ESH ALL 2021 | Lestaurtinib plus chemotherapy for newly diagnosed KMT2A-rearranged infant ALL

Infants with KMT2A‐rearranged acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) have a poor prognosis. Despite advances in the treatment of pediatric and infant ALL, their outcome hasn’t changed over the last decade. One of the biological features of this population is the overexpression of wild-type FLT3. Stephen Hunger, MD, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, discusses findings from a study investigating whether adding lestaurtinib, a FLT3 inhibitor, to post‐induction chemotherapy improves event-free survival (EFS) in newly diagnosed KMT2A-rearranged infant ALL. Although adding lestaurtinib did not improve EFS overall, a small subset of patients with leukemias dependent on FLT3 and those who achieved a successful FLT3 inhibition benefited from the addition of lestaurtinib. Dr Hunger concludes that other treatment approaches are needed. Nevertheless, these results indicate that if the right target is identified and inhibition is possible, outcomes can be improved. This interview took place during the 2021 European School of Hematology (ESH) 2nd Translational Research Conference on Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.