The outcome of children with Philadelphia chromosome-positive (Ph-positive) acute lymphoblastic leukaemia significantly improved with the combination of imatinib and intensive chemotherapy. We aimed to investigate the efficacy of dasatinib, a second-generation ABL-class inhibitor, with intensive chemotherapy in children with newly diagnosed Ph-positive acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.

CA180-372/COG AALL1122 was a joint Children's Oncology Group (COG) and European intergroup study of post-induction treatment of Ph-positive acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (EsPhALL) open-label, single-arm, phase 2 study. Eligible patients (aged >1 year to <18 years) with newly diagnosed Ph-positive acute lymphoblastic leukaemia and performance status of at least 60% received EsPhALL chemotherapy plus dasatinib 60 mg/m orally once daily from day 15 of induction. Patients with minimal residual disease of at least 0·05% after induction 1B or who were positive for minimal residual disease after the three consolidation blocks were classified as high risk and allocated to receive haematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) in first complete remission. The remaining patients were considered standard risk and received chemotherapy plus dasatinib for 2 years. The primary endpoint was the 3-year event-free survival of dasatinib plus chemotherapy compared with external historical controls. The trial was considered positive if one of the following conditions was met: superiority over chemotherapy alone in the AIEOP-BFM 2000 high-risk group; or non-inferiority (with a margin of -5%) or superiority to imatinib plus chemotherapy in the EsPhALL 2010 cohort. All participants who received at least one dose of dasatinib were included in the safety and efficacy analyses. This trial was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT01460160, and recruitment is closed.

Between March 13, 2012, and May 27, 2014, 109 patients were enrolled at 69 sites (including 51 COG sites in the USA, Canada, and Australia, and 18 EsPhALL sites in Italy and the UK). Three patients were ineligible and did not receive dasatinib. 106 patients were treated and included in analyses (49 [46%] female and 57 [54%] male; 85 [80%] White, 13 [12%] Black or African American, five [5%] Asian, and three [3%] other races; 24 [23%] Hispanic or Latino ethnicity). All 106 treated patients reached complete remission; 87 (82%) were classified as standard risk and 19 (18%) met HSCT criteria and were classified as high risk, but only 15 (14%) received HSCT in first complete remission. The 3-year event-free survival of dasatinib plus chemotherapy was superior to chemotherapy alone (65·5% [90% Clopper-Pearson CI 57·7 to 73·7] vs 49·2% [38·0 to 60·4]; p=0·032), and was non-inferior to imatinib plus chemotherapy (59·1% [51·8 to 66·2], 90% CI of the treatment difference: -3·3 to 17·2), but not superior to imatinib plus chemotherapy (65·5% vs 59·1%; p=0·27). The most frequent grade 3-5 adverse events were febrile neutropenia (n=93) and bacteraemia (n=21). Nine remission deaths occurred, which were due to infections (n=5), transplantation-related (n=2), due to cardiac arrest (n=1), or had an unknown cause (n=1). No dasatinib-related deaths occurred.

Dasatinib plus EsPhALL chemotherapy is safe and active in paediatric Ph-positive acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. 3-year event-free survival was similar to that of previous Ph-positive acute lymphoblastic leukaemia trials despite the limited use of HSCT in first complete remission.

Bristol Myers Squibb.