Clinical observation of maintenance treatment with low-dose decitabine after transplantation for patients with high-risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Abstract

Objective To investigate the efficacy and safety of maintenance treatment with low-dose decitabine after allogeneic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) for high-risk acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Methods The data of 10 patients with high-risk ALL who received maintenance therapy with low-dose decitabine after allo-HSCT in the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from July 2016 to March 2018 was collected. The incidence of post-transplant relapse and graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) and the safety of the treatment protocol were analyzed. The cumulative incidence of relapse (CIR) rate, disease-free survival (DFS) rate and overall survival (OS) rate were estimated by Kaplan-Meier method. Results Two patients relapsed and the median relapse time of these 10 patients was 575 days after transplantation. The 1-year CIR, OS and DSF rates were 16.7%, 100.0% and 83.3%, respectively. At the end of follow-up, the DFS time after transplantation of 2 patients with p53 mutation were 23 months and 11 months, respectively. There was no induction or alleviation of GVHD caused by decitabine treatment. Nine patients developed grade Ⅰ-Ⅱ myelosuppression. Three patients had unexplained thrombocytopenia after transplantation and their platelet counts recovered after decitabine treatment. Conclusion Maintenance therapy with low-dose decitabine has low hematologic toxicity without increasing GVHD, which could be a maintenance treatment option to prevent relapse after transplantation for patients with high-risk ALL. Key words: Leukemia, lymphocytic, acute; Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation; Recurrence; Low-dose decitabine