Clinical Hematology International

Volume 2, Issue 4, December 2020, Pages 133 - 142

Plasma Cell Leukemia – Facts and Controversies: More Questions than Answers?

Authors
Anna Suska1, David H. Vesole2, Jorge J. Castillo3, Shaji K. Kumar4, Hari Parameswaran5, Maria V. Mateos6, Thierry Facon7, Alessandro Gozzetti8, Gabor Mikala9, Marta Szostek1, Joseph Mikhael10, Roman Hajek11, Evangelos Terpos12, Artur Jurczyszyn1, *
1Department of Hematology, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Kopernika 17, Krakow 31-501, Poland
2The John Theurer Cancer Center at Hackensack UMC, Hackensack, NJ, USA
3Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
4Division of Hematology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA
5Medical College of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, WI, USA
6Complejo Asistencial Universitario de Salamanca, Instituto de Investigación Biomédica de Salamanca (CAUSA/IBSAL), Salamanca, Spain
7Service des Maladies du Sang, Hôpital Claude Huriez, Lille, France
8Division of Hematology and Transplants, University of Siena, Siena, Italy
9Department of Hematology and Stem Cell Transplantation, South-Pest Central Hospital, Natl. Inst. Hematol. Infectol, Budapest, Hungary
10Translational Genomics Research Institute, City of Hope Cancer Center, Phoenix, Arizona, USA
11University Hospital Ostrava and Faculty of Medicine, University of Ostrava, Ostrava, Czech Republic
12Department of Clinical Therapeutics, School of Medicine, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
*Corresponding author. Email: mmjurczy@cyf-kr.edu.pl
Corresponding Author
Artur Jurczyszyn
Received 7 April 2020, Accepted 1 June 2020, Available Online 19 July 2020.
DOI
10.2991/chi.k.200706.002How to use a DOI?
Keywords
Plasma cell leukemia; plasma cell dyscrasia; chemotherapy; novel agents; stem cell transplantation; clinical trials; prognostic index
Abstract

Plasma cell leukemia (PCL) is an aggressive hematological malignancy characterized by an uncontrolled clonal proliferation of plasma cells (PCs) in the bone marrow and peripheral blood. PCL has been defined by an absolute number of circulating PCs exceeding 2.0 × 109/L and/or >20% PCs in the total leucocyte count. It is classified as primary PCL, which develops de novo, and secondary PCL, occurring at the late and advanced stages of multiple myeloma (MM). Primary and secondary PCL are clinically and biologically two distinct entities. After the diagnosis, treatment should be immediate and should include a proteasome inhibitor and immunomodulator-based combination regimens as induction, followed by stem cell transplantation (SCT) in transplant-eligible individuals who have cleared the peripheral blood of circulating PCs. Due to the rarity of the condition, there have been very few clinical trials. Furthermore, virtually all of the myeloma trials exclude patients with active PCL. The evaluation of response has been defined by the International Myeloma Working Group and consists of both acute leukemia and MM criteria. With conventional chemotherapy, the prognosis of primary PCL has been ominous, with reported overall survival (OS) ranging from 6.8 to 12.6 months. The use of novel agents and autologous SCT appears to be associated with deeper response and an improved survival, although it still remains low. The PCL prognostic index provides a simple score to risk-stratify PCL. The prognosis of secondary PCL is extremely poor, with OS of only 1 month.

Copyright
© 2020 International Academy for Clinical Hematology. Publishing services by Atlantis Press International B.V.
Open Access
This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

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Journal
Clinical Hematology International
Volume-Issue
2 - 4
Pages
133 - 142
Publication Date
2020/07/19
ISSN (Online)
2590-0048
DOI
10.2991/chi.k.200706.002How to use a DOI?
Copyright
© 2020 International Academy for Clinical Hematology. Publishing services by Atlantis Press International B.V.
Open Access
This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).

Cite this article

TY  - JOUR
AU  - Anna Suska
AU  - David H. Vesole
AU  - Jorge J. Castillo
AU  - Shaji K. Kumar
AU  - Hari Parameswaran
AU  - Maria V. Mateos
AU  - Thierry Facon
AU  - Alessandro Gozzetti
AU  - Gabor Mikala
AU  - Marta Szostek
AU  - Joseph Mikhael
AU  - Roman Hajek
AU  - Evangelos Terpos
AU  - Artur Jurczyszyn
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020/07/19
TI  - Plasma Cell Leukemia – Facts and Controversies: More Questions than Answers?
JO  - Clinical Hematology International
SP  - 133
EP  - 142
VL  - 2
IS  - 4
SN  - 2590-0048
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/chi.k.200706.002
DO  - 10.2991/chi.k.200706.002
ID  - Suska2020
ER  -