The prognostic value of MRD in large series of childhood T-ALL has not yet been established. Trial AIEOP-BFM-ALL 2000 introduced standardized quantitative assessment of MRD for stratification, based on immunoglobulin and TCR gene rearrangements as polymerase chain reaction targets: Patients were considered MRD standard risk (MRD-SR) if MRD was negative at day 33 (time point 1 [TP1]) and day 78 (TP2), analyzed by at least 2 sensitive markers;MRDintermediate risk (MRDIR) if positive either at day 33 or 78 and < 10+3at day 78; and MRD high risk (MRD-HR) if ≥ 10-3at day 78. A total of 464 patients with T-ALL were stratified by MRD: 16% of them were MRD-SR, 63% MRD-IR, and 21% MRD-HR. Their 7-year event-free-survival (SE)was 91.1% (3.5%), 80.6% (2.3%), and 49.8% (5.1%) (P < .001), respectively. Negativity of MRD at TP1 was the most favorable prognostic factor. An excellent outcome was also obtained in 32% of patients turning MRD negative only at TP2, indicating that early (TP1) MRD levels were irrelevant if MRD at TP2 was negative (48% of all patients).MRD≥ 10+3at TP2 constitutes the most important predictive factor for relapse in childhood T-ALL. The study is registered at http://www.clinicaltrials. gov; "Combination Chemotherapy Based on Risk of Relapse in Treating Young Patients With Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia," protocol identification#NCT00430118 for BFM and #NCT00613457 for AIEOP.

doi.org/10.1182/blood-2011-03-338707, hdl.handle.net/1765/31128
Blood
Erasmus MC: University Medical Center Rotterdam

Schrappe, M., Valsecchi, M. G., Bartram, C., Schrauder, A., Panzer-Grümayer, R., Möricke, A., … Conter, V. (2011). Late MRD response determines relapse risk overall and in subsets of childhood T-cell ALL: Results of the AIEOP-BFM-ALL 2000 study. Blood, 118(8), 2077–2084. doi:10.1182/blood-2011-03-338707