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We conducted a nationwide retrospective study to evaluate the outcomes of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) in 651 patients aged 60–69 years with de novo myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). We divided patients into two groups: 152 and 499 patients with an early and advanced disease status, respectively. The 3-year overall survival (OS) rate of patients with an early disease status was 45.9% (95% confidence interval [CI], 37.0 to 54.2%). A multivariate analysis revealed five adverse factors for OS: performance status (PS) 2–4 (hazard ratio [HR] 4.48; P

Significant advancements have been achieved with regard to the outcomes of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) patients through the introduction of all-trans retinoic acid; however, early hemorrhagic death and differentiation syndrome remain the major causes of remission induction failure in patients with APL. To investigate early death, serious hemorrhage, and differentiation syndrome during remission induction therapy in terms of incidence, risk factors, influence on outcomes, and prophylactic effects of several new anticoagulants, the results of 344 patients enrolled in the Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia 204 study conducted by the Japan Adult Leukemia Study Group were analyzed. Early death was observed in 16 patients (4.7%), of whom 14 had serious hemorrhage and 2 had differentiation syndrome. Serious hemorrhage and differentiation syndrome of grade 2 or higher were observed in 21 and 54 patients, respectively. Patients who achieved complete remission had a 7-year disease-free survival of 84.8% if they did not experience serious hemorrhage and 40.0% if they experienced serious hemorrhage during remission induction therapy (P = 0.001). Risk factor analyses showed that higher white blood cell count was associated with early death, higher white blood cell count and lower platelet count with serious hemorrhage, and leukocytosis during induction therapy and higher body surface area with differentiation syndrome. In conclusion, these results indicate that patients with such high-risk features may benefit from more intensive supportive care. The hemorrhagic risk was not relieved by the introduction of new anticoagulants. Further studies are required to establish the predictive impact of body surface area on differentiation syndrome. This trial is registered with UMIN-CTR as C000000154 on September 13, 2005.

Recent studies have described various impacts of obesity and being overweight on acute myeloid leukemia (AML) outcomes in adult patients, but little is known about the impact of being underweight. We compared the outcomes of underweight patients to those of normal weight and overweight patients. Adult patients with AML who registered in the JALSG AML201 study (n = 1057) were classified into three groups: underweight (body mass index [BMI]

Recently, the presence of CEBPA mutation was identified as an important prognostic factor for normal karyotype (NK) acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Because AML with CEBPA mutation is closely associated with CD7, CD15, CD34, and HLA-DR expression, we investigated the prognostic implications of CD7+ CD15+ CD34+ HLA-DR + immunophenotype in NK-AML. We analyzed the immunophenotype of 329 patients with NK-AML from the Japan Adult Leukemia Study Group (JALSG) AML97 population. NK-AML with the CD7+ CD15+ CD34+ HLA-DR + immunophenotype was classified as the CEBPA type, and NK-AML that did not meet this criterion was considered as the non-CEBPA type. The influence of the CEBPA status on event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) was assessed using log-rank test and a multivariate Cox proportional hazard regression model. Furthermore, the surface antigen expression profile in AML according to the CEBPA mutation status (monoallelic or biallelic) was also investigated. Of the 329 NK-AML patients that were studied, 39 and 243 were classified as having CEBPA and non-CEBPA type NK-AML, respectively. Patients with CEBPA type NK-AML had significantly better EFS and OS than those with non-CEBPA type NK-AML. Multivariate analysis showed that the CEBPA type and white blood cell (WBC) counts of >20 × 109/L were independent prognostic factors for EFS and OS. Moreover, NK-AML with the biallelic CEBPA mutation was more closely associated with CD34 positivity than that with the monoallelic CEBPA mutation. NK-AML with the CD7+ CD15+ CD34+ HLA-DR + immunophenotype is a clinically discrete entity, and this may have a possible role in risk stratification.