# Blinatumomab added to chemotherapy in infant KMT2A-rearranged acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

Source: https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-blinatumomab-infant-all-van-der-sluis-nejm-2023/  
OnCo record `paper-blinatumomab-infant-all-van-der-sluis-nejm-2023` (Key paper). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Adding a single course of the bispecific antibody blinatumomab after induction chemotherapy in infants with KMT2A-rearranged leukaemia raised two-year disease-free survival from a historical 49 percent to 82 percent, the first major advance in infant leukaemia in decades.

## Summary

Single-arm phase 2 study of 30 infants with newly diagnosed KMT2A-rearranged ALL treated on the Interfant-06 backbone with one 28-day course of blinatumomab after induction, compared with historical Interfant-06 controls.

Two-year disease-free survival was 81.6 percent against 49.4 percent historically, overall survival 93.3 versus 65.8 percent, and blinatumomab was well tolerated with no treatment discontinuations for toxicity; measurable residual disease became negative or low in almost all infants.

## Fields

- Kind: Key paper
- Last checked: 2026-09-17
- Journal: New England Journal of Medicine
- Year: 2023
- DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2214171
- Authors: van der Sluis IM, de Lorenzo P, Kotecha RS, et al.
- Findings: Two-year disease-free survival 81.6 percent vs 49.4 percent in historical controls.; Two-year overall survival 93.3 percent vs 65.8 percent.
- What it means: Blinatumomab after induction is now standard for KMT2A-rearranged infant ALL through the Interfant-21 protocol.
- Caveats: Thirty patients with historical comparison; longer follow-up needed.

## Sources

- N Engl J Med 2023: https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2214171
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37099340/

## Connected records

- cancers: [Infant acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (KMT2A-rearranged, under one year)](https://onco.cc/cancers/all-infant/)
- drugs: [Blinatumomab](https://onco.cc/drugs/blinatumomab/)
- journals: [New England Journal of Medicine](https://onco.cc/journals/nejm/)

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