High-dose treatment with autologous peripheral blood progenitor cell (PBPC) support as consolidation of first remission in younger patients with acute myelogenous leukaemia (AML) – the impact of therapy on the prognostic significance of FLT3 mutation

Anna Cargill with Ama Rohatiner (London), Orietta Spinelli, Alessandro Rambaldi, Renato Bassan, Eduardo di Bona, F Rodeghiero, Roberto Raimondi (Italy), Magnus Bjorkholm (Sweden), Steve Johnson (Taunton), Adrian Newland, Nigel Bainton, Jude Fitzgibbon (London), Titsiano Barbui (Italy), and Andrew Lister (London)

The use of autologous bone marrow (ABMT) was previously used as standard to support high-dose therapy (HDT) in the treatment of patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). A functionally equivalent technique, known as peripheral blood progenitor cells (PBPC) has since been devised with the advantage that the blood count recovery is substantially faster than for ABMT, as a result the former is thought to make the treatment for AML less hazardous (especially for somewhat older patients).

The study cohort consists of 141 newly diagnosed AML patients treated at 6 European hospitals between January 1994 and September 1996. The primary aim of this study was to determine the feasibility and prognostic effect of substituting peripheral blood progenitor cells (PBPC) for autologous bone marrow to support HDT. A previous study of a similar nature (Barts XIII) consists of 144 similar AML patients who received identical HDT supported by ABMT – these patients formed the historical control group used in the comparative analysis. The secondary focus of the study looks into the prognostic effect of an FLT3 mutation in AML suffers.

The analysis of this study is at the publication preparation stage.