Clofarabine added to intensive treatment in adult patients with newly diagnosed ALL: the HOVON-100 trial

Anita W. Rijneveld*, Bronno van der Holt, the Dutch-Belgian HOVON Cooperative group, Okke de Weerdt, Bart J. Biemond, Arjen A. van de Loosdrecht, Lotte E. van der Wagen, Mar Bellido, Michel van Gelder, Walter J.F.M. van der Velden, Dominik Selleslag, Danie€lle van Lammeren-Venema, Constantijn J.M. Halkes, Rob Fijnheer, Violaine Havelange, Geerte L. van Sluis, Marie Cecile Legdeur, Dries Deeren, Alain Gadisseur, Harm A.M. SinnigeDimitri A. Breems, Aurelie Jaspers, Ollivier Legrand, Wim E. Terpstra, Rinske S. Boersma, Dominiek Mazure, Agnes Triffet, Lidwine W. Tick, Karolien Beel, Johan A. Maertens, H. Berna Beverloo, Marleen Bakkus, Christa H.E. Homburg, Valerie de Haas, Vincent H.J. van der Velden, Jan J. Cornelissen

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

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Abstract

Clofarabine (CLO) is a nucleoside analog with efficacy in relapsed/refractory acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). This randomized phase 3 study aimed to evaluate whether CLO added to induction and whether consolidation would improve outcome in adults with newly diagnosed ALL. Treatment of younger (18-40 years) patients consisted of a pediatric-inspired protocol, and for older patients (41-70 years), a semi-intensive protocol was used. Three hundred and forty patients were randomized. After a median follow-up of 70 months, 5-year event-free survival (EFS) was 50% and 53% for arm A and B (CLO arm). For patients #40 years, EFS was 58% vs 65% in arm A vs B, whereas in patients .40 years, EFS was 43% in both arms. Complete remission (CR) rate was 89% in both arms and similar in younger and older patients. Minimal residual disease (MRD) was assessed in 200 patients (60%). Fifty-four of 76 evaluable patients (71%) were MRD2 after consolidation 1 in arm A vs 75/81 (93%) in arm B (P 5 .001). Seventy (42%) patients proceeded to allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in both arms. Five-year overall survival (OS) was similar in both arms: 60% vs 61%. Among patients achieving CR, relapse rates were 28% and 24%, and nonrelapse mortality was 16% vs 17% after CR. CLO-treated patients experienced more serious adverse events, more infections, and more often went off protocol. This was most pronounced in older patients. We conclude that, despite a higher rate of MRD negativity, addition of CLO does not improve outcome in adults with ALL, which might be due to increased toxicity.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1115-1125
Number of pages11
JournalBlood advances
Volume6
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 22 Feb 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information: The authors would like to thank all laboratory technicians at Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, Sanquin in Amsterdam, VUB in Brussels, and SKION in Utrecht, all in the Netherlands. They would also like to thank the local institutional data managers as well as the HOVON Data Center Trial team for their support. The authors would also like to thank the members of the Data Safety and Monitoring Board: R. Pieters (Utrecht, The Netherlands), N. Gokbuget € (Frankfurt, Germany), and V. Levy (Paris, France). The authors thank The Dutch Cancer Foundation for financial support (grant 2008-4330). This investigator-sponsored trial was financially supported by Sanofi-Genzyme, and the drug clofarabine was provided free of charge.

Publisher Copyright: © 2022 by The American Society of Hematology.

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