title: Minimal residual disease prior to allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation in acute myeloid leukemia: a meta-analysis.
abstract: Minimal residual disease prior to allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation has been associated with increased risk of relapse and death in patients with acute myeloid leukemia, but detection methodologies and results vary widely. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis evaluating the prognostic role of minimal residual disease detected by polymerase chain reaction or multiparametric flow cytometry before transplant. We identified 19 articles published between January 2005 and June 2016 and extracted hazard ratios for leukemia-free survival, overall survival, and cumulative incidences of relapse and non-relapse mortality. Pre-transplant minimal residual disease was associated with worse leukemia-free survival (hazard ratio=2.76 [1.90-4.00]), overall survival (hazard ratio=2.36 [1.73-3.22]), and cumulative incidence of relapse (hazard ratio=3.65 [2.53-5.27]), but not non-relapse mortality (hazard ratio=1.12 [0.81-1.55]). These associations held regardless of detection method, conditioning intensity, and patient age. Adverse cytogenetics was not an independent risk factor for death or relapse. There was more heterogeneity among studies using flow cytometry-based thanWT1polymerase chain reaction-based detection (I2=75.1%vs.<0.1% for leukemia-free survival, 67.8%vs.<0.1% for overall survival, and 22.1%vs.<0.1% for cumulative incidence of relapse). These results demonstrate a strong relationship between pre-transplant minimal residual disease and post-transplant relapse and survival. Outcome heterogeneity among studies using flow-based methods may underscore site-specific methodological differences or differences in test performance and interpretation.
authors.affiliation: Hematology/Oncology Fellowship Program, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA buckleys@uw.edu.
authors.forename: Sarah A
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Buckley
authors.affiliation: Division of Hematopathology, Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
authors.forename: Brent L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Wood
authors.affiliation: Public Health Sciences Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA.
authors.forename: Megan
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Othus
authors.affiliation: Hematology Branch, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher S
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Hourigan
authors.affiliation: Division of Hematology, Oncology and Transplantation, Department of Medicine, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
authors.forename: Celalettin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ustun
authors.affiliation: Division of Hematopathology, Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Linden
authors.affiliation: Biostatistics and Bioinformatics Core, Masonic Cancer Center, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
authors.forename: Todd E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: DeFor
authors.affiliation: Unit of Blood Diseases and Stem Cell Transplantation, University of Brescia, A.O. Spedali Civili, Italy.
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Malagola
authors.affiliation: Anthony Nolan Research Institute, London, UK.|Royal Marsden Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: Chloe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Anthias
authors.affiliation: Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion, Prague, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Veronika
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Valkova
authors.affiliation: Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.|Experimental Transplantation and Immunology Branch, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Christopher G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Kanakry
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Jena University Hospital, Germany.
authors.forename: Bernd
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Gruhn
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematology, Fondazione Policlinico Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Buccisano
authors.affiliation: Pharmaceutical Outcomes Research and Policy Program, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.|Department of Health Services, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.|Department of Biomedical Informatics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
authors.forename: Beth
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Devine
authors.affiliation: Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA.|Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.|Department of Epidemiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
authors.forename: Roland B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Walter
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D018380:Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D007951:Leukemia, Myeloid / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local; D018365:Neoplasm, Residual / Q000175:diagnosis*; D011379:Prognosis; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014184:Transplantation, Homologous