PURPOSE:

Elderly acute myelocytic leukemia (AML) patients have limited treatment options because they poorly tolerate standard-dose chemotherapy. The present article describes our experience with ultra-low-dose decitabine combined with infusion of autologous cytokine-induced killer (CIK) cells for 2 elderly patients with myelodysplastic syndrome-transformed AML.

METHODS:

Decitabine (10 mg) was given on days 1 to 5, and CIK cells on day 14 with 2 to 8 × 10(9) cells per infusion.

FINDINGS:

The therapeutic regimen resulted in marked hematologic recovery and was associated with better than expected survival in both cases.

IMPLICATIONS:

Our experience suggests that the combination therapy is safe and effective for elderly patients with myelodysplastic syndrome-transformed AML.

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