Valproic acid in combination with all-trans retinoic acid and intensive therapy for acute myeloid leukemia in older patients

Michela Tassara, Konstanze Döhner, Peter Brossart, Gerhard Held, Katharina Götze, Heinz A. Horst, Mark Ringhoffer, Claus Henning Köhne, Stephan Kremers, Aruna Raghavachar, Gerald Wulf, Heinz Kirchen, David Nachbaur, Hans Gun̈ter Derigs, Mohammed Wattad, Elisabeth Koller, Wolfram Brugger, Axel Matzdorff, Richard Greil, Gerhard HeilPeter Paschka, Verena I. Gaidzik, Martin Göttlicher, Hartmut Doḧner, Richard F. Schlenk

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

72 Scopus citations

Abstract

The outcome of patients with acute myeloid leukemia who are older than 60 years has remained poor because of unfavorable disease characteristics and patient-related factors. The randomized German-Austrian AML Study Group 06-04 protocol was designed on the basis of in vitro synergistic effects of valproic acid (VPA) and all-trans retinoic acid with chemotherapy. Between 2004 and 2006, 186 patients were randomly assigned to receive 2 induction cycles with idarubicin, cytarabine, and all-trans retinoic acid either with VPA or without (STANDARD). In all patients, consolidation therapy was intended. Complete remission rates after induction tended to be lower in VPA compared with STANDARD (40% vs 52%; P 5 .14) as a result of a higher early death rate (26% vs 14%; P 5 .06). The main toxicities attributed to VPA were delayed hematologic recovery and grade 3/4 infections, observed predominantly during the second induction cycle. After restricting VPA to the first induction cycle and reducing the dose of idarubicin, these toxicities dropped to rates observed in STANDARD. After a median follow-up time of 84 months, event-free and overall survivalwere not different between the 2 groups (P 5 .95 andP5.57, respectively). However, relapse-free-survival was significantly superior in VPAcompared with STANDARD(24.4% vs 6.4% at 5 years; P 5 .02). Explorative subset analyses revealed that AML with mutated Nucleophosmin 1 (NPM1) may particularly benefit from VPA. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT00151255.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)4027-4036
Number of pages10
JournalBlood
Volume123
Issue number26
DOIs
StatePublished - 26 Jun 2014
Externally publishedYes

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