Purpose

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a cancer of the bone marrow that mostly affects older adults. Even with the best chemotherapy, two-year disease-free survival is achieved in a minority of patients. Bone marrow transplantation from a sibling donor may improve cure rates; however, patients over 50 years of age have a high risk of complications and therefore generally are excluded from this treatment option. Recently our group developed a transplantation strategy for older cancer patients that protects against transplant-associated complications, yet does not interfere with the ability of the transplanted donor cells to destroy cancer cells. With this new method, we can now safely evaluate transplantation as a curative therapy for AML patients over the age of 50. We have assembled clinical and scientific researchers throughout the state of California to study and compare bone marrow transplantation using our new approach with the best standard of care chemotherapy in AML patients over the age of 50. The results of this study have the potential to establish a new treatment standard that will improve survival of older AML patients.