Cited by 400Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia researchGlioma Diagnosis and TreatmentCancer Treatment and Pharmacology

Methotrexate-Induced Neurotoxicity and Leukoencephalopathy in Childhood Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

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Bhojwani, Deepa, Sabin, Noah D., Pei, Deqing, Yang, Jun J., Khan, Raja B., Panetta, John C., Krull, Kevin R., Inaba, Hiroto +11 more·2014·Journal of Clinical Oncology

Abstract

Purpose: Methotrexate (MTX) can cause significant clinical neurotoxicity and asymptomatic leukoencephalopathy. We sought to identify clinical, pharmacokinetic, and genetic risk factors for these MTX-related toxicities during childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) therapy and provide data on safety of intrathecal and high-dose MTX rechallenge in patients with neurotoxicity. Patients and Methods: Prospective brain magnetic resonance imaging was performed at four time points for 369 children with ALL treated in a contemporary study that included five courses of high-dose MTX and 13 to 25 doses of triple intrathecal therapy. Logistic regression modeling was used to evaluate clinical and pharmacokinetic factors, and a genome-wide association study (GWAS) was performed to identify germline polymorphisms for their association with neurotoxicities. Results: Fourteen patients (3.8%) developed MTX-related clinical neurotoxicity. Of 13 patients rechallenged with intrathecal and/or high-dose MTX, 12 did not experience recurrence of neurotoxicity. Leukoencephalopathy was found in 73 (20.6%) of 355 asymptomatic patients and in all symptomatic patients and persisted in 74% of asymptomatic and 58% of symptomatic patients at the end of therapy. A high 42-hour plasma MTX to leucovorin ratio (measure of MTX exposure) was associated with increased risk of leukoencephalopathy in multivariable analysis (P = .038). GWAS revealed polymorphisms in genes enriched for neurodevelopmental pathways with plausible mechanistic roles in neurotoxicity. Conclusion: MTX-related clinical neurotoxicity is transient, and most patients can receive subsequent MTX without recurrence of acute or subacute symptoms. All symptomatic patients and one in five asymptomatic patients develop leukoencephalopathy that can persist until the end of therapy. Polymorphisms in genes related to neurogenesis may contribute to susceptibility to MTX-related neurotoxicity.

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  • Transient white matter lesions (leukoencephalopathy) due to chemotherapy are well-documented in ALL survivors.

    “Transient lesions in the white matter (leukoencephalopathy) due to chemotherapy are well‐documented in ALL survivors (Bhojwani et al., 2014; Reddick, Glass, Johnson, Laningham, & Pui, 2009; Reddick et al., 2005);”

    From Brain structure, working memory and response inhibition in childhood leukemia survivors (2017) · cites this paper as Bhojwani et al., 2014

    The Results (Incidence of Leukoencephalopathy) document white-matter abnormalities in children treated for ALL, and the Results (Natural History and Risk Factors for Leukoencephalopathy) report complete resolution in 17 of 74 patients followed with serial MRI. But abnormalities remained evident at week 120 in 77% of that subset; the Discussion says longer follow-up is needed to assess resolution. The paper therefore supports the occurrence of treatment-related lesions, but not a general characterization of them as transient in ALL survivors. (LLM, conf=0.87)

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  • Transient white matter lesions do not show a clear relationship with functional abilities in ALL survivors.

    “however, these lesions do not show a clear relationship with functional abilities (Bhojwani et al., 2014; Pääkkö et al., 2000) and are therefore unlikely to account for the full range of deficits in ALL survivors.”

    From Brain structure, working memory and response inhibition in childhood leukemia survivors (2017) · cites this paper as Bhojwani et al., 2014

    The Discussion (page unavailable) says the clinical importance of leukoencephalopathy is unclear and calls for further study of whether it predicts later neurocognitive impairment. That supports the absence of an established relationship, but the paper does not assess functional abilities in survivors or show that transient lesions lack such a relationship. The Results also report that most MRI abnormalities in the followed subset persisted to week 120. (LLM, conf=0.77)

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Authors
Bhojwani, D., Sabin, N. D., Pei, D., Yang, J. J., Khan, R. B., Panetta, J. C., Krull, K. R., Inaba, H., Rubnitz, J. E., Metzger, M. L., Howard, S. C., Ribeiro, R. C., Cheng, C., Reddick, W. E., Jeha, S., Sandlund, J. T., Evans, W. E., Pui, C.-H., & Relling, M. V.
Affiliations
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (US)
Venue
Journal of Clinical Oncology
Published
2014-03-20
Volume
32
Issue
9
Pages
949-959
ISSN
  • 0732-183X (ISSN-L)
  • 1527-7755
OpenAlex
W2098676147
Cited by
400
References
48
Citations by year
2026: 38 · 2025: 36 · 2024: 40 · 2023: 27 · 2022: 47 · 2021: 40 · 2020: 33 · 2019: 30 · 2018: 27 · 2017: 34 · 2016: 28 · 2015: 16 · 2014: 3
FWCI
26.87
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Journal of Clinical Oncology (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • National Cancer Institute (CA 36401, R01CA036401, R01 CA90246, R01CA090246, R37CA036401, P30CA021765)
  • National Institute of General Medical Sciences (U01GM092666, GM 92666)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Genetics › Glioma Diagnosis and Treatment
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Cancer Treatment and Pharmacology
Keywords
methotrexate neurotoxicity, leukoencephalopathy, childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia, intrathecal methotrexate, methotrexate pharmacokinetics, germline polymorphisms, neurodevelopmental genes, brain MRI
MeSH terms
Adolescent, Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic, Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols, Brain, Child, Child, Preschool, Leucovorin, Female, Humans, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Male, Methotrexate, Polymorphism, Genetic, Prospective Studies, Risk Factors, Logistic Models, Germ-Line Mutation, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Neurotoxicity Syndromes, Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma, Genome-Wide Association Study, Leukoencephalopathies

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