It specifically concerns babies with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) with a certain error in the DNA of the leukemia cells, whose chance of survival is not great. Even heavier chemotherapy has failed to improve the prognosis for these babies in recent decades. Within two years, half of the babies had had their cancer come back, often during chemotherapy, or had died.
Treatment with the drug blinatumomab ensures that 93 percent are still alive two years after diagnosis. Without the one-month immunotherapy, that was 66 percent.
Immunotherapy with blinatumomab is already being given to some adults and older children with ALL. An international study led by researchers from the Princess Máxima Center looked at the safety of babies.
‘Strong improvement’
Between 2018 and 2021, thirty children, nine of whom were in the Netherlands, were treated with blinatumomab and chemotherapy. The results were compared with those of 214 children who only received chemotherapy in the years before.
18 percent of babies treated with blinatumomab developed cancer again or died within two years. “That also points to a strong improvement,” says the Princess Máxima Center.
“This was a small study, but with a clear enough result that all babies with this form of leukemia now receive immunotherapy as part of standard treatment,” said pediatric oncologist and clinical pharmacologist Inge van der Sluis, who led the study.
“In a larger study with more children, we want to confirm the effect of blinatumomab. We also want to see whether babies benefit from two courses of blinatumomab and a reduction in chemotherapy, in order to further improve the quality of life.”
2023-04-27 08:57:02
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