Conditions: Leukemia
Keywords: adult acute myeloid leukemia with 11q23 (MLL) abnormalities adult acute myeloid leukemia with inv(16)(p13;q22) adult acute myeloid leukemia with t(16;16)(p13;q22) adult acute myeloid leukemia with t(8;21)(q22;q22) untreated adult acute myeloid leukemia untreated childhood acute myeloid leukemia and other myeloid malignancies adult acute basophilic leukemia adult acute eosinophilic leukemia adult acute minimally differentiated myeloid leukemia (M0) adult acute myeloblastic leukemia without maturation (M1) adult acute myeloblastic leukemia with maturation (M2) adult acute myelomonocytic leukemia (M4) adult acute monoblastic leukemia (M5a) adult acute monocytic leukemia (M5b) adult erythroleukemia (M6a) adult pure erythroid leukemia (M6b) adult acute megakaryoblastic leukemia (M7) childhood acute basophilic leukemia childhood acute eosinophilic leukemia childhood acute minimally differentiated myeloid leukemia (M0) childhood acute myeloblastic leukemia without maturation (M1) childhood acute myeloblastic leukemia with maturation (M2) childhood acute myelomonocytic leukemia (M4) childhood acute monocytic leukemia (M5b) childhood acute monoblastic leukemia (M5a) childhood acute erythroleukemia (M6) childhood acute megakaryocytic leukemia (M7)
Allocation: RANDOMIZED | Intervention model: PARALLEL
Enrollment: 1070
Healthy volunteers: no

Brief summary:
RATIONALE: Drugs used in chemotherapy work in different ways to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping them from dividing. Monoclonal antibodies, such as gemtuzumab, can block cancer growth in different ways. Some block the ability of cancer cells to grow and spread. Others find cancer cells and help kill them or carry cancer-killing substances to them. Giving combination chemotherapy together with gemtuzumab may kill more cancer cells. It is not yet known whether combination chemotherapy is more effective with or without gemtuzumab in treating patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia.

PURPOSE: This randomized phase III trial is studying combination chemotherapy and gemtuzumab to see how well they work compared with combination chemotherapy alone in treating young patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia.

Detailed description:
OBJECTIVES:

Primary

* Compare the event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) of young patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) treated with conventional combination chemotherapy with vs without gemtuzumab ozogamicin (GMTZ).

Secondary

* Compare the remission induction rates after two courses of therapy in these patients.
* Compare disease-free survival and OS in patients who are eligible for an human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-matched family donor (MFD) stem cell transplant (SCT) by virtue of their risk classification, with patients assigned to MFD SCT if a MFD is available, or to chemotherapy if a MFD is not available.
* Determine the outcome of patients with Down syndrome who are 4 years of age or older at diagnosis and treated with conventional combination chemotherapy without GMTZ.
* Compare the EFS and OS of patients with de novo AML treated with conventional combination chemotherapy with vs without GMTZ censoring MFD SCT recipients.
* Determine the prevalence and prognostic significance of molecular abnormalities of KIT, CCAAT-enhancer binding protein alpha (CEBPα) and MLL-Partial tandem duplications (PTD) genes in these patients.
* Determine the leukemic involvement of hematopoietic early progenitor and its role in defining response to therapy.
* Assess the ability of a second-generation flow cytometric assay to predict patients at high risk for relapse during periods of clinical remission.
* Examine whether GMTZ significantly improves EFS and OS in patients with higher CD33 concentrations/intensity.
* Examine whether GMTZ significantly improves complete remission, EFS, and OS in each of the cytogenetic risk groups (high-, intermediate-, and low-risk) identified in prior Medical Research Council trials.
* Utilize fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis to identify variant patterns among subgroups of patients who demonstrate the same G-banded chromosomal abnormality (e.g., inv\[16\]/t\[16;16\], t\[8;21\], 11q23 abnormality) and determine whether these variant patterns account for the heterogeneity of responses to therapy.
* Examine the impact of complex karyotypes (≥ 3, ≥ 4, and ≥ 5 abnormalities) on OS and EFS in intermediate-risk patients for whom no high-risk or low-risk cytogenetic abnormalities exist.

OUTLINE: This is a randomized, multicenter study. Patients are stratified according to relapse risk (high vs intermediate vs low). Patients are randomized to 1 of 2 treatment arms. Patients with Down syndrome are nonrandomly assigned to arm I (but do not undergo allogeneic stem cell transplant \[SCT\]).

* Arm I (standard therapy):

  * Induction 1: Patients receive cytarabine IT at the time of diagnosis or on day 1\*. Patients also receive cytarabine IV on days 1-10, daunorubicin hydrochloride IV over 6 hours on days 1, 3, and 5, and etoposide IV over 4 hours on days 1-5. After 3 weeks of rest, all patients (regardless of remission status) proceed to induction 2.

NOTE: \*Patients with Central Nervous System (CNS) disease receive cytarabine IT twice weekly until the cerebrospinal fluid is clear, followed by two additional IT treatments. Patients with refractory CNS leukemia after 6 doses of IT treatment are removed from the study.

* Induction 2: Patients receive cytarabine IT on day 1, cytarabine IV on days 1-8, daunorubicin hydrochloride IV over 6 hours on days 1, 3, and 5, and etoposide IV over 4 hours on days 1-5. After 3 weeks of rest, patients in complete remission (CR) proceed to intensification 1. Patients with refractory disease are removed from protocol therapy.
* Intensification 1: Patients receive cytarabine IT on day 1, high-dose cytarabine IV over 1 hour on days 1-5, and etoposide IV over 1 hour on days 1-5. After 3 weeks of rest, patients in remission proceed to intensification 2, followed by intensification 3. Patients in remission proceed to allogeneic SCT 2-8 weeks after blood counts recover. Patients with high-risk disease with an alternative donor proceed to intensification 2 and 3, followed by allogeneic SCT. Patients not in remission are removed from protocol therapy.
* Intensification 2: Patients receive cytarabine IT on day 1, high-dose cytarabine IV over 2 hours on days 1-4, and mitoxantrone hydrochloride IV over 1 hour on days 3-6. After 3 weeks of rest, patients proceed to intensification 3.
* Intensification 3: Patients receive high-dose cytarabine IV over 3 hours on days 1, 2, 8, and 9 and asparaginase intramuscularly on days 2 and 9.

  * Arm II:
* Induction 1: Patients receive treatment as in induction 1 of arm I. Patients also receive gemtuzumab ozogamicin (GMTZ) IV over 2 hours on day 6.
* Induction 2: Patients receive treatment as in induction 2 of arm I.
* Intensification 1: Patients receive treatment as in intensification 1 of arm I.
* Intensification 2: Patients receive treatment as in intensification 2 of arm I. Patients also receive GMTZ IV over 2 hours on day 7.
* Intensification 3: Patients receive treatment as in intensification 3 of arm I.

  * Allogeneic SCT (for patients with intermediate- or high-risk disease):
* MFD: Patients receive a conditioning regimen comprising busulfan IV over 2 hours every 6 hours on days -9 to -6 and cyclophosphamide IV over 1 hour on days -5 to -2. Patients undergo allogeneic SCT on day 0. Patients receive cyclosporine IV or orally twice daily on days -1 to 180 and methotrexate IV on days 1, 3, 6, and 11. Patients receive graft-vs-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis comprising cyclosporine IV over 1-4 hours or orally twice daily on days -1 to 180 and methotrexate IV on days 1, 3, 6, and 11.
* Matched alternative donor: Patients receive a conditioning regimen comprising busulfan and cyclophosphamide as above. Patients also receive antithymocyte globulin IV over 6-8 hours on days -3 to -1. Patients then undergo allogeneic SCT and receive GVHD prophylaxis as above.

After completion of study treatment, patients are followed periodically for 3 years and then annually thereafter.

PROJECTED ACCRUAL: A total of 1,012 patients will be accrued for this study.

Arms:
arm 1: Patients receive intrathecal (IT) cytarabine (ARA-C) at diagnosis or on day 1 of treatment or twice a week for up to 6 doses. They also receive an infusion of ARA-C on days 1-10; a 6-hour infusion of daunorubicin hydrochloride on days 1, 3, and 5; and a 4-hr infusion of etoposide on days 1-5.

After 3 weeks of rest, patients receive IT ARA-C on day 1. They also receive an infusion of ARA-C on days 1-8; a 6-hr infusion of daunorubicin on days 1, 3, and 5; and a 4-hr infusion of etoposide on days 1-5.

After 3 weeks of rest, some patients receive IT ARA-C on day 1 and 1-hr infusions of ARA-C and etoposide on days 1-5.

After 3 weeks of rest, some patients receive IT ARA-C on day 1; a 2-hr infusion of ARA-C on days 1-4; and a 1-hour infusion of mitoxantrone on days 3-6. After 3 weeks of rest, they receive a 3-hr infusion of ARA-C on days 1, 2, 8, and 9 and an injection of asparaginase on days 2 and 9. arm 2: Pts receive IT ARA-C at diagnosis or on day 1 of treatment or twice a week for up to six doses. They also receive an infusion of ARA-C on days 1-10; a 6-hr infusion of daunorubicin on days 1, 3, \& 5; a 4-hr infusion of etoposide on days 1-5; and a 2-hr infusion of GMTZ - gemtuzumab ozogamicin (Mylotarg) on day 6. After 3 wks of rest, patients receive IT ARA-C on day 1. They also receive an infusion of ARA-C on days 1-8; a 6-hr infusion of daunorubicin on days 1, 3, and 5; and a 4-hr infusion of etoposide on days 1-5. After 3 weeks of rest, some patients receive IT ARA-C on day 1 and 1-hr infusions of ARA-C and etoposide on days 1-5. After 3 wks of rest, some patients receive IT ARA-C on day 1; a 2-hr infusion of ARA-C on days 1-4; and a 1-hr infusion of mitoxantrone hydrochloride on days 3-6. They also receive a 2-hr infusion of gemtuzumab on day 7. After 3 weeks of rest, they receive a 3-hr infusion of ARA-C on days 1, 2, 8, and 9 and an injection of asparaginase on days 2 and 9. arm 3: Patients receive intrathecal (IT) cytarabine (ARA-C) at diagnosis or on day 1 of treatment or twice a week for up to 6 doses. They also receive an infusion of ARA-C on days 1-10; a 6-hour infusion of daunorubicin hydrochloride on days 1, 3, and 5; and a 4-hr infusion of etoposide on days 1-5.

After 3 weeks of rest, patients receive IT ARA-C on day 1. They also receive an infusion of ARA-C on days 1-8; a 6-hr infusion of daunorubicin on days 1, 3, and 5; and a 4-hr infusion of etoposide on days 1-5.

After 3 weeks of rest, some patients receive IT ARA-C on day 1 and 1-hr infusions of ARA-C and etoposide on days 1-5.

After 3 weeks of rest, some patients receive IT ARA-C on day 1; a 2-hr infusion of ARA-C on days 1-4; and a 1-hour infusion of mitoxantrone on days 3-6. After 3 weeks of rest, they receive a 3-hr infusion of ARA-C on days 1, 2, 8, and 9 and an injection of asparaginase on days 2 and 9.

Interventions: intervention 1: asparaginase intervention 2: cytarabine intervention 3: daunorubicin hydrochloride intervention 4: etoposide intervention 5: gemtuzumab ozogamicin intervention 6: mitoxantrone hydrochloride
Intervention descriptions: intervention 1: Given intramuscularly intervention 2: Given IV intervention 3: Given IV over 6 hours intervention 4: Given IV over 1-4 hours intervention 5: Given IV over 2 hours intervention 6: Given IV over 1 hour

Protocol document: