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Treatment outcomes of adolescent acute lymphoblastic leukemia treated on Tokyo Children’s Cancer Study Group (TCCSG) clinical trials

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Abstract

There is no standard treatment for adolescents aged 15 years or older with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), although this age group has been reported as having a poorer prognosis compared to younger patients. We retrospectively analyzed the outcomes of three consecutive Tokyo Children’s Cancer Study Group ALL trials (1995–2006) of 373 patients aged 10 years or older, with particular focus on adolescents aged 15–18 years (older-adolescents n = 41), compared to those aged 10–14 years (younger-adolescents n = 332). The probability of event-free survival at 8 years was 67.5 ± 7.4 % for the older-adolescents and 66.5 ± 2.6 % for the younger-adolescents (p = 0.95). Overall survival was 70.7 ± 7.1 % for the older-adolescents and 74.3 ± 2.4 % for the younger-adolescents (p = 0.48). The differences between groups in relapse incidence, non-relapse mortality, and death rate during induction were not statistically significant, although the older-adolescents trended towards a higher frequency of having stem-cell transplantation during the first remission. In conclusion, our treatment strategy, which consists of intensive induction and block-type consolidation, provided improved outcomes for patients aged 15–18 years, comparable to those for patients aged 10–14 years.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Ms. Kaori Itagaki for preparing and refining the protocol data for ALL in the TCCSG. We also thank the pediatricians and nurses who participated in the treatment and follow-up of the patients in this study. This study was supported in part by the Children’s Cancer Association of Japan.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-8655, Japan

    Motohiro Kato

  2. Department of Cell Therapy and Transplantation Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Motohiro Kato

  3. Department of Pediatrics, St. Luke’s International Hospital, Tokyo, Japan

    Atsushi Manabe & Daisuke Hasegawa

  4. Department of Hematology/Oncology, Saitama Children’s Medical Centre, Saitama, Japan

    Katsuyoshi Koh

  5. Department of Pediatrics, University of Yamanashi, Kofu, Japan

    Takeshi Inukai

  6. Department of Pediatric Hematology and Oncology Research, National Research Institute for Child Health and Development, Tokyo, Japan

    Nobutaka Kiyokawa

  7. Department of Pediatrics, Tsukuba University, Tsukuba, Japan

    Takashi Fukushima

  8. Division of Hemato-oncology/Regenerative Medicine, Kanagawa Children’s Medical Center, Yokohama, Japan

    Hiroaki Goto

  9. Division of Pediatric Oncology, National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo, Japan

    Chitose Ogawa

  10. Department of Hematology/Oncology, Ibaraki Children’s Hospital, Mito, Japan

    Kazutoshi Koike & Masahiro Tsuchida

  11. Department of Pediatrics, Teikyo University Chiba Medical Center, Ichihara, Japan

    Setsuo Ota

  12. Department of Pediatrics, Japanese Red Cross Narita Hospital, Narita, Japan

    Yasushi Noguchi

  13. Department of Pediatrics, Teikyo University, Tokyo, Japan

    Akira Kikuchi

  14. Department of Pediatrics, Toho University, Tokyo, Japan

    Akira Ohara

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  1. Motohiro Kato
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  8. Daisuke Hasegawa
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  14. Masahiro Tsuchida
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  15. Akira Ohara
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Correspondence to Motohiro Kato.

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Kato, M., Manabe, A., Koh, K. et al. Treatment outcomes of adolescent acute lymphoblastic leukemia treated on Tokyo Children’s Cancer Study Group (TCCSG) clinical trials. Int J Hematol 100, 180–187 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12185-014-1622-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12185-014-1622-y

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