Efecto de la metformina en la etapa de inducción en pacientes con leucemia aguda linfoblástica y su impacto clínico en la supervivencia / Effect of metformin added to chemotherapy on the survival of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia

Background: Metformin has antineoplastic and cancer protective effects in vitro, sensitizing leukemia cells to chemotherapeutic agents, inducing apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. Aim: To assess the effect of metformin on the induction stage in patients with ALL and its impact on overall survival and relapse. Material and Methods. We included 123 patients treated with metformin and without metformin. The dose used was 850 mg PO at 8 h intervals. The survival analysis was used by Kaplan-Meier method, the difference between the distinct groups was performed using the log Rank test. Results. The overall survival at a median follow up of 700 days of follow-up was 43%, with a disease-free survival of 47%. Regarding the treatment groups, patients with metformin had a lower rate of relapse compared to the group receiving only chemotherapy (6.5% vs 17.1%, p = 0.006). Conclusions. The addition of metformin to the conventional treatment of ALL was associated with an improvement in survival, this association being independent of the type of biological risk at diagnosis.

Comparación del hyper-CVAD con un régimen institucional en el tratamiento de la leucemia linfoblástica aguda del adulto en un hospital de México / Comparison of the hyper-CVAD with an institutional regimen for the treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia in adults in a hospital of Mexico

Con el objetivo de evaluar la mortalidad y toxicidad del protocolo Hyper-CVAD utilizado como primera línea de tratamiento de la leucemia linfoblástica aguda se realizó un estudio de cohorte retrospectiva en pacientes de 40 años a menos durante marzo a septiembre de 2011 atendidos con el régimen Hyper-CVAD. La mortalidad y toxicidad se comparó con los resultados de los pacientes atendidos con el régimen institucional HGMLAL07 entre 2009 a 2012. Se incluyeron 18 pacientes, la mediana de edad fue de 26 años. Tanto las remisiones completas (67,7% frente a 81,9%) como la supervivencia a un año (40% frente a 62%) y 2 años (18% frente a 34%) fueron menores con el régimen Hyper-CVAD. Al seleccionar exclusivamente pacientes menores de 35 años, la eficacia de Hyper-CVAD también fue menor. Según esta experiencia y debido a su alto costo y toxicidad, el régimen Hyper-CVAD debe de limitarse a aquellos pacientes con leucemias refractarias o en recaída...

In order to assess the mortality and toxicity of the Hyper-CVAD protocol used as first-line treatment of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a retrospective cohort study was performed in patients less than 40 years of age from March to September 2011 treated with Hyper-CVAD regimen. Mortality and toxicity was compared with the results of patients treated with the institutional HGMLAL07 regimen between 2009-2012. 18 patients were included; the median age was 26 years old. Complete remissions (67.7% versus 81.9%) as well as one-year (40% versus 62%) and 2 year survival rates (18% versus 34%) were lower with the Hyper-CVAD regimen. By selecting only patients younger than 35 years, the effectiveness of Hyper-CVAD was also lower. In our experience and because of its high cost and toxicity, the Hyper-CVAD regimen should be limited to patients with relapsed or refractory leukemia...

Cytogenetic findings in 303 mexican patients with de novo acute myeloblastic leukemia

In this report we show the chromosomal changes seen in a group of 303 Mexican patients with de novo Acute myeloblastic Leukemia (AML). Two hundred forty-two patients were diagnosed and treated at two hospitals affiliated with the Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS). These are the Centro Medico Nacional Siglo XXI and Centro Medico La Raza Hospitals; the remaining 61 patients were diagnosed and treated at the Hospital General de Mexico (HGM). Clonal abnormalities were detected in 75.6 percent of the patients; this result agrees with what has been reported in other large series of AML studies. The incidence of changes per hospital was similar in patients from the IMSS hospitals (72-75 percent), while an increase was seen in patients from the HGM (85.2 percent). The cromosomal changes seen in this study in order of frequency were: t(15;17)[18.8 percent], t(9;22)[9.2 percent], miscellaneous chromosomal changes (mainly rearrangementa of chromosomes 1,2,3,12 y 17) [8.2 percent], abnormalities of 16q22 [7.3 percent], t(8;21)[6.3 percent], -7/del(7q)[5.6 percent], t(6;9)[5.3 percent), and abnormalities of 11q23 [4.6 percent]. We reported an increase in the indicidence of certain types of chromosomal changes seen in cases of AML, in comparison with reports from other countries. These differences must not be disregarded. We support this finding when comparing distribution of changes in the population of patients seen in the IMSS hospitals with those from the HGM; the main difference lies in the socioeconomic level