Comparison of anthracyclines used for induction chemotherapy in patients with FLT3-ITD-mutated acute myeloid leukemia

This retrospective analysis compared anthracyclines (as part of an induction regimen) in 128 newly diagnosed FLT3-ITD-mutated AML patients. Induction regimens comprised high-dose daunorubicin (HD-DN; 90 mg/m(2)/dx3d; n = 44), standard-dose daunorubicin (SD-DN; 45 mg/m(2)/dx3d; n = 51), or idarubicin (IDA; 12 mg/m(2)/dx3d; n = 33) in combination with cytarabine (100-200 mg/m(2)/dx7d). Fifty-three patients showing persistent leukemia on interim bone marrow examination received a second course of induction chemotherapy comprising 2 days of daunorubicin (45 mg/m(2)/d) or IDA (8 or 12 mg/m(2)/d) in addition to 5 days of cytarabine. Complete remission (CR) rates were 77.3%, 56.9%, and 69.7% for HD-DN, SD-DN, and IDA, respectively (P = 0.101; HD-DN vs. SD-DN, P = 0.036; HD-DN vs. IDA, P = 0.453; IDA vs. SD-DN, P = 0.237). The HD-DN showed higher overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) than SD-DN and IDA: the differences between HD-DN and SD-DN (P = 0.009 for OS and P = 0.010 for EFS) were statistically significant. Results of in vitro studies using FLT3-ITD-mutated cell lines supported these findings. In conclusion, HD-DN improved the CR rate, OS, and EFS of FLT3-ITD-mutated AML patients. HD-DN also tended to yield better outcomes than IDA, though the difference was not significant. The superiority of HD-DN over IDA should be confirmed in future studies.