Elliott, Michelle A.

Abstract Two prospectively studied patients with polycythemia vera (PV) whose platelet counts showed marked periodic fluctuation during treatment with hydroxyurea (HU) are reported. Cycle lengths in both were approximately 28 to 30 days. In one patient, the cyclic process was no longer evident when treatment with HU was withheld, and it reappeared on treatment rechallenge. Circulating thrombopoietin (TPO) levels fluctuated out of phase with the platelet count despite markedly reduced TPO-receptor (c-Mpl) expression in bone marrow megakaryocytes. These observations suggest that the cyclic phenomenon may be related to both a transient state of HU-induced depletion of megakaryocytes and a concentration-dependent mitigation by TPO of the HU effect on megakaryocytes and their precursors. It is conceivable that the affected patients harbor a megakaryocyte progenitor pool whose apoptotic activity is differently modulated by either HU or high concentrations of TPO.

Background: Therapy-related MDS/AML (t-MDS/AML) is a common and devastating complication of treatment with alkylating agents and topoisomerase II inhibitors, often employed with curative intent, in standard or high-doses, in the treatment of hematological malignancies and solid tumors. Allogeneic HSC transplant is considered the standard treatment for t-MDS/AML but its applicability is limited by the unavailability of donors, comorbidities in the recipient and risk of acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease. Patients carrying diseases commonly treated with high-dose chemotherapy and autologous HSC transplant (such as multiple myeloma and non-Hodgkin lymphoma) who latter develop t-MDS/AML occasionally have stored HSC harvested prior to the diagnosis of the secondary malignancy (hereafter called early-stored HSC). The benefit of using early-stored HSC to support myeloablative therapy for the treatment t-MDS/AML is unknown. Methods: Retrospective, single center analysis of patients with t-MDS/AML receiving myeloablative chemotherapy with or without irradiation supported with early-stored HSC. Results: Six patients received early-stored HSC transplant for treatment of t-MDS/AML between 2000 and 2007. Median age at the time of the transplant was 57 years (range 15–71). Three patients had been primarily diagnosed with follicular lymphoma, 2 with multiple myeloma and 1 with Ewing’s sarcoma. One patient had received prior autologous HSC transplantation. Two patients developed AML, 1 patient CMML, 1 patient RCMD, 1 patient RAEB1 and 1 patient RAEB2. Median time from diagnosis of primary malignancy to HSC harvesting was 26 (2–122) months and from harvesting to development of t-MDS/AML 44 (7–79) months. Conditioning regimen was Cy/TBI in three patients, BuCy in 2 patients and Samarium + Melphalan in one patient. Five patients engrafted neutrophils and 4 patients engrafted platelets 10–34 and 13–126 days after transplant respectively. In 3/6 patients there was disappearance of the pre-transplant chromosomic abnormality (2 patients -7 and 1 patient -7 and t(1;7)). Two patients obtained hematologic CR and two patients obtained CR without full recovery of platelets. One patient died of sepsis 230 days after transplant, one died with refractory disease on day 103 after transplant and one patient is alive with recurrence of t-MDS. Three patients are alive and free of disease 7, 73 and 87 months after transplant. Conclusion: Myeloablative conditioning followed by autologous, early-stored HSC transplant can provide prolonged survival to patients with tMDS/AML not suitable to allogeneic SCT.

Abstract Background The timing of SCT for treatment of AML after first relapse is controversial, i.e.,whether to proceed to SCT at the time of relapse or to proceed to chemotherapy re-induction first in an attempt to reach a second remission. The purpose of this study is to determine the optimal time of allogeneic SCT in AML patients in first relapse by comparing outcomes of allogeneic SCT between patients untreated and patients post re-induction chemotherapy. Method This retrospective study was approved by the Mayo Foundation IRB. Between February 1983 and March 2003, 60 patients with AML in untreated first relapse (REL1) or post re-induction chemotherapy (CT) underwent allogeneic SCT in Mayo Clinic, Rochester. Study outcome included overall survival (OS), disease free survival (DFS), and transplant related mortality (TRM). The outcome was compared between the patients who underwent allogeneic SCT at REL1 and CT. Survival was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier (KM) and groups were compared statistically with the log-rank test. Result Of the 60 patients receiving allogeneic SCT , 25 patients and 35 patients underwent SCT at REL1 and CT, respectively. In the group of CT, 23 patients (66%) achieved CR2 while 12 patients (34%) had refractory disease. Forty-nine of 60 patients received cyclophosphamide and total body irradiation (Cy/TBI) as a conditioning regimen and the remainder received busulfan and cyclophosphamide( Bu/Cy). Patients in REL1 were older at SCT (median age 38 vs 31 years p= 0.024 ) and had lower percentage blast cells in bone marrow at first relapse (median 15% vs 50% p=0.00095) than in CT group. Difference in other baseline characteristics were not significant. KM analysis showed that the two groups did not show statistically differences in OS (p=0.43), DFS (p=0.68), and TRM (p=0.25). However, there were trends toward longer median OS (26.2 vs 5.4 months) and DFS (11.9 vs 3.3 months) with REL1 versus CT. OS at 1 year was 56 % for REL1 and 34.3 % for CT and at 5 year 32.1 % and 28.6 %, respectively. DFS at 1 year was 48 % for REL1 and 31.4 % for CT and at 5 years 22.9 % and 24.5 % respectively. TRM at 1 year was 25% for REL1 and 40 % for CT. A univariate Cox Proportional Hazard analysis for survival showed that unfavorable cytogenetics at diagnosis and relapse, antecedent MDS, and shorter duration of CR1 were significantly associated with a higher risk of death. Higher percentage of blast cells in bone marrow at first relapse was not significantly associated with a higher risk of death. In a multivariate model, unfavorable cytogenetics at first relapse and shorter duration of CR1 were both significantly associated with an increased risk of death. In this study, even after adjusting for other factors in a multivariate model, the difference between REL1 and CT groups was not statistically significant. Conclusion This study suggests that outcome of allogeneic SCT was comparable between REL1 and CT. Patients with AML in first relapse may proceed to allogeneic SCT because there appear to be no statistical differences in REL1 versus re-induction chemotherapy before SCT. REL1 patients tended to have a better outcome than CT patients.

Abstract Background: Neutropenia is the most common predisposing factor that increases the susceptibility of cancer patients (pts) to infection. The use of fluoroquinolones (FQs) as prophylaxis during chemotherapy-induced neutropenia has been shown to decrease the frequency of gram-negative (GN) infections (Cullen et al. NEJM 2005) with the benefit of reduced infection-related mortality in neutropenic pts with cancer (Bucaneve et al. NEJM 2005) and was instituted as part of our institution-wide standard clinical practice in January 2006. The widespread use of FQs for prophylaxis of pts with neutropenia and hematologic malignancies raises concerns about the evolving resistance of organisms. Methods: This retrospective observational study compared acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and acute lymphoid leukemia (ALL) pts, ages 18 and older who were admitted to the hematology service and received levofloxacin prophylaxis (LEVP) within 60 days of admission with those who were admitted but did not receive LEVP during the period of chemotherapy-induced neutropenia. Pts had to have a positive sterile site culture up to 96 hours prior to admission excluding Staphylococcus coagulase negative, Propionibacterium, Corynebacterium, and other common colonizing organisms. Analysis also compared the rates of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections, positive Vancomycin-resistant Enterococci (VRE) swabs, and positive Clostridium difficile cultures and evaluated them for a correlation LEVP. Results: A total of 213 pts were evaluated between September 2004 and May 2007. Ninety-four pts received LEVP and 119 did not. Patient characteristics were similar between groups. There was a shift from almost equal incidence of gram-positive (GP) and GN cultures in the group without prophylaxis (51% vs 49%, respectively) to a predominance of GP cultures with LEVP (68% vs 32%, respectively). There was a significant decrease in the number of sterile site cultures of GN organisms (n = 94 vs 37, respectively), while cultures of GP organisms remained similar (n = 98 vs. 77, respectively). GN organisms in sterile site cultures occurred less often in the LEVP group, however; the incidence of resistance to levofloxacin in GN was higher (32% vs 15%), particularly the susceptibility profiles of Pseudomonas sp., Escherichia coli, and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia. Both groups had equal cultures of Staphylococcus aureus, but the group receiving LEVP had a greater incidence of MRSA (55% vs 30%). Rates of positive VRE swabs declined and had no apparent correlation with the use of levofloxacin as prophylaxis. There were more documented positive Clostridium difficile cultures in the pts receiving LEVP (29% vs 22%, respectively), but rates of Clostridium difficile have shown a constant increase throughout the institution; therefore, LEVP should not be considered the sole contributing factor to an increased rate of positive cultures. Conclusions: The epidemiology and microbial susceptibility profile of positive sterile site cultures of acute leukemia pts receiving LEVP during chemotherapy-induced neutropenia differed from those that did not. The LEVP group had a decrease in the absolute number of sterile site cultures, number and percent of GN sterile site cultures. There was an increase in GN organism resistance to levofloxacin and the incidence of several GP organisms increased with the number of GP organisms remaining constant.

Two prospectively studied patients with polycythemia vera (PV) whose platelet counts showed marked periodic fluctuation during treatment with hydroxyurea (HU) are reported. Cycle lengths in both were approximately 28 to 30 days. In one patient, the cyclic process was no longer evident when treatment with HU was withheld, and it reappeared on treatment rechallenge. Circulating thrombopoietin (TPO) levels fluctuated out of phase with the platelet count despite markedly reduced TPO-receptor (c-Mpl) expression in bone marrow megakaryocytes. These observations suggest that the cyclic phenomenon may be related to both a transient state of HU-induced depletion of megakaryocytes and a concentration-dependent mitigation by TPO of the HU effect on megakaryocytes and their precursors. It is conceivable that the affected patients harbor a megakaryocyte progenitor pool whose apoptotic activity is differently modulated by either HU or high concentrations of TPO.

Abstract Peripheral blood infused total autograft absolute lymphocyte count (A-ALC) correlates with day 15 absolute lymphocyte count and is an independent prognostic factor for survival after autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) for non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL). Factors to enhance A-ALC collections are not well defined. We hypothesize that the number of peripheral blood apheresis collections (PBAC) directly correlates with A-ALC. 190 consecutive NHL patients who underwent ASCT at the Mayo Clinic between 1993 and 2001 were analyzed. The primary end point of the study was to assess the correlation between the number of PBAC and A-ALC. The secondary end point was to determine if the number of PBAC affected survival post-ASCT. Of the 190 patients, 18 patients underwent 1 PBAC, 23 patients 2 PBAC, 50 patients 3 PBAC, 37 patients 4 PBAC, 50 patients 5 PBAC, and 12 patients had ≥ 6 PBAC. There was no association between the number of PBAC and the number of CD34+ stem cells collected (p= 0.25). A strong association between number of PBAC and A-ALC (Kruskall Wallis test, p <0.0001)(Figure 1) was identified. Using a cut-off of 4 PBAC, superior overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) were observed for patients that underwent 4 PBAC or more compared to patients that underwent less than 4 PBAC (86 months vs 18 months, p <0.0001; 76 months vs 10 months, p <0.0001, respectively). Multivariate analysis demonstrated PBAC ≥ 4 is an independent prognostic factor for OS (RR = 0.654, 95%CI: 0.529–0.804, p< 0.0001) and for PFS (RR = 0.682, 95%CI: 0.561–0.826, p< 0.0001) when compared with other significant factors including performance status, lactate dehydrogenase and extra nodal disease. These data suggest that increasing the number of PBAC beyond the minimum number required to meet CD34+ collection targets may result in improved overall and progression-free survival mediated by an increase in autograft absolute lymphocyte count.

Abstract Abstract 3915 Poster Board III-851 Background Thromboembolic disease (TE) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in polycythemia vera (PV) and essential thrombocythemia (ET). There is limited information on the prevalence of TE in primary myelofibrosis (PMF) and associated prognostic factors. Methods Study patients were recruited form the Mayo Clinic database for PMF. Diagnosis was according to the 2001 WHO criteria. Clinical and laboratory information was collected at time of diagnosis and correlated with the occurrence of TE in general and arterial (AT) or venous (VT) thrombosis in particular. Leukocytosis was defined as a leukocyte count of > 10 × 109/L. Qualitative JAK2V617F analysis was done according to previously published PCR-based methods. In addition, a subset of the study patients underwent quantitative PCR for JAK2V617F and rs12343867 SNP genotyping (performed by a commercially available Taqman assay). All molecular studies were performed on stored bone marrow. Standard statistical methods were used to test significance of associations between thrombosis and other variables. Results 207 patients with PMF were studied (median age 62, range 28-87; 132 males). At presentation, the median (range) of hemoglobin (Hb), leukocytes (WBC) and platelets (plt) were 11 g/dl (6.4-15.4), 8.6 × 109/L (0.8-156.7) and 273 × 109/L (13-1916), respectively. Dupriez prognostic scores at diagnosis were low, intermediate and high in 57%, 33% and 10% of the patients, respectively. 130 (63%) patients were JAK2V617F positive. Among 73 patients in whom quantitative JAK2V617F analysis was performed, the mutation was not detected in 30 (41%) patients and the median mutant allele burden in the 43 mutation-positive patients was 28% (range 1-85). The same 73 patients had rs12343867 SNP genotyping performed that revealed C/C genotype in 14 (19%) patients, C/T in 34 (47%) and T/T in 25 (34%). At or before diagnosis, a total of 29 patients (14 %) had TE: 23 (11%) AT and 9 (4%) VT. The AT included acute coronary syndromes (ACS; n=19), transient ischemic attack/ cerebrovascular accidents (TIA/CVA; n=6) and peripheral arterial thrombosis (PAT; n=1). The VT included abdominal vein thrombosis (AVT; n=4), deep vein thrombosis/pulmonary embolism (DVT/PE; n=6) and dural sinus thrombosis (n=1). Several patients had more than one event and some both AT and VT. During follow-up, 22 (11%) patients experienced TE: 17 (8%) VT and 8 (4%) AT. The post-diagnosis VT included AVT (n=8), DVT/PE (n=13) and both DVT/PE and AVT (n=4). Post-diagnosis AT included CVA (n=4), TIA (n=1), ACS (n=2) and PAT (n=1). AT at or before diagnosis was associated with advanced age (p=0.003) but not with sex, leukocytosis, hemoglobin level, platelet count, JAK2 mutational status, JAK2 mutant allele burden or rs12343867 SNP genotype. VT at or before diagnosis also did not correlate with all these variables or age. These variables were also evaluated regarding their relationship with post-diagnosis AT, which showed significant associations with hemoglobin level (p=0.006), platelet count (p=0.04) and high JAK2V617F allele burden (0.03). The corresponding significant variables for post-diagnosis VT were leukocytosis (p=0.02) and high JAK2V617F allele burden (p=0.01). Of note, AT or VT at or before diagnosis did not predict post-diagnosis events. During multivariable analysis, only higher hemoglobin level predicted post-diagnosis AT. Conclusion The current study provides an accurate description of both arterial and venous thrombotic events in PMF. The association between higher hemoglobin and leukocyte counts at diagnosis and post-diagnosis occurrence, respectively, of arterial and venous thrombosis is similar to observations in patients with PV or ET and suggests a potential benefit from early institution of cytoreductive therapy for the appropriate patient groups. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Abstract Background: POEMS syndrome is a devastating syndrome, characterized by peripheral neuropathy, organomegaly, endocrinopathy, monoclonal plasma cells, skin changes, papilledema, volume overload, sclerotic bone lesions, thrombocytosis, & high VEGF. We noted an unexpectedly high transplant related morbidity, which we have since postulated to be ES. Methods: 30 patients with POEMS were treated with PBSCT at Mayo Clinic Rochester. We retrospectively studied outcomes, with an emphasis on treatment related morbidity. Two definitions of ES were used: Spitzer (BMT 2001) and Maiolino (BMT 2003). Results: Two-thirds were male. Median age was 48, range 20–70. Time from first symptoms and diagnosis was 26 and 4 months, respectively. To mobilize stem cells, CTX/G-CSF was used in 5 & G-CSF in the remainder. Conditioning was Mel200 (n=19), Mel140 (n=10), and BEAM (n=1). Post-transplant 15 had GM-CSF begun day+6. Only 10% remained outpatient, and median time to discharge from hospital was transplant day 17 (range 0–175). Factors predicting for later dismissal included age (p=0.04), abnormal CXR 7 to 17 days post transplant (p<0.0001), & bolus corticosteroids (CS) beyond day 12 post-transplant (p=0.006). Ninety-three percent had fever, although only 9 had bacteremia. Eight satisfied criteria for ES according to Spitzer and 14 according to Maiolino. Another 3 patients received steroid bolus days 8, 12, and 11 for presumed ES but did not meet criteria because of delayed ANC recovery (days 16, 18, and 20, respectively). Of the 5 patients requiring endotracheal intubation, 3 satisfied Maiolino’s criteria for ES. Although these 3 received bolus CS during their course, administration was delayed at 18, 14, and 18 days. The patient whose CS bolus antedated intubation only received prednisone 30 mg/day. In toto, fourteen patients received bolus CS (daily doses between 20 and 1200 mg prednisone equivalents) commencing day 8 to 59. Those 7 patients who received CS before day 13 did better than the 7 who received them day 13 or later (Table). Conclusions: It is essential to recognize that nearly 50% of patients satisfied formal criteria for ES as defined by Maiolino. In these patients ES may run a self-limited course or lead to catastrophe. No Steroid (n=16) Steroid ≤ D12 (n=7) Steroid > D12 (n=7) P *Engraftment syndrome according to definition of Maiolino (M) or of Spitzer (S). ES M / S, n* 5 / 2 4 / 4 5 / 2 NA Wt change, % 0.6 (−.4.2–6.7) 6.7 (3.6–27.2) 11.2 (–2.1–23.2) 0.005 Rash, % 27 71 43 0.13 Diarrhea, % 73 86 86 0.71 Tmax, C 39 (37.8–41) 40.1 (39–41.1) 38.9 (38.7–40.8) 0.08 1st fever, day 10 (6–15) 8 (7–9) 12 (8–146) 0.007 Abn CXR1, % 13 71 71 0.03 Ventilator, % 0 14 71 0.004 First WBC, day 12 (8–21) 14 (12–14) 14 (12–17) 0.03 ANC500, day 15 (12–29) 16 (14–115) 18 (15–45) 0.08 PLT20, day 12 (8–41) 20 (11–115) 24 (9–170) 0.05 PLT50, day 15 (11–192) 32 (16–115) 56 (13–551) 0.03 RBCs, units 3 (2–8) 6 (4–31) 11 (6–64) 0.0008 PLTS, aph. units 2 (1–9) 9 (4–51) 18 (4–60) 0.0004 Hosp dsm, day 15 (13–36) 21 (15–69) 41 (16–175) 0.009