Early recovery of the platelet count after decitabine-based induction chemotherapy is a prognostic marker of superior response in elderly patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukaemia

Abstract Background Definite prognostic clinical factors of benefit for decitabine-based induction chemotherapy in elderly patients newly diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) are not identified. This study was designed to explore the potential biomarker, especially regeneration of haematopoiesis, of treatment response and survival in elderly patients with newly diagnosed AML. Method We analysed the clinical data of 117 elderly AML patients who were treated with a decitabine dose of 15 mg/m2 for 5 days, granulocyte colony-stimulating factor of 300 μg/d for priming, plus cytarabine 10 mg/m2 q12h for 7 days and aclarubicin 10 mg/d for 4 days (D-CAG). Results After initial induction chemotherapy, the overall response rate and complete remission (CR) were 71.8% and 58.1%, respectively. Patients responding to the D-CAG regimen achieved higher platelet counts on day 14 after initial treatment (p