Myeloid growth factors as anti-infective measures in children with leukemia and lymphoma

Abstract

Clinical trials in children treated for leukemia and lymphoma demonstrated that the hematopoietic colony-stimulating factors (CSFs) granulocyte (G) and granulocyte–macrophage (GM) CSFs ameliorate duration and depth of neutropenia, and also seem to decrease antibiotic usage and hospitalization. However, neither G-CSF nor GM-CSF significantly reduced the risk for infectious complications, such as febrile neutropenia or documented infections, or improved overall survival in these patient populations. Since it is unclear whether G- and GM-CSF may increase the risk for relapse in subgroups of patients with leukemia, guidelines recommend that hematopoietic growth factors should be used with caution in children with leukemia and lymphoma.

Keywords::

• chemotherapy-induced neutropenia
• child
• fever
• G-CSF
• GM-CSF
• granulocyte colony-stimulating factor
• granulocyte–macrophage colony-stimulating factor
• infection
• leukemia
• lymphoma

Financial & competing interests disclosure

Thomas Lehrnbecher served in the speaker’s bureau of Amgen. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.