Treatment of Adolescent and Young Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia with the Pediatric Protocol: Results from a Single Institution in Taiwan

Background: It remains unclear whether pediatric protocols provide a better outcome to adolescent and young adult (AYA) patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) than adult protocols in Taiwan. Therefore, we conducted a case-control study to compare the outcome events, disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival (OS) in Taiwanese AYA patients receiving either pediatric or adult ALL protocols. Methods: Twenty-three Taiwanese AYA patients with ALL were retrospectively reviewed: eight patients received the pediatric ALL protocol modified from the Taiwan Pediatric Oncology Group (mTPOG) regimen, and 15 were treated by using the Cancer and Leukemia Group B study 8811 (CALGB-8811) regimen. Results: The DFS rates for patients in the mTPOG and CALGB-8811 groups were 100% versus 33.3% (p = 0.016) at one year, and 100% versus 22.2% (p = 0.006) at two years, respectively. The OS rates for patients in mTPOG and CALGB-8811 groups were 100% versus 37.0% (p = 0.013) at one year, and 100% versus 22.2% (p = 0.003) at two years, respectively. Conclusions: Our results suggested that the pediatric mTPOG protocol provides AYA ALL patients a better DFS and OS than the adult CALGB-8811 protocol.