Combination of Mitoxantrone,Ara-C and Homoharringtonine In Treatment of Refractory and Relapsed Acute Myeloid Leukemia

Abstract 4294

Advances in effective chemotherapy have improved clinical outcomes in acute leukemia in recent years. 5-year survival rate approaches 50–60% for acute myeloid leukemia (AML). However, the prognosis remains poor for patients who are relapsed or refractory to first-line therapy. Drug resistance and early disease recurrence are major contributing factors in the limited survival of patients with AML. The strategy for treating these patients is through reinduction chemotherapy followed by allogeneic stem cell transplantation. New combinations of different agents were employed in refractory patients to overcome drug resistance. The current study is to evaluate the efficacy of a MAH regimen comprising Mitoxantrone,Ara-C and Homoharringtonine in refractory or relapsed AML. 37 patients aged 14–65 years with refractory or relapsed AML (15 refractory AML patients, 22 relapsed AML patients) were treated with the MAH regimen(Mitoxantrone 10mg qd, iv.gtt, for 2□‘3 days;Ara-C 100mg bid, iv.gtt, for 5□‘7 days; Homoharringtonine 4mg qd iv.gtt, for 5□‘7 days). Chemotherapy duration lasted for 5 or 7days depended on bone marrow cellurarity. 15 (40.5%)and 1 (2.7%) patients achieved complete remission (CR) and partial remission (PR) respectively. The overall response rate was 43.2%. There was no relation between remission duration and previous chemotherapy. All patients who achieved CR received a consolidation and intensification therapy. The median overall survival (OS) for all patients was 97 days (range 18–487 d). For the patients who were in CR or PR,the median relapse-free survival(RFS) was 147 days(range 4 to 341 d). All patients experienced profound myelosuppression. The most common observed side effect of the regimen was infection because of grade ‡W neutropenia, which could be observed in 33 patients(89.1%). 4 patients died in aplasia due to severe infection and brain hemorrhage. In patients achieving remission, the median time to reach absolute neutrophil count (ANC) more than 0.5×109/l was (16.0±6.4)d. Platelet levels of more than 20×109/l were achieved in a median time of (12.7±6.2)d. Nonhematological side effects, consisting mainly of gastrointestinal toxicity(21/37,56.8%) and transient liver ALT and AST increase (4/37), were generally mild to moderate and tolerated. To a conclusion, MAH regimen can be employed in treatment of the refractory or relapsed AML patients who were not responded to other regimen. It is effective and is good tolerant.It could provide some refractory patients the chance to receive hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.