Treatment options for steroid-refractory GVHD (SR-GVHD) are unsatisfactory and prognosis is poor. Inflammatory cytokines IL-2 and TNF-α are important mediators of GVHD, and may be critical targets for therapy. We retrospectively reviewed our experience using combination anti-cytokine therapy of daclizumab and infliximab. Seventeen evaluable patients had a median age of 47 years (range 35–63). The conditioning regimen was myeloablative in 13 and nonmyeloablative in 4 cases. GVHD occurred a median of 49 days after transplant in 12 patients (range 21–231) and a median of 46 days (range 25–119) after donor lymphocyte infusion in 5 patients. All patients had persistent or progressive GVHD despite 1–2 mg/kg/day of corticosteroids for a median of 7 days (range 2–26). They received combination daclizumab and infliximab for acute GVHD IBMTR severity index B (3), C (10) or D (4). 47% of patients responded; 24% had complete resolution of symptoms and 24% had partial responses. Survival was limited and all died a median of 6.7 months (range 1.6–26) from transplant and 35 days from initiation of daclizumab/infliximab. This retrospective analysis suggests that combination anti-cytokine therapy with daclizumab/infliximab has significant activity in SR-GVHD, but outcomes remain poor. New methods to prevent and treat GVHD are urgently needed.

Some subsets of pediatric sarcoma patients have very poor survival rates. We sought to determine the feasibility and efficacy of allogeneic HSCT (alloHSCT) in pediatric sarcoma populations with <25% predicted overall survival. Patients with ultra-high risk Ewing’s sarcoma family of tumors (ESFT), alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma or desmoplastic small round cell tumor received EPOCH-fludarabine induction, a cyclophosphamide/fludarabine/melphalan preparative regimen and HLA matched related peripheral blood stem cells. Thirty patients enrolled; 7 did not undergo alloHSCT due to progressive disease with diminishing performance status during induction. All 23 alloHSCT recipients experienced rapid full donor engraftment, with no peri-transplant mortality. Five of 23 alloHSCT recipients (22%) remain alive (overall survival of 30% by Kaplan-Meier analysis at 3 years), including 3 of 7 (42%) transplanted without overt disease (median survival 14.5 vs. 29.0 months from alloHSCT for patients transplanted with vs. without overt disease, respectively). Among the 28 patients who progressed on the study, the median survival from date of progression was 1.9 months for the 7 who did not receive a transplant compared to 11.4 months for the 21 transplanted (p=0.0003). We found prolonged survival after post-transplant progression with several patients exhibiting indolent tumor growth. We also saw several patients with enhanced anti-tumor effects from post-transplant chemotherapy (objective response to pre-transplant EPOCH-F was 24% vs. 67% to post-transplant EOCH), however this was associated with increased toxicity. This largest reported series of alloHSCT in sarcomas demonstrates that alloHSCT is safe in this population, and that patients undergoing alloHSCT without overt disease show higher survival rates than reported using standard therapies. Enhanced chemo- and radio-sensitivity of tumors and normal tissues was observed post-transplant.

BACKGROUND Epigenetic dysregulation involving alterations in DNA methylation is a hallmark of various types of cancer, including acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Although specific cancer types and clinical aggressiveness of tumors can be determined by DNA methylation status, the assessment of DNA methylation at multiple loci is not routinely performed in the clinical laboratory. METHODS We recently described a novel microsphere-based assay for multiplex evaluation of DNA methylation. In the current study, we validated and used an improved assay [termed expedited HpaII small fragment Enrichment by Ligation-mediated PCR (xMELP)] that can be performed with appropriate clinical turnaround time. RESULTS Using the xMELP assay in conjunction with a new 17-locus random forest classifier that has been trained using 344 AML samples, we were able to segregate an independent cohort of 70 primary AML patients into methylation-determined subgroups with significantly distinct mortality risk (P = 0.009). We also evaluated precision, QC parameters, and preanalytic variables of the xMELP assay and determined the sensitivity of the random forest classifier score to failure at 1 or more loci. CONCLUSIONS Our results demonstrate that xMELP performance is suitable for implementation in the clinical laboratory and predicts AML outcome in an independent patient cohort.

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) is the most effective approach for many patients with hematologic malignancies. Unfortunately, relapse remains the most common cause of death after allogeneic HSCT, and the prognosis of relapsed disease is poor for most patients. Induction of a graft-versus-leukemia (GVL), or graft-versus-tumor, effect through the use of donor leukocyte infusion (DLI), or donor lymphocyte infusion, has been remarkably successful for relapsed chronic myelogenous leukemia. Unfortunately, response to DLI in other hematologic malignancies is much less common and depends on many factors including histology, pace and extent of relapse, and time from HSCT to relapse. Furthermore, graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) is common after DLI and often limits successful immunotherapy. Ultimately, manipulations to minimize GVHD while preserving or enhancing GVL are necessary to improve outcomes for relapse after allogeneic HSCT.