Response to therapy as determined by minimal residual disease (MRD) is currently used for stratification in treatment protocols for pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). However, the large MRD-based medium risk group (MRD-M; 50-60% of the patients) harbors many relapses. We analyzed MRD in 131 uniformly treated precursor-B-ALL patients and evaluated whether combined MRD and IKZF1 (Ikaros zinc finger-1) alteration status can improve risk stratification. We confirmed the strong prognostic significance of MRD classification, which was independent of IKZF1 alterations. Notably, 8 of the 11 relapsed cases in the large MRD-M group (n=81; 62%) harbored an IKZF1 alteration. Integration of both MRD and IKZF1 status resulted in a favorable outcome group (n=104; 5 relapses) and a poor outcome group (n=27; 19 relapses), and showed a stronger prognostic value than each of the established risk factors alone (hazard ratio (95%CI): 24.98 (8.29-75.31)). Importantly, whereas MRD and IKZF1 status alone identified only 46 and 54% of the relapses, respectively, their integrated use allowed prediction of 79% of all the relapses with 93% specificity. Because of the unprecedented sensitivity in upfront relapse prediction, the combined parameters have high potential for future risk stratification, particularly for patients originally classified as non-high risk, such as the large group of MRD-M patients.Leukemia advance online publication, 19 November 2010; doi:10.1038/leu.2010.275.

doi.org/10.1038/leu.2010.275, hdl.handle.net/1765/21801
Leukemia
Erasmus MC: University Medical Center Rotterdam

Waanders, E., van der Velden, V., van der Schoot, E., van Leeuwen, F. N., van Reijmersdal, S., de Haas, V., … van Dongen, J. (2011). Integrated use of minimal residual disease classification and IKZF1 alteration status accurately predicts 79% of relapses in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Leukemia, 25(2), 254–258. doi:10.1038/leu.2010.275