1 is in continuous CR. Pts achieving CR had a median OS of 13 mo (95% CI 7.3-18.6), 54% being alive at 1 year and 15% at 2y. In refractory pts, the median OS was 7 mo (95% CI 2.8-11.2) with 32% alive at 1 year (P = 0.0001). OS and DFS reported in the current trial and compared to historical controls are described below:
induction results are similar to those observed in the 128 poor risk cytogenetic pts of the previous SA2002/BGMT trials treated with the same LIA induction (CR 58%, early death 15%, failure 27%) but who received maintenance therapy with 6 mini-reinductions (Ida 10mg/m² d1, cytarabine 50 mg/m²x2/d d1-5) and 6MP-MTX for 2years. No significant survival benefit was observed compared to pts with poor risk cytogenetics treated with chemotherapy maintenance in our previous trials. However, pts included in this trial have probably an even worse prognostic than those included in the GOELAMSSA2/BGMT95 trial which excluded AML secondary to MDS and previous cancers. This type of alternating azacitidine/lenalidomide maintenance improves OS and DFS of pts without poor risk cytogenetics (median DFS not reached and 19 mo) and could be randomly compared with conventional chemotherapy maintenance in AML secondary to MDS or cancer but also in older pts with intermediate risk cytogenetics.Median (95% CI)6mo1y2yOS maintenance aza-rev (117)9 mo (7.5-10.5)70%41%17%OS 2002/BGMT95 (128)6 mo (4.1-7.8)54%32%21%DFS maintenance aza-Rev (65)10 mo (2.5-17.4)61%49%8%DFS 2002/BGMT95 (74)9 mo (6.0-11.9)63%43%26%OS poor risk cytogenetic (83) vs other (33)8 mo vs NR P=0.000162% vs 83%27% vs 70%10% vs 60%OS previous cancer (37) vs no cancer (80)9 mo vs 9 mo68% vs 73%44% vs 40%24% vs 17%OS previous MDS (52) vs no MDS(64)12 mo vs 7 mo P=0.00177% vs 65%58% vs 26%27% vs 12%DFS poor risk cytogenetic (44) vs other (20)6 mo vs 19 mo P=0.00748% vs 84%33% vs 67%11% vs 28%DFS previous cancer (20) vs no K(45)8 mo vs 8 mo80% vs 61%46% vs 47%0% vs 13%DFS previous MDS (27) vs no MDS(38)15 mo vs 6 mo, P=0.0874% vs 48%59% vs 32%12% vs 0%
No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
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