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Acute Leukemias

Increased risk for CNS relapse in pre-B cell leukemia with the t(1;19)/TCF3-PBX1

Leukemia volume 23, pages 1406–1409 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

To evaluate the impact of contemporary therapy on the clinical outcome of children with pre-B acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and the t(1;19)/TCF3/PBX1, we analyzed 735 patients with B-cell precursor ALL treated in four successive protocols at St Jude Children's Research Hospital. The 41 patients with the t(1;19) had a comparable event-free survival to that of the 694 patients with other B-cell precursor ALL (P=0.63; 84.2±7.1% (s.e.) vs 84.0±1.8% at 5 years). However, patients with the t(1;19) had a lower cumulative incidence of any hematological relapse (P=0.06; 0 vs 8.3±1.2% at 5 years) but a significantly higher incidence of central nervous system (CNS) relapse (P<0.001; 9.0±5.1% vs 1.0±0.4% at 5 years). In a multivariate analysis, the t(1;19) was an independent risk factor for isolated CNS relapse. These data suggest that with contemporary treatment, patients with the t(1;19) and TCF3/PBX1 fusion have a favorable overall outcome but increased risk of CNS relapse.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported in part by a Cancer Center Support Grant (CA21765) from the National Cancer Institute and by the American Lebanese Syrian Associated Charities (ALSAC). Dr Pui is the American Cancer Society Professor.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Oncology, St Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA

    S Jeha, J T Sandlund, R C Ribeiro, J E Rubnitz, S C Howard & C-H Pui

  2. Department of Biostatistics, St Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA

    D Pei & C Cheng

  3. Department of Pathology, St Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA

    S C Raimondi, M Onciu, D Campana & J R Downing

  4. Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences St Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA

    W E Evans & M V Relling

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  1. S Jeha
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  13. M V Relling
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Correspondence to S Jeha.

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Jeha, S., Pei, D., Raimondi, S. et al. Increased risk for CNS relapse in pre-B cell leukemia with the t(1;19)/TCF3-PBX1. Leukemia 23, 1406–1409 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/leu.2009.42

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