Prospective Evaluation of Clonal Evolution During Long-Term Follow-Up of Patients With Untreated Early-Stage Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

2006 ◽  
Vol 24 (28) ◽  
pp. 4634-4641 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tait D. Shanafelt ◽  
Thomas E. Witzig ◽  
Stephanie R. Fink ◽  
Robert B. Jenkins ◽  
Sarah F. Paternoster ◽  
...  

Purpose Retrospective studies suggest cytogenetic abnormalities detected by interphase fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) can identify patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) who will experience a more aggressive disease course. Other studies suggest that patients may acquire chromosome abnormalities during the course of their disease. There are minimal prospective data on the clinical utility of the widely used hierarchical FISH prognostic categories in patients with newly diagnosed early-stage CLL or the frequency of clonal evolution as determined by interphase FISH. Patients and Methods Between 1994 and 2002, we enrolled 159 patients with previously untreated CLL (83% Rai stage 0/I) on a prospective trial evaluating clonal evolution by FISH. Patients provided baseline and follow-up specimens for FISH testing during 2 to 12 years. Results Chromosomal abnormalities detected by FISH at study entry predicted overall survival. Eighteen patients experienced clonal evolution during follow-up. The rate of clonal evolution increased with duration of follow-up with only one occurrence in the first 2 years (n = 71; 1.4%) but 17 occurrences (n = 63; 27%) among patients tested after 5+ years. Clonal evolution occurred among 10% of ZAP-70–negative and 42% of ZAP-70–positive patients at 5+ years (P = .008). Conclusion This clinical trial confirms prospectively that cytogenetic abnormalities detected by FISH can predict overall survival for CLL patients at the time of diagnosis, but also suggests that many patients acquire new abnormalities during the course of their disease. Patients with higher ZAP-70 expression may be more likely to experience such clonal evolution. These findings have important implications for both clinical management and trials of early treatment for patients with high-risk, early-stage CLL.

Blood ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 88 (11) ◽  
pp. 4259-4264 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Sarfati ◽  
S Chevret ◽  
C Chastang ◽  
G Biron ◽  
P Stryckmans ◽  
...  

Abstract Prognosis of B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is based on clinical staging whose limitation is the failure to assess whether the disease will progress or remain stable in early stage (Binet A, or Rai 0, I, II) patients. We previously reported that soluble CD23 (sCD23), a protein derived from the B-cell membrane CD23 Ag, is selectively elevated in the serum of CLL patients. This prospective study assessed the predictive value of serum sCD23 level measured at study entry on the overall survival of all CLL patients and on disease progression of stage Binet A patients. Prognostic value of repeated measurements of sCD23 over time in stage A patients was also analyzed. One hundred fifty-three CLL patients were prospectively followed with a median follow-up of 78 months. Eight clinical or biological parameters were collected from the date of the first sCD23 measurement. At study entry, by Cox model, Binet staging (P = .0001) and serum sCD23 level (P = .03) appeared as prognostic factors for survival. Patients with sCD23 level above median value (> 574 U/mL) had a significantly worse prognosis than those with lower values (median survival of 53 v 100+ months, P = .0001). During follow-up, sCD23 doubling time increased by 3.2 the risk of death (P = .001). Among stage A patients (n = 100), sCD23 determination at study entry was the sole variable predictive of disease progression, patients with sCD23 level above 574 U/mL had a median time progression of 42 months versus 88 months for those with lower levels (P = .0001). Stage A patients who doubled their sCD23 level exhibited a 15-fold increased risk of progression (P = .0001) and, in addition, the sCD23 increase preceded by 48 months disease progression. We conclude that in CLL patients, serum sCD23 level provides significant additional prognostic information in terms of overall survival. Most interestingly, among early stage patients, sCD23 determination at diagnosis and during the course of the disease may help to the early identification of patients who will rapidly progress to upper stages.


Blood ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 106 (11) ◽  
pp. 2098-2098 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tait D. Shanafelt ◽  
Stephanie Fink ◽  
Tom E. Witzig ◽  
Sarah F. Paternoster ◽  
Stephanie Smoley ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Using fluorescent in-situ hybridization (FISH), a number of investigators have identified specific cytogenetic abnormalities that identify CLL patients with a more aggressive (17p-, 11q-) or indolent (13q-) disease course. Some have suggested patients who initially have a normal karyotype may acquire new chromosome abnormalities during the course of their disease. Since patients with specific cytogenetic abnormalities (17p-, 11q-) are less likely to respond to purine nucleoside analogues, such clonal evolution has potential implications for treatment as well as prognosis. No study has prospectively investigated the frequency of clonal evolution in a cohort of patients with newly diagnosed untreated CLL. Methods: Between 1994 and 2000, we enrolled 167 patients with previously untreated CLL seen at Mayo Clinic in a prospective trial evaluating the prognostic importance of cytogenetic abnormalities and clonal evolution detected by FISH. All patients provided a baseline blood specimen for FISH testing and follow-up specimens over the following 24 months. Other research samples from later timepoints were tested where available. Study participants were contacted by mail in 2004 to update vital and treatment status. Of 83 living responders, 70 (84%) indicated they would be willing to provide an additional follow-up sample for cytogenetic analysis of whom 48 have returned a sample to date. Results of clinical FISH testing during the follow-up interval were also abstracted. FISH was performed on interphase nuclei from blood as we have previously described (BJH 121:287). Results: Median age at diagnosis was 64. Median time from diagnosis to study enrollment was 3.3 months. 94% of patients had early stage disease at enrollment (88 Rai 0; 48 Rai I, 18 Rai II, 2 Rai III; 8 Rai IV). Median follow-up time from diagnosis for all 164 eligible study participants was 8.5 years (range: 0.33–22.9 yrs). As of last follow-up, 48% of patients have received treatment and 57 (35%) have died. 75% of patients had chromosome abnormalities on FISH testing at baseline. The frequency of individual cytogenetic abnormalities on baseline FISH analysis along with overall survival by hierarchical FISH risk category are shown in Table I. 106 patients had sequential samples for FISH analysis at least 2 years apart, 61 had samples at least 5 years apart, and 22 had samples at least 10 years apart. 15 patients had evidence of clonal evolution during follow up as evidenced by a new FISH anomaly not present on the baseline specimen. No clonal evolution was observed in the first 2 years of follow-up (n=106), however of 61 patients with samples at least 5 years apart, 14 (23%) had evidence of clonal evolution. Median time for development of a new cytogenetic abnormality among these patients was 9.3 years. Conclusions: Clonal evolution occurs during the course of disease for approximately 25% of patients with early stage CLL. Clonal evolution appears to occur at low frequency during the first 2 years of follow-up but increases in frequency after 5 years. This finding has potentially significant implications for prognosis and treatment of patients with CLL. FISH Risk Category* N (Baseline) Median Overall Survival (Years) * Difference between groups significant p=0.0038 13q- x 1 37 14.4 13q- x2 35 17 Normal Karyotype 40 13.2 12+ 24 11.1 11q- 12 8.6 17p- 10 10.5 6q- 2 4.1 Other 2 Not reached


2011 ◽  
Vol 29 (10) ◽  
pp. 1349-1355 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer A. Woyach ◽  
Amy S. Ruppert ◽  
Nyla A. Heerema ◽  
Bercedis L. Peterson ◽  
John G. Gribben ◽  
...  

Purpose The addition of rituximab to fludarabine-based regimens in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) has been shown to produce high response rates with extended remissions. The long-term follow-up of these regimens with respect to progression, survival, risk of secondary leukemia, and impact of genomic risk factors has been limited. Methods We report the long-term follow-up of the chemoimmunotherapy trial CALGB 9712 from the Cancer and Leukemia Group B, for which treatment regimen was previously reported, to examine end points of progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), impact of genomic features, and risk of therapy-related myeloid neoplasm (t-MN). Results A total of 104 patients were enrolled on this study and now have a median follow-up of 117 months (range, 66 to 131 months). The median OS was 85 months, and 71% of patients were alive at 5 years. The median PFS was 42 months, and 27% were progression free at 5 years. An estimated 13% remained free of progression at almost 10 years of follow-up. Multivariable models of PFS and OS showed that immunoglobulin heavy chain variable region mutational status was significant for both, whereas cytogenetic abnormalities were significant only for OS. No patient developed t-MN before relapse. Conclusion Long-term follow-up of CALGB 9712 demonstrates extended OS and PFS with fludarabine plus rituximab. Patients treated with fludarabine plus rituximab administered concurrently or sequentially have a low risk of t-MN. These long-term data support fludarabine plus rituximab as one acceptable first-line treatment for symptomatic patients with CLL.


Blood ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 88 (11) ◽  
pp. 4259-4264 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Sarfati ◽  
S Chevret ◽  
C Chastang ◽  
G Biron ◽  
P Stryckmans ◽  
...  

Prognosis of B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is based on clinical staging whose limitation is the failure to assess whether the disease will progress or remain stable in early stage (Binet A, or Rai 0, I, II) patients. We previously reported that soluble CD23 (sCD23), a protein derived from the B-cell membrane CD23 Ag, is selectively elevated in the serum of CLL patients. This prospective study assessed the predictive value of serum sCD23 level measured at study entry on the overall survival of all CLL patients and on disease progression of stage Binet A patients. Prognostic value of repeated measurements of sCD23 over time in stage A patients was also analyzed. One hundred fifty-three CLL patients were prospectively followed with a median follow-up of 78 months. Eight clinical or biological parameters were collected from the date of the first sCD23 measurement. At study entry, by Cox model, Binet staging (P = .0001) and serum sCD23 level (P = .03) appeared as prognostic factors for survival. Patients with sCD23 level above median value (> 574 U/mL) had a significantly worse prognosis than those with lower values (median survival of 53 v 100+ months, P = .0001). During follow-up, sCD23 doubling time increased by 3.2 the risk of death (P = .001). Among stage A patients (n = 100), sCD23 determination at study entry was the sole variable predictive of disease progression, patients with sCD23 level above 574 U/mL had a median time progression of 42 months versus 88 months for those with lower levels (P = .0001). Stage A patients who doubled their sCD23 level exhibited a 15-fold increased risk of progression (P = .0001) and, in addition, the sCD23 increase preceded by 48 months disease progression. We conclude that in CLL patients, serum sCD23 level provides significant additional prognostic information in terms of overall survival. Most interestingly, among early stage patients, sCD23 determination at diagnosis and during the course of the disease may help to the early identification of patients who will rapidly progress to upper stages.


Blood ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 122 (21) ◽  
pp. 672-672 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pietro Bulian ◽  
Tait D Shanafelt ◽  
Chris Fegan ◽  
Antonella Zucchetto ◽  
Lilla Cro ◽  
...  

Abstract Purpose Although CD49d is an unfavorable prognostic marker in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), definitive validation evidence is lacking. A worldwide multi-center analysis was performed using published and unpublished CLL series to evaluate the impact of CD49d as overall survival (OS) and treatment free survival (TFS) predictor. Patients and Methods A training/validation strategy was chosen to find the optimal CD49d cut-off. The hazard ratio (HR) for death and treatment imposed by CD49d was estimated by pooled analysis of 2,972 CLL, and Cox analysis stratified by center and stage was used to adjust for confounding variables. The importance of CD49d over other flow cytometry-based prognosticators (CD38, ZAP-70) was ranked by recursive partitioning. Results Patients with ≥30% of neoplastic cells expressing CD49d were considered CD49d+. The decrease in OS at 5 and 10-years among CD49d+ cases was 7% and 23% (decrease in TFS 26% and 25% respectively). The pooled HR of CD49d for OS was 2.5 (2.3 for TFS) in univariate analysis. This HR remained significant and of similar magnitude (HR=2.0) in a Cox model adjusted for clinical and biological prognosticators. Hierarchical trees including all cases, or restricted to early stage or patients ≤65 years, always selected CD49d as the most important flow-cytometry-based biomarker, with negligible additional prognostic information added by CD38 or ZAP-70. Consistently, by bivariate analysis, CD49d reliably identified patients' subsets with poorer outcome independent of CD38 and ZAP-70. Conclusions In this analysis of ∼3000 patients, CD49d emerged as the strongest flow cytometry-based predictor of OS and TFS in CLL. Disclosures: Shanafelt: Genentech: Research Funding; Glaxo-Smith-Kline: Research Funding; Cephalon: Research Funding; Hospira: Research Funding; Celgene: Research Funding; Polyphenon E International: Research Funding. Burger:Pharmacyclics: Research Funding.


Blood ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 109 (11) ◽  
pp. 4679-4685 ◽  
Author(s):  
William G. Wierda ◽  
Susan O'Brien ◽  
Xuemei Wang ◽  
Stefan Faderl ◽  
Alessandra Ferrajoli ◽  
...  

Abstract The clinical course for patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia is extremely heterogeneous. The Rai and Binet staging systems have been used to risk-stratify patients; most patients present with early-stage disease. We evaluated a group of previously untreated patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) at initial presentation to University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center to identify independent characteristics that predict for overall survival. Clinical and routine laboratory characteristics for 1674 previously untreated patients who presented for evaluation of CLL from 1981 to 2004 were included. Univariate and multivariate analyses identified several patient characteristics at presentation that predicted for overall survival in previously untreated patients with CLL. A multivariate Cox proportional hazards model was developed, including the following independent characteristics: age, β-2 microglobulin, absolute lymphocyte count, sex, Rai stage, and number of involved lymph node groups. Inclusion of patients from a single institution and the proportion of patients younger than 65 years may limit this model. A weighted prognostic model, or nomogram, predictive for overall survival was constructed using these 6 characteristics for 5- and 10-year survival probability and estimated median survival time. This prognostic model may help patients and clinicians in clinical decision making as well as in clinical research and clinical trial design.


1991 ◽  
Vol 9 (5) ◽  
pp. 770-776 ◽  
Author(s):  
B Raphael ◽  
J W Andersen ◽  
R Silber ◽  
M Oken ◽  
D Moore ◽  
...  

The Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) conducted a study in which patients with advanced chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) were randomized between a regimen consisting of chlorambucil (30 mg/m2 orally day 1) and prednisone (80 mg orally days 1 to 5) (C + P) administered every 2 weeks and a more intensive regimen of cyclosphosphamide (300 mg/m2 orally days 1 to 5), vincristine (1.4 mg/m2 intravenously [IV] day 1), and prednisone (100 mg/m2 orally days 1 to 5) (CVP) given every 3 weeks. Treatment was continued for up to 18 months to maximal response. Of the 122 eligible patients, 60 received C + P, while 62 received CVP. With a median follow-up of 7 years, there were no significant differences in survival (4.8 v 3.9 years, P = .12), complete remission (CR) rate (25% v 23%; P = .83), or duration of response (2.0 v 1.9 years; P = .78) between C + P and CVP. Toxicity was modest despite the prolonged treatment. The long median survival of 4.1 years for stage III and IV patients is superior to that usually reported. This could stem from continuing treatment to maximal response rather than an increase in intensity of therapy. These results are comparable to those reported with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (CHOP) therapy by other investigators. The data suggest that intermittent C + P administered to maximal response continues to be the standard treatment approach for advanced CLL.


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