Metastatic retinoblastoma successfully treated with immunomagnetic purged autologous bone marrow transplantation

There are no documented cases of long-term, disease-free survival in retinoblastoma (RB) metastatic to the bone marrow. The following study details successful outcome in a 3-year-old child with extensive marrow replacement 7 months postenucleation in an otherwise untreated group V RB. Therapy consisted of combinations of vincristine, doxorubicin, and cyclophosphamide for 3 months. After demonstrating cross-reactivity by a panel of six monoclonal neuroblastoma (NB) antibodies with the patient's RB cells, her marrow was purged by using microsphere-linked monoclonal antibodies, and then reinfused as rescue therapy after ablative doses of etoposide and cyclophosphamide. The authors conclude that short-term induction therapy followed by marrow ablative combination chemotherapy and immunomagnetically purged autologous marrow rescue can (1) effect successful outcome in widely metastatic RB, and (2) eliminate the risk of therapy-induced second malignancies.