A placebo-controlled study of recombinant human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor administered during and after induction treatment for de novo acute myelogenous leukemia in elderly patients. Groupe Ouest Est Leucémies Aiguës Myéloblastiques (GOELAM). Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor after initial chemotherapy for elderly patients with primary acute myelogenous leukemia. Cancer and Leukemia Group B. Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor associated with induction treatment of acute myelogenous leukemia: a randomized trial by the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Leukemia Cooperative Group. Prophylactic granulocyte transfusions: results of a randomized controlled trial in patients with acute myelogenous leukemia. A controlled trial of prophylactic granulocyte transfusions during initial induction chemotherapy for acute myelogenous leukemia. Use of recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor to increase chemotherapy dose-intensity: a randomized trial in very high-risk childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
The complete remission (CR) rate after intensive chemotherapy for acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) remains low in elderly patients, mainly because of a higher infectious mortality rate related to neutropenia and an increased incidence of adverse prognostic factors. Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) has been shown to potentially recruit leukemic blasts into cell cycle and improve cytotoxic effects when given during chemotherapy, and to shorten the duration of neutropenia when administered after chemotherapy. Two hundred forty patients aged 55 to 75 years who had newly diagnosed AML were randomly assigned to receive placebo or Escherichia coli-derived GM-CSF (5 micrograms/kg/d by 6-hour intravenous infusion) starting during induction chemotherapy on day 1 and continued through and after chemotherapy until recovery of neutrophils, or evidence of regrowth of leukemia, or up to day 28. Induction chemotherapy consisted of idarubicin (8 mg/m2/d on days 1 to 5) and cytarabine (100 mg/m2/d on days 1 to 7). The study drug was not administered subsequent to the induction course. Patients who achieved a CR received continuous maintenance therapy for 1 year with four quarterly reinduction courses; in the 55- to 64-year age subgroup, patients were randomly assigned to receive or not a consolidation course before maintenance therapy. The CR rate was similar in the GM-CSF and placebo groups (63% and 60.5%, respectively; P = .79). The mortality, rate of resistant disease, and rate of regrowth of leukemia were also similar in both groups. The time to neutrophil recovery was shorter in patients who received GM-CSF (24 v 29 days; P = .0001), but the incidence and characteristics of infectious events were not different. The 2-year disease-free survival (DFS) rate was significantly improved in the GM-CSF group (48% v 21% in the placebo group; P = .003). This effect was highly significant in the cohort of patients aged 55 to 64, but only marginal in patients >/=65 years of age. There was a trend toward a longer overall survival (OS) in the GM-CSF group (P = .082). In summary, the administration of GM-CSF, concomitantly with chemotherapy and thereafter during induction course in AML, shortened the time to neutrophil recovery, but did not improve the CR rate in patients aged 55 to 75. Nonetheless, DFS and OS were significantly prolonged in patients aged 55 to 64 treated with GM-CSF. These results are promising and further evaluation of myeloid growth factors in AML is warranted. Elderly patients with primary acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) are less likely to enter remission than younger adults, in part because of a higher mortality rate related to severe myelosuppression. Granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) has been shown to shorten the duration of neutropenia and decrease infectious complications when administered after chemotherapy to patients with lymphomas and solid tumors.
                We randomly assigned 388 patients 60 years of age or older who had newly diagnosed primary AML to receive placebo or GM-CSF (5 micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day intravenously over a period of six hours) in a double-blind manner, beginning the day after the completion of three days of daunorubicin (45 mg per square meter of body-surface area per day) and seven days of cytarabine (200 mg per square meter per day by continuous intravenous infusion). If leukemia cells persisted in the marrow three weeks after the initiation of chemotherapy, further daunorubicin (two days) and cytarabine (five days) were administered. GM-CSF or placebo was given daily until the neutrophil count was at least 1000 per cubic millimeter, there was evidence of the regrowth of leukemia, or severe toxic effects attributable to the study infusion occurred. Patients who had a complete remission were then randomly assigned to receive one of two intensification regimens.
                Of 388 patients (median age, 69 years), 193 were randomly assigned to receive GM-CSF and 195 to placebo. The rate of complete remission was 51 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 44 to 59 percent) among those assigned to GM-CSF and 54 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 47 to 61 percent) among those assigned to receive placebo (P = 0.61). The reasons for failure (early death, death during marrow hypoplasia, and persistent leukemia), the incidence of severe or lethal infection, and the incidence of the regrowth of leukemia (2 percent overall) were similar in the two groups. The median duration of neutropenia was slightly shorter (P = 0.02) in the patients who received GM-CSF (15 days) than in those who received placebo (17 days), but the clinical importance of this result was minimal because the growth factor failed to lower the treatment-related mortality rate or improve the rate of complete remission.
                GM-CSF, in the dose and schedule we used, does not stimulate the regrowth of leukemia, but it also does not decrease the severe myelosuppressive consequences of initial chemotherapy or improve the response rate in patients 60 years of age or older with primary AML. It should not be recommended for use in such patients. To assess the value of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) for induction treatment of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), both for priming of leukemic cells and for acceleration of hematopoietic recovery.
                GM-CSF was administered 5 micrograms/kg/d by continuous intravenous (i.v.) infusion during induction therapy with daunorubicin (DNR) (days 1 to 3) and cytarabine (ARA-C) (days 1 to 7). A total of 102 patients were randomized onto four arms, as follows: (1) GM-CSF 24 hours before and during chemotherapy (arm +/-); (2) GM-CSF after chemotherapy until day 28 or recovery of polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) (arm -/+);(3) GM-CSF before, during, and after chemotherapy (arm +/+); or (4) no GM-CSF (arm -/-). Stopping rules were applied in case of an initial WBC count greater than 30 x 10(9)/L or a secondary increase of circulating blast cells. Analyses were performed according to the intention-to-treat principle.
                The complete remission (CR) rates were 77% (arm -/-), 72% (arm +/-), 48% (arm -/+), and 46% (arm +/+). Patients randomized to receive GM-CSF after induction (arms -/+ and +/+) had a significantly lower CR rate (P = .008) and a trend toward accelerated recovery of neutrophils, but no fewer infections or induction deaths. The lower CR rate appeared to be related to an increased resistance rate, with persistent leukemia. The main side effects of GM-CSF were fluid retention and hypotension.
                GM-CSF administered during induction treatment of AML with a DNR/Ara-C combination did not provide any clinical benefit. Furthermore, there was a significant decrease in the CR rate with more persistent leukemia when GM-CSF was administered during the hypoplastic phase after the chemotherapy courses. A prospective randomized and controlled clinical trial of prophylactic granulocyte transfusions was conducted in an attempt to reduce the mortality from infection in newly diagnosed adults with acute myelogenous leukemia. Granulocytes were harvested from normal donors by cytapheresis, and transfused patients received a median of 1.45 x 10(10) granulocytes (range 0.28--3.45 x 10(10)) on alternate days during marrow aplasia caused by initial induction chemotherapy. Transfusion were started if the absolute peripheral granulocyte count was less than 500 microliters. Thirteen patients received from one to 12 granulocyte transfusions, and 11 control patients received no granulocytes. No significant advantage was demonstrated in the transfused patients compared with controls with regard to the following: 1) deaths due to infection, 2) reduction in the frequency of febrile episodes, 3) delay in the onset of fever, 4) reduction in the length of febrile episodes, or 5) reduction in the frequency of proven infection. To evaluate the role of prophylactic granulocyte transfusions during remission-induction chemotherapy for acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) we randomized 102 infected patients either to receive daily granulocyte transfusions when blood granulocytes fell below 0.5 x 10(9) per liter (54 patients) or not to receive them (48). Although the percentage of patients acquiring any infection was similar in the transfusion and control groups (46 and 42 per cent, respectively), granulocyte transfusions decreased the proportion of patients with bacterial septicemia (9 per cent of those with transfusions vs. 27 per cent of the controls; P = 0.01). Granulocyte transfusions did not reduce the incidence of other infections or improve bone-marrow recovery, remission rate and duration, or survival. Seventy-two per cent of the patients given transfusions had transfusion reactions. Pulmonary infiltrates were more common in the transfusion group than in the control group (57 per cent vs. 27 per cent; P = 0.002). Thirty-five per cent of the patients with pulmonary filtrates died, as compared with 5 per cent of those without filtrates. We conclude that prophylactic granulocyte transfusions should not be used during remission-induction chemotherapy in AML because the risks outweigh the benefits. To determine whether the use of a recombinant human granulocyte colony-stimulating factor ([G-CSF] lenogastrim) can increase the chemotherapy dose-intensity (CDI) delivered during consolidation chemotherapy of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).
                Sixty-seven children with very high-risk ALL were randomized (slow early response to therapy, 55 patients; translocation t(9;22) or t(4;11), 12 patients). Consolidation consisted of six courses of chemotherapy; the first, third, and fifth courses were a combination of high-dose cytarabine, etoposide, and dexamethasone (R3), whereas the second, fourth, and sixth courses included vincristine, prednisone, cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, and methotrexate (COPADM). G-CSF was given after each course, and the next scheduled course was started as soon as neutrophil count was > 1 x 10(9)/L and platelet count was > 100 x 10(9)/L. CDI was calculated using the interval from day 1 of the first course to hematologic recovery after the fifth course (100% CDI = 105-day interval).
                CDI was significantly increased in the G-CSF group compared with the non-G-CSF group (mean +/- 95% confidence interval, 105 +/- 5% v 91 +/- 4%; P <.001). This higher intensity was a result of shorter post-R3 intervals in the G-CSF group, whereas the post-COPADM intervals were not statistically reduced. After the R3 courses, the number of days with fever and intravenous antibiotics and duration of hospitalization were significantly decreased by G-CSF, whereas reductions observed after COPADM were not statistically significant. Duration of granulocytopenia was reduced in the G-CSF group, but thrombocytopenia was prolonged, and the number of platelet transfusions was increased. Finally, the 3-year probability of event-free survival was not different between the two groups.
                G-CSF can increase CDI in high-risk childhood ALL. Its effects depend on the chemotherapy regimen given before G-CSF administration. In our study, a higher CDI did not improve disease control.
Currently, there is inconclusive evidence from RCTs to support or refute the generalised use of granulocyte transfusion therapy in the most common neutropenic patient populations, that is caused by myeloablative chemotherapy with or without haematopoietic stem cell support. Contemporary well designed prospective trials are required to evaluate the efficacy of this intervention in these patient populations and to establish definitively whether it has clinical benefit. In such studies, average numbers of collected granulocytes for adults should be (at least) greater than 1x1010.