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Topic Contents
- General Information About Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH)
- Childhood LCH
- Histopathologic, Immunologic, and Cytogenetic Characteristics of LCH
- Presentation of LCH in Children
- Diagnostic Evaluation of Childhood LCH
- Follow-up Considerations in Childhood LCH
- Treatment of Childhood LCH
- Treatment of Recurrent, Refractory, or Progressive Childhood LCH
- Late Disease and Treatment Effects of Childhood LCH
- Adult LCH
- Treatment of Adult LCH
- Get More Information From NCI
- Changes to the Summary (11 / 22 / 2010)
- More Information
- About This PDQ Summary
Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis Treatment (PDQ®): Treatment - Health Professional Information [NCI]
This information is produced and provided by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The information in this topic may have changed since it was written. For the most current information, contact the National Cancer Institute via the Internet web site at http://cancer.gov or call 1-800-4-CANCER.
Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis Treatment
General Information About Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis (LCH)
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) provides the PDQ pediatric cancer treatment information summaries as a public service to increase the availability of evidence-based cancer information to health professionals, patients, and the public.
The histiocytic diseases in children and adults include three major classes of disorders of which only one, Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH), a dendritic cell disorder, will be discussed. Others in this category are Erdheim-Chester disease (primarily found in adults) and juvenile xanthogranuloma (diagnosed in children and adults). Disorders of the macrophage/monocytoid lineages include Rosai Dorfman disease and hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. Malignant disorders include malignant histiocytosis (histiocytic sarcoma) and the monocytic or myelomonocytic leukemias.
LCH results from the proliferation of immunophenotypically and functionally immature, morphologically rounded Langerhans cells along with eosinophils, macrophages, lymphocytes, and commonly, multinucleated giant cells. Controversy exists regarding whether the clonal proliferation is sufficient to consider this a neoplasm or whether the immunologic abnormalities observed in LCH are the cause of the clonal proliferation of lesional Langerhans cells.[1] In either case, the primary treatment is with chemotherapeutic agents. Some of the chemotherapy drugs used also have immunomodulatory activity.
Langerhans cell histiocytosis is the terminology currently preferred over histiocytosis X, eosinophilic granuloma, Abt-Letterer-Siwe disease, Hand-Schuller-Christian disease, or diffuse reticuloendotheliosis. This is because the pathologic Langerhans cell is the cell type common to all of these diagnoses and is a member of the dendritic cell family, a cell found intermittently in the dermal-epidermal junction of the skin.[2,3,4]
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Childhood LCH
Children and adolescents with Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) should be treated by a multidisciplinary team of health professionals who are experienced with this disease and its treatment. This multidisciplinary team approach incorporates the skills of the primary care physician, pediatric surgical subspecialists, radiation oncologists, pediatric medical oncologists/hematologists, rehabilitation specialists, pediatric nurse specialists, social workers, and others to ensure that children receive treatment, supportive care, and rehabilitation that will achieve optimal survival and quality of life. (Refer to the PDQ Supportive and Palliative Care summaries for specific information about supportive care for children and adolescents with cancer.)
Clinical trials organized by the Histiocyte Society have been accruing patients on childhood treatment studies since the 1980s. Information on centers enrolling patients on these trials can be found on the NCI Web site.
Because of treatment advances, the outcome for children with LCH involving high-risk organs (spleen, liver, bone marrow, and lung) has improved.[1,2] The high-risk designation comes from the high mortality rate (35%) in those who do not respond well to therapy in the first 6 weeks. The outcome for children with LCH involving low-risk organs (skin, bones, lymph nodes, and pituitary gland) has always been excellent, but the major challenge is to reduce the relatively high incidence (20%–30%) of recurrent lesions. Children with low-risk organ involvement do not die from LCH. Children with high-risk or low-risk disease should be followed annually to document and attempt to correct adverse side effects of therapy or the disease. (Refer to the PDQ summary on Late Effects of Treatment for Childhood Cancer for more information about the incidence, type, and monitoring of late effects of childhood cancer and its therapy.)
Incidence
The incidence of LCH has been estimated to be two to ten cases per million children aged 15 years or younger.[3,4] The male/female (M/F) ratio is close to one and the median age of presentation is 30 months.[5] A report from Stockholm County, Sweden described an incidence of 8.9 cases of LCH per million children with a total of 29 cases in 10 years.[6] A majority of these cases were diagnosed between September and February (M/F = 1.2). A 4-year survey of 251 new LCH cases in France found an unusual incidence of 4.6 per million children younger than 15 years (M/F = 1.2).[7] Identical twins with LCH, as well as nontwin siblings or multiple cases in one family, have been reported.[8] A survey of LCH in northwest England (Manchester) revealed an overall incidence of 2.6 cases per million child years.[9]
Risk Factors
Solvent exposure in parents and perinatal infections have a weak association with LCH, but there is no increase in cases after viral epidemics.[10] An increased frequency of family members with thyroid disease has been reported.[11]
Prognosis
The nomenclature used for LCH indicates the disease extent (i.e., single organ, single site [single system], multisite or multiple sites [multisystem], or multiple organs [diffuse disease]). Prognosis and treatment are closely linked to the extent of disease at presentation and whether high-risk organs (liver, spleen, lung, bone marrow) are involved. If patients with involvement of high-risk organs do not respond adequately by the 12th week of therapy, their chance of survival is 35% in the LCH-1 trial.[1] Although age younger than 2 years was once thought to portend a worse prognosis, data from the LCH-II study showed that patients aged 2 years or younger without high-risk organ involvement had the same response to therapy as older patients.[1] The LCH-II trial showed that high-risk patients treated with vinblastine and prednisone who had a poor response to treatment at 6 weeks, had a 27% chance of survival, whereas those treated with etoposide, vinblastine, and prednisone who had a poor response to treatment at 6 weeks, had a 52% chance of survival. In the latter group, continuing this therapy eventually brought disease control for more of the patients.[2] Patients with anemia and thrombocytopenia with serum albumin less than 2.5 g/dL had an overall survival of only 10%.[12] Involvement of orbital, mastoid, and temporal bones is associated with an increased risk of diabetes insipidus in addition to increased frequency of anterior pituitary hormone deficiencies and neurologic problems. (Refer to the CNS subsection in the Multisystem Disease Presentation section of this summary for more information.)
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Histopathologic, Immunologic, and Cytogenetic Characteristics of LCH
Cell of Origin and Biologic Correlates
Modern classification of the histiocytic diseases divides them into dendritic cell-related, monocyte/macrophage-related, or true malignancies. Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) is a dendritic cell disease.[1,2] The Langerhans cells (LCs) in LCH lesions are immature cells that express the monocyte marker CD14, which is not found on normal skin LCs.[3] Comprehensive gene expression array data analysis on LCH is consistent with the concept that the skin LC is not the cell of origin for LCH.[4] Rather it is likely to be a myeloid dendritic cell (DC) which expresses the same antigens (CD1a and CD207) as the skin LC. For now, the term Langerhans cell histiocytosis remains, although we may be returning to an era of Histiocytosis X until the precise origin of the CD207-positive cells in LCH are fully understood.
Suspected LCH lesions also contain lymphocytes, macrophages, neutrophils, eosinophils, fibroblasts, and sometimes multinucleated giant cells. In the brain, three types of histopathologic findings have been described in LCH:
- Granulomas in meninges or choroid plexus with CD1a-positive LC and predominantly CD8-positive lymphocytes.
- Granulomas in connective tissue spaces with CD1a-positive LC and predominantly CD8-positive lymphocytes causing an inflammatory response and neuronal loss.
- Predominantly CD8+ lymphocyte infiltration with tissue degeneration, microglial activation, and gliosis.[5]
Immunologic Abnormalities
Normally, the LC is a primary presenter of antigen to naïve T-lymphocytes. However, in LCH, the LC does not efficiently stimulate primary T lymphocyte responses.[6] Antibody staining for the DC markers, CD80, CD86, and class II antigens, has been used to show that in LCH, the abnormal cells are immature DCs that present antigen poorly and are proliferating at a low rate.[3,6,7] Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) as well as interleukin (IL)-10 are possibly responsible for preventing LC maturation in LCH.[3] The expansion of regulatory T cells in LCH patients has been reported.[7] The population of CD4-positive CD25 high FoxP3high cells was reported to comprise 20% of T cells and appeared to be in contact with LC in LCH lesions. These T cells were present in higher numbers in the peripheral blood of LCH patients than in controls and returned to a normal level when patients were in remission.
Etiology
The etiology of LCH is unknown. Efforts to define a viral cause have not been successful.[8,9]
Chromosomal Studies
Studies showing clonality in LCH using polymorphisms of methylation-specific restriction enzyme sites on the X-chromosome regions coding for the human androgen receptor, DXS255, PGK, and HPRT have been published since 1994.[10,11] Biopsies of lesions with single system or multisystem disease were found to have a proliferation of LCs from a single clone. Pulmonary LCH in adults is usually nonclonal. Cytogenetic abnormalities in LCH have rarely been reported. One study described an abnormal clone t(7;12)(q11.2;p13) from a vertebral lesion of one patient.[12] This study also reported nonclonal karyotypic abnormalities in three patients. An increase in chromosomal breakage was also noted.
Comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) has been used to analyze bone and pulmonary LCH.[13,14,15] Analysis of seven bone lesions by CGH and loss of heterozygosity (LOH) has provided further evidence to suggest that chromosomal aberrations may be an intrinsic characteristic of LCH.[13] One study evaluated 14 cases of pulmonary LCH for LOH and found LOH of 1p, 1q, 3p, 5p, 17p, and 22q.[14] Allelic loss of one or more tumor suppressor genes was identified in 19 of 24 specimens. No direct sequencing was done to verify the CGH findings in these loci. A study using array comparative genomic hybridization failed to identify any mutations in CD207 cells.[16]
There is one report of significantly shortened telomeres in the LCH lesional LCs compared with LCs in inflammatory disorders such as dermatopathic lymphadenitis.[17] However, another group found telomere length of LCH cells from skin multisystem lesions were long homogeneous compared with those from bone lesions that were heterogeneous in length.[18] Telomerase was more often expressed in skin LCH lesions than in bone lesions. In another study evaluation of peripheral blood leukocyte DNA from high-risk LCH patients showed polymorphisms of two cytokine genes (IL-4 and interferon gamma), which were associated with high-expressor phenotypes.[19]
Cytokine Analysis by Immunohistochemical Staining and Gene Expression Array Studies
In an analysis of gene expression in LCH by gene array techniques, 2,000 differentially expressed genes were identified. Of 65 genes previously reported to be associated with LCH, only 11 were found to be upregulated in the array results. Genes confirmed to be upregulated included TGF-beta, BCL2, ICAM, CD14, and CD2. The most highly upregulated gene in both CD207 and CD3-positive cells was osteopontin and other genes which activate and recruit T cells to sites of inflammation. The expression profile of the T cells was that of an activated regulatory T cell phenotype with increased expression of FOXP3, CTLA4, and osteopontin. These findings support a previous report on the expansion of regulatory T cells in LCH.[7] There was pronounced expression of genes associated with early myeloid progenitors including CD33 and CD44, which is consistent with an earlier report of elevated myeloid dendritic cells in the blood of LCH patients.[20] Allen has proposed a new model of "Misguided Myeloid DC Precursors" whereby myeloid DC precursors are recruited to sites of LCH by an unknown mechanism and the DCs in turn recruit lymphocytes by excretion of osteopontin, neuropilin-1, and vannin-1.[4]
Several investigators have published studies evaluating the level of various cytokines or growth factors in the blood of patients with LCH that have included many of the genes found not to be upregulated by the gene expression results discussed above.[4] One explanation for elevated levels of these proteins is a systemic inflammatory response with the cytokines/growth factors being produced by cells outside the LCH lesions.
IL-1 beta and prostaglandin GE2 levels were measured in the saliva of patients with oral LCH lesions or multisystem high-risk patients with and without oral lesions; levels of both were higher in patients with active disease and decreased after successful therapy.[21]
Human Leukocyte Antigen Type and Association With LCH
Specific associations of LCH with distinct human lymphocyte antigen (HLA) types and extent of disease have been published. In a study of 84 Nordic patients, those with only skin or bone involvement more frequently had HLA-DRB1*03 type than those with multisystem disease.[22] In 29 patients and 37 family members in the United States, the Cw7 and DR4 types were significantly more prevalent in Caucasians with single bone lesions.[23]
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Presentation of LCH in Children
Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) usually presents with a skin rash or painful bone lesion. Systemic symptoms of fever, weight loss, diarrhea, edema, dyspnea, polydipsia, and polyuria, relate to specific organ involvement as well as single site (single system) or multisystem disease presentation as noted below.
In LCH, specific organs are considered high-risk or low-risk organs when involved with disease presentation. High-risk organs include liver, spleen, lung, and bone marrow. Low-risk organs include skin, bone, lymph nodes, and the pituitary gland. Additionally, patients may present with disease in one site or organ (single site or single system) or in multiple sites or organs (multisystem or multisite). Treatment decisions for patients are based upon whether high-risk or low-risk organs are involved and whether LCH presents as a single site or multisystem disease. Patients can have LCH of the skin, bone, lymph nodes, and pituitary in any combination and still be considered low-risk.
Single-Site Disease Presentation
In single-site LCH, as the name implies, the disease presents with involvement of a single site or organ, including skin and oral mucosa, bone, lymph nodes and thymus, pituitary gland, and thyroid.
Skin
- Infants: Seborrheic involvement of the scalp may be mistaken for prolonged cradle cap in infants. Infants may also present with brown to purplish papules over any part of their body (Hashimoto-Pritzker disease).[1] Similar to that of stage 4S neuroblastoma, this manifestation may be self-limited as the lesions often disappear with no therapy during the first year of life. However, these patients must be watched very closely for systemic disease which may present after the initial skin lesions.[2,3] In a report of 61 neonatal cases from 1,069 patients in the Histiocyte Society database, nearly 60% had multisystem disease and 72% had risk organ involvement.[4]
A review of patients presenting in the first 3 months of life with skin-only LCH, compared the clinical and histopathologic findings in 21 children whose skin LCH regressed with 10 children who did not regress. Patients with regressing disease had distal lesions that appeared in the first 3 months of life and were necrotic papules or hypopigmented macules. Non-regressing patients who required systemic therapy were more often intertriginous. Immunohistochemical studies showed no difference in IL-10, Ki-67, or E-cadherin expression and T-reg number between the two clinical groups.[5]
The overall survival was poorer in neonates with risk organ involvement compared with infants and children with the same extent of disease. Response to therapy at 12 weeks was more important than age.[4]
- Children and Adults: Children and adults may develop a red papular rash in the groin, abdomen, back, or chest that resembles a diffuse candidal rash. Seborrheic involvement of the scalp may be mistaken for a severe case of dandruff in older individuals. Ulcerative lesions behind the ears, involving the scalp, genitalia, or perianal region are often misdiagnosed as bacterial or fungal infections.
Oral mucosa
In the mouth, presenting symptoms include gingival hypertrophy, and ulcers of the soft or hard palate, buccal mucosa, or on the tongue and lips. Lesions of the oral mucosa may precede evidence of LCH elsewhere.[6]
Bone
LCH can occur in any bone of the body. The most frequent site of LCH in children is a lytic lesion of the skull,[7] which may be asymptomatic or painful. The most frequently involved skeletal sites are skull, femur, ribs, vertebra, and humerus. Spine lesions are most often located in the cervical vertebrae and are frequently associated with other bone lesions. Proptosis from an LCH mass in the orbit mimics rhabdomyosarcomas, neuroblastoma, and benign fatty tumors of the eye. Some skull lesions are not only lytic but may have an accompanying soft tissue mass that impinges on the dura. Lesions of the facial bones or anterior or middle cranial fossae (e.g., temporal, sphenoid, ethmoid, zygomatic) with intracranial tumor extension comprise part of a central nervous system (CNS)-risk group. These patients have a threefold increased risk for developing diabetes insipidus (DI) and an increased risk of other CNS disease (see below). Vertebral lesions with soft tissue extension often present with pain and neurologic deficits.[8]
Lymph nodes and thymus
The cervical nodes are most frequently involved and may be soft- or hard-matted groups with accompanying lymphedema. An enlarged thymus or mediastinal node involvement can mimic lymphoma or an infectious process and may cause asthma-like symptoms. Accordingly, biopsy with culture and histologic examination is mandatory for these presentations.
Pituitary gland
The posterior part of the pituitary gland can be affected in patients with LCH causing central DI (Refer to the Endocrine and Central Nervous System subsections in the Multisystem Disease Presentation section of this summary for more information.). Anterior pituitary involvement often results in growth and sexual maturation failure.
Thyroid
Thyroid involvement has been reported in LCH. Symptoms include massive thyroid enlargement, hypothyroidism, and respiratory symptoms.[9]
Multisystem Disease Presentation
In multisystem LCH, the disease presents in multiple organs or body systems including liver and spleen, lung, bone marrow, endocrine system, gastrointestinal system, and CNS.
Bone and other organ systems
LCH patients may present with multiple bone lesions as a single site (SMFB) or bone lesions with other organ systems involved (MSB). A review of SMFB and MSB patients treated on the Japanese LCH study (JLSG-02) found patients in the MSB group were more likely to have lesions in the temporal bone, ear-petrous bone, orbit, and zygomatic bone (CNS-risk).[10] Not surprisingly, the MSB patients had a higher incidence of diabetes insipidus, correlating with the higher frequency of lesions in the noted facial bones. There was no difference in the outcome to treatment, which is more intense in the JLSG-02 study as compared to the LCH-II and HISTSOC-LCH-III studies.
Abdominal/gastrointestinal system
In LCH, the liver and spleen are considered high-risk organs, and involvement of these organs affects prognosis. Hepatic enlargement can be accompanied by dysfunction, leading to hypoalbuminemia with ascites, hyperbilirubinemia, and clotting factor deficiencies. Sonography, computed tomography (CT), or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the liver will show hypoechoic or low-signal intensity along the portal veins or biliary tracts when the liver is involved with LCH.[11] One of the most serious complications of hepatic LCH is cholestasis and sclerosing cholangitis.[12] The median age of children with hepatic LCH is 23 months, and they present with hepatomegaly or hepatosplenomegaly, and elevated alkaline phosphatase, liver transaminases, and gamma glutamyl transpeptidase. Biopsies show no Langerhans cells (LCs) or infiltrating lymphocytes surrounding the bile ducts. It is thought that cytokines elaborated by lymphocytes may damage the bile ducts. Seventy-five percent of children with sclerosing cholangitis will not respond to chemotherapy; liver transplantation is the only alternate treatment when hepatic function worsens. The patients who undergo liver transplant for LCH may have a higher incidence of post transplant lymphoproliferative disease.[13]
Massive splenomegaly may lead to cytopenias because of hypersplenism and respiratory compromise. Performing a splenectomy for these problems is not customary, although one may be forced to do this when salvage chemotherapy is not working fast enough. Unfortunately, splenectomy typically provides only transient relief of cytopenias, as increased liver size and reticuloendothelial activation results in peripheral blood cell sequestration and destruction. Although rare, LCH infiltration of the pancreas and kidneys has been reported.[14]
A few patients with diarrhea, hematochezia, perianal fistulas, or malabsorption have been reported.[15,16] Diagnosing gastrointestinal involvement with LCH is difficult because of patchy involvement. Careful endoscopic examination including multiple biopsies is usually needed.
Lung
In LCH, the lung is also considered a high-risk organ, but is less frequently involved in children than in adults, in whom smoking is a key etiologic factor.[17] The cystic/nodular pattern of disease leads to the destruction of lung tissue. A spontaneous pneumothorax can be the first sign of LCH in the lung, although patients may present with tachypnea or dyspnea. Ultimately, widespread fibrosis and destruction of lung tissue leads to severe pulmonary insufficiency. A study reporting outcomes for children with only low-risk organ disease (skin, bone, lymph nodes, or pituitary gland) or pulmonary plus low-risk organs revealed that patients with pulmonary involvement had a 5-year survival of 83% as opposed to 94% for those with only low-risk organ involvement.[18] Declining diffusion capacity may also herald the onset of pulmonary hypertension.[19] In young children with diffuse disease, therapy can halt progress of the tissue destruction and normal repair mechanisms may restore some function.
Bone marrow
Most patients with bone marrow involvement are young children who have diffuse disease in the liver, spleen, lymph nodes, and skin and significant thrombocytopenia and anemia with or without neutropenia.[20] Others have only mild cytopenias and are found to have bone marrow involvement with LCH by sensitive immunohistochemical or flow cytometric analysis of the bone marrow.[21] All of the bone marrow biopsy specimens (22 of 22 specimens) in one study had increased numbers of dysplasia of megakaryocytes, often with emperipolesis (active penetration by one cell into and through a larger cell).[22] Patients with LCH who are considered at very high risk sometimes present with hemophagocytosis involving the bone marrow.[23] The cytokine milieu driving LCH is probably responsible for the epiphenomenon of macrophage activation. These patients may be confusing as to which histiocytic syndrome is primary: hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis or LCH. Evidence of bone involvement or the characteristic LCH skin rash can simplify the diagnostic dilemma, but careful clinical evaluation is needed in these cases.
Endocrine system
Diabetes insipidus (DI) is the most frequent endocrine manifestation in LCH. Some patients may present with an apparent idiopathic presentation of DI before other lesions are identified. A review of such patients found that 51% will have other lesions diagnostic of LCH within a year of identifying DI.[24] A study of 589 LCH patients in France revealed the 10-year risk of pituitary involvement was 24%.[25] These investigators did not see a decreased incidence of DI in chemotherapy-treated patients (see Central Nervous System section below). The German-Austrian-Dutch (Deutsche Arbeits-gemeinschaft für Leukaemieforschung und-therapie im Kindesalter, DAL) Group found the cumulative incidence to be 12%.[26] DI followed initial LCH diagnosis by a mean of 1 year and growth hormone deficiency 5 years later.
Patients with multisystem disease and craniofacial involvement at the time of diagnosis, particularly of the ear, eye, and oral region, carried a significantly increased risk of developing DI during their course (relative risk, 4.6).[26] This risk increased when the disease remained active for a longer period of time or reactivated. The risk for development of DI in this population was 20% at 15 years after diagnosis.
Central nervous system
Diabetes insipidus
DI (considered both an endocrine and a central nervous system manifestation of LCH) can present as an acute or chronic condition.
Acute manifestations of diabetes insipidus
DI caused by damage to the posterior pituitary region by LCH is the most frequent initial sign (and acute manifestation) in the CNS.[26] DI is the presenting symptom in approximately 4% of patients subsequently found to have LCH. DI occurred in 12% of all LCH patients in the DAL studies.[26] Six percent of patients presented with this manifestation at the time of diagnosis. Pituitary biopsies are rarely done and most often only when the stalk is greater than 6.5 mm or there is a hypothalamic mass. Most often the diagnosis is established by biopsying the skin, bone, or lymph node of a patient who also has the pituitary abnormalities noted above.
Chronic manifestations of diabetes insipidus
Ten percent to 24% of all LCH patients will develop DI sometime during the course of their treatment and usually within 4 years from diagnosis of another lesion.[25] The frequency of DI appears to be increased in patients with bone lesions in the orbit, mastoid, and temporal bone since 75% of patients with DI have these CNS-risk lesions.[26] However, another study did not find this association despite showing that the risk of ear, nose, and throat involvement was higher in patients with endocrinopathies.[25] Additional data showed that 56% of DI patients will develop anterior pituitary hormone deficiencies (growth, thyroid, or gonadal-stimulating hormones) within 10 years of the onset of DI. DI occurs in 11% of patients treated with multiagent chemotherapy and in up to 50% of patients treated less aggressively.[27,28]
Other chronic central nervous system disease manifestations
LCH patients may develop mass lesions of the choroid plexus, grey matter, or white matter.[29] These lesions contain CD1a-positive LCs and CD8-positive lymphocytes.[30]
LCH central nervous system neurodegenerative syndrome
Another chronic CNS problem that occurs in 1% to 4% of LCH patients is a neurodegenerative syndrome that is manifested by dysarthria, ataxia, dysmetria, and sometimes behavior changes. MRI results from these patients show hyperintensity of the dentate nucleus and white matter of the cerebellum on T2-weighted images or hyperintense lesions of the basal ganglia on T1-weighted images and/or atrophy of the cerebellum.[31] The radiologic findings may precede the onset of symptoms by many years or be found coincidently. A study of 83 LCH patients who had at least two MRI imaging studies of the brain for evaluation of craniofacial lesions, DI, and/or other endocrine deficiencies of neuropsychological symptoms has been published.[32] Forty-seven of 83 patients (57%) had radiological neurodegenerative changes at a median time of 34 months from diagnosis. Of the 47 patients, 12 (25%) had clinical neurological deficits that presented 3 to 15 years after the LCH diagnosis.
A study of CNS-related permanent consequences (neuropsychologic deficits) in 14 of 25 LCH patients followed for a median of 10 years has been published.[33] Seven of these patients had DI and five patients had radiographic evidence of LCH CNS neurodegenerative changes.[33] Patients with craniofacial lesions had lower performance and verbal intelligence quotient scores than those with other LCH lesions. Another study reported significant deficits in two LCH patients with abnormalities of the cerebellum and pituitary as shown by MRI scans.[34]
Histological evaluation of these neurodegenerative lesions has been shown to contain a prominent T-cell infiltration in the absence of the CD1a-positive dendritic cells along with microglial activation and gliosis. Rarely, CD1a-positive LCs are observed. The neurodegenerative form of the disease has been compared to a paraneoplastic inflammatory response.[30]
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Diagnostic Evaluation of Childhood LCH
The complete evaluation of any patient, whether presenting with single system or multisystem disease, should include the following:
- History and physical exam: A complete history and physical exam with special attention to the skin, lymph nodes, ears, oral pharynx, gingiva, tongue, teeth, bones, lungs, thyroid, liver and spleen size, bone abnormalities, and growth velocity.
- Neurologic exam.
Other tests and procedures include the following:
- Blood tests: Blood tests include complete blood count with leukocyte differential and platelet count, liver function tests (e.g., bilirubin, albumin, aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, and prothrombin time/partial thromboplastin time in patients with hepatomegaly, jaundice, elevations of liver enzymes, or low albumin), and serum electrolytes.
- Urine tests: Urine tests include urinalysis and a water-deprivation test if diabetes insipidus (DI) is suspected.
- Bone marrow aspirate and biopsy: The bone marrow aspirate and biopsy should be stained with anti-CD1a and/or anti-CD207 (langerin) for patients with thrombocytopenia or anemia not explained by other causes.
- Radiologic and imaging tests: Radiologic tests for the first level of screening include skeletal survey, skull series, positron emission tomography (PET), or bone scans, and chest x-ray. Computed tomographic (CT) scan of the head is indicated if orbital or mastoid involvement is suspected. Imaging tests may include magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan with gadolinium contrast of the brain for patients with DI or suspected brain or vertebral involvement.[1]
A CT scan of the lungs is indicated for patients with abnormal chest x-rays or pulmonary symptoms. High-resolution CT scans may show evidence of pulmonary Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) when the chest x-ray is normal, thus in infants and toddlers with normal chest x-rays, a CT scan may be considered.[2] LCH causes fatty changes in the liver or hypodense areas along the portal tract, which can be identified by CT scans.[3] Newer diagnostic imaging modalities, such as somatostatin analogue scintigraphy or fludeoxyglucose F 18 (18F-FDG) PET scans, which augment these standard methods may prove useful.[4,5,6,7,8] PET scans may be helpful in following the response to therapy since the intensity of the PET image diminishes with healing of a bone or other lesion.[7]
18F-FDG PET scan abnormalities have been reported in the brains of seven LCH patients with neurologic and radiographic signs of neurodegenerative disease.[8] The investigators acquired the images beginning 30 minutes after isotope injection instead of the customary 1 hour for body imaging. Areas of hypometabolism in the caudate nuclei, vermis of cerebellum, and hypermetabolism in the amygdala were found by group analysis. There was good correlation with MRI findings in the cerebellar white matter, but less so in the caudate nuclei and frontal cortex. It was suggested that PET scans of patients at high risk for developing neurodegenerative LCH could show abnormalities earlier than MRI.[8]
MRI findings of central nervous system LCH include enhancement of the pons, basal ganglia, and white matter of the cerebellum, as well as mass lesions or meningeal enhancement. In a report of 163 patients,[9] meningeal lesions were found in 29% and choroid plexus involvement in 6%. Paranasal sinus or mastoid lesions were found in more than 50% versus 20% of controls, and accentuated Virchow-Robin spaces in 70% of patients versus 27% of controls.
- Biopsy: Lytic bone lesions, skin, and lymph nodes are the most frequent lesions biopsied for diagnosis of LCH. The Langerhans cells (LCs) should stain with antibodies to CD1a or anti-langerin (CD207) to confirm the diagnosis of LCH. CD1a is more specific for LCH than anti-langerin, since normal dendritic LCs in lymph nodes and liver may stain for CD207, but not CD1a.[10] Since other types of histiocytes and macrophages may stain with S-100, this, and morphology of hematoxylin and eosin stained sections, are not considered sufficient to establish the diagnosis of LCH.[10] A liver biopsy is indicated when a child with LCH presents with hypoalbuminemia not caused by gastrointestinal LCH or other etiology. These patients may not have elevated levels of bilirubin or liver enzymes. An open lung biopsy is the preferred method of obtaining tissue for diagnosis of pulmonary LCH as bronchoalveolar lavages may be nondiagnostic.
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Follow-up Considerations in Childhood LCH
Patients with diabetes insipidus and/or skull lesions in the orbit, mastoid, or temporal bones appear to be at higher risk for Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) central nervous system (CNS) involvement and LCH CNS neurodegenerative syndrome. These patients should have magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans with gadolinium contrast at the time of LCH diagnosis and every 2 years thereafter for 10 years to detect evidence of CNS disease.[1] The Histiocyte Society CNS LCH Committee does not recommend any treatment for radiologic CNS LCH of the neurodegenerative type. However, being aware of its presence is important and careful neurologic examinations and appropriate imaging with MRIs are done at regular intervals. Brain stem auditory evoked responses should also be done at regular intervals to define the onset of clinical CNS LCH. When clinical signs are present, intervention may be indicated.
Vertebral lesions can be effectively followed by MRI scans and pelvic lesions by computed tomography (CT) scans or MRI scans.
For children with LCH in the lung, pulmonary function testing and chest CT scans are sensitive methods for detecting disease progression.[2]
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Treatment of Childhood LCH
Treatment of Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) may include surgery, oral, topical and intravenous medications and chemotherapy, or radiation therapy depending on the site and extent of disease. The recommended duration of therapy is 6 months for patients who require chemotherapy for bone, skin, or lymph node LCH and 12 months if the liver, spleen, bone marrow, or lungs are involved. It is preferable that LCH patients be enrolled in a clinical trial whenever possible so that advances in therapy can be achieved more quickly and to ensure optimal care.
Standard Treatment Options by Organ, Site or System Involvement
The standard treatment of LCH is best chosen based on data from international trials with large numbers of patients. However, some patients may have LCH involving only the skin, mouth, pituitary gland, or other sites not studied in these international trials. In such cases therapy recommendations are based upon case series which lack the evidence-based strength of the trials.
Skin involvement only
- Observation.
- Topical steroids.[1] Although topical steroid creams are rarely effective.
- Oral methotrexate (20 mg/m2) weekly for 6 months.[2]
- Oral thalidomide 50 mg to 200 mg nightly.[3]
- Topical application of nitrogen mustard is effective for cutaneous LCH that is resistant to oral therapies, but not for disease involving large areas of skin.[4]
- Psoralen and long-wave ultraviolet radiation.[5]
Single skull lesions of the frontal, parietal, or occipital regions or single lesions of any other bone
- Curettage only or curettage plus injection of methylprednisolone.[6]
Skull lesions in the mastoid, temporal, or orbital bones
The purpose of treating these patients is to decrease the chances of developing diabetes insipidus (DI).[7]
- Six months of vinblastine and prednisone: Weekly vinblastine (6 mg/m2) for 7 weeks then every 3 weeks for good response. Daily prednisone (40 mg/m2) for 4 weeks then tapered over 2 weeks. Afterwards prednisone is given for 5 days at 40 mg/m2 every 3 weeks with the vinblastine injections.[7]
- Ear, nose, and throat surgeons have reported a series of patients with orbital or mastoid lesions who received only surgical curettage.[8] None of these patients developed DI. However, when comparing the incidence rates of DI in patients who received little or no chemotherapy (20%–50% incidence of DI) versus DI incidence rates reported by the German-Austrian-Dutch (DAL) Group HX-83 trial (10% incidence of DI in patients treated for LCH), it appears that the weight of evidence from the DAL HX-83 trial supports treatment to prevent DI in patients with the mastoid, temporal, or orbital bones.[9,10]
Multiple bone lesions; or combinations of skin, lymph node, or pituitary gland with or without bone lesions
- Vinblastine and prednisone: Six months of treatment with weekly vinblastine (6 mg/m2) for 7 weeks then every 3 weeks for good response. Prednisone (40 mg/m2) is given daily for 4 weeks then tapered over 2 weeks. Afterwards prednisone is given for 5 days at 40 mg/m2 every 3 weeks with the vinblastine injections. A short (<6 months) treatment course with only a single agent (e.g., prednisone) is not sufficient, and the number of relapses is higher. An 18% reactivation rate with a multidrug regimen for 6 months versus a historical reactivation rate of 50% to 80% with surgery alone, or with a single-drug treatment regimen has been reported.[11] A comprehensive review of the DAL and Histiocyte Society clinical trials revealed a reactivation rate of 46% at 5 years.[12][Level of evidence: 3iii]. Most reactivations were in bone, skin, or other non-risk locations.
Spleen, liver, bone marrow, or lung (may or may not include skin, bone, lymph node, or pituitary gland)
- The standard therapy length used for LCH in the spleen, liver, bone marrow, or lung (high-risk organs) is based upon LCH-I, LCH-II, and the DAL-HX 83 studies and varies from 6 months (LCH-I and LCH-II) to 1 year (DAL-HX-83).[7,10] The LCH-II study was a randomized trial to compare treatment of patients with vinblastine/prednisone/mercaptopurine or vinblastine/etoposide/prednisone/mercaptopurine.[13][Level of evidence: 1iiA] There outcomes of response at 6 weeks, 5 year probability of survival, relapses, and permanent consequences had no statistical difference between the two treatments. Hence, etoposide has not been used in subsequent Histiocyte Society trials. There was reduced mortality of patients with risk organ involvement in the etoposide arm. Although controversial, a comparison of patients in the LCH-I to LCH-II trials suggested that increased treatment intensity promoted additional early responses and reduced mortality.
Vertebral or femoral bone lesions at risk for collapse
- Radiation therapy is indicated for patients with bone lesions of the vertebrae or femoral neck, which are at risk of collapse or fracture.[14,15] Certain skull lesions, not in the central nervous system (CNS)-risk region, could be considered for radiation therapy. When instability of the cervical vertebrae and neurologic symptoms are present, bracing or spinal fusion may be needed.[16] Patients with soft tissue extension from the vertebral lesions are often treated successfully with chemotherapy.[17][Level of evidence: 3iiDiii]
Central nervous system
- Treatment of mass lesions with cladribine (2-CdA) has been effective in 13 reported cases.[18,19]; [20][Level of evidence: 3iiiDiii] Mass lesions included enlargement of the hypothalamic-pituitary axis, parenchymal mass lesions, and leptomeningeal involvement. Doses of 2-CdA ranged from 5 to 13 mg/m2 given at varying frequencies.[20][Level of evidence: 3iiiDiii]
- For treatment of symptoms of LCH CNS neurodegenerative syndrome, dexamethasone, 2-CdA, retinoic acid, intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIgG), and cytarabine with or without vincristine have been used.[20][Level of evidence: 3iiiDiii]; [21,22,23,24] Retinoic acid was given at a dose of 45 mg/m2 daily for 6 weeks, then 2 weeks a month for 1 year.[21] IVIgG (400 mg/m2) was given monthly and chemotherapy consisting of oral prednisolone with or without oral or intravenous methotrexate and oral 6-mercaptopurine were given for at least one year.[22] Magnetic resonance imaging findings were stable but clinical efficacy was difficult to judge as patients were reported to have no progression in their neurologic symptoms. A study using cytarabine with or without vincristine reported improvement in the clinical and MRI findings for the first time.[24][Level of evidence: 3iiiC] Seven of eight patients have been followed for more than 2 years after stopping therapy and have had stable neurologic and radiographic findings.
Multisystem disease
- The Japan LCH Study Group (JLSG) reported 5-year response and overall survival rates of 78% and 95%, respectively, for patients with multisystem disease treated on the JLSG-96 trial (6-week induction regimen of cytosine arabinoside, vincristine, and prednisolone followed by 6 months of maintenance therapy with cytarabine, vincristine, prednisolone, and low-dose intravenous methotrexate). If patients had a poor response to this initial regimen, they were switched to a salvage regimen of intensive combination doxorubicin, cyclophosphamide, methotrexate, vincristine, and prednisolone.[25]
- Results from the LCH-II trial for multisystem LCH showed a 5-year survival rate of 74% for patients treated with vinblastine/prednisone/mercaptopurine, versus a 79% 5-year survival rate for those patients who had etoposide added to the vinblastine/prednisone/mercaptopurine regimen. There is no statistical difference for the 5-year survival rates between the two arms of this trial.[13] No salvage regimen was recommended as part of the LCH-II trial.
Reactivation of single system and multisystem LCH
Reactivation of LCH after complete response has been reported; usually occurring within the first 9 to 12 months after stopping treatment.[26] The percentage of patients with reactivations was 17.4% for single site disease; 37% for single system, multifocal disease; 46% for multisystem (non-risk organ) disease; and 54% for patients with risk-organ involvement. Forty-three percent of reactivations were in bone, 11% in ears, 9% in skin, and 7% develop diabetes insipidus; a lower percentage of patients had lymph node, bone marrow, or risk organ relapses.[26] The median time to reactivation was 12 to 15 months in non-risk patients and 9 months in risk patients. One-third of patients had more than one reactivation varying from nine to 14 months after the initial reactivation. Patients with reactivations were more likely to have long-term sequelae in the bones, diabetes insipidus, or other endocrine, ear, or lung problems.[26]
A comprehensive review of the DAL and Histiocyte Society clinical trials revealed a reactivation rate of 46% at 5 years, with most reactivations occurring within two years of first remission. A second reactivation occurred in 44% again within 2 years of the second remission. Involvement of the risk organs in these reactivations only occurred in those who were initially in the high-risk group (meaning they had liver, spleen, bone marrow, or lung involvement at the time of original diagnosis).[12][Level of evidence: 3iiiDiii] Most reactivations were in bone, skin, or other non-risk locations.
The percentage of reactivations in multisystem disease was nearly the same in the Japanese trial, [25][Level of evidence: 1iiA] and the LCH-II trial [13] (45% and 46%, respectively). Interestingly, the risk of reactivation was 0.4 in the risk group and 0.56 in the non-risk groups. This was not statistically significant. Both the DAL and Japanese studies concluded that intensified treatment increased rapid response, particularly in young children and infants younger than two years, and reduced mortality.
Treatment Options for Childhood LCH No Longer Considered Effective
Treatments for LCH in any location which have been used in the past but are no longer recommended include cyclosporine [27] and interferon-alpha.[28] Extensive surgery is also not indicated. Curettage of a circumscribed skull lesion may be sufficient if the lesion in not in the temporal, mastoid, or orbital areas (CNS-risk). Patients with disease in these particular sites are recommended to receive 6 months of systemic therapy with vinblastine and prednisone. For lesions of the mandible, extensive surgery may destroy any possibility of secondary tooth development. Surgical resection of groin or genital lesions is contraindicated as chemotherapy can heal bone or skin lesions.
Current Clinical Trials
Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's list of cancer clinical trials that are now accepting patients with childhood Langerhans cell histiocytosis. The list of clinical trials can be further narrowed by location, drug, intervention, and other criteria.
General information about clinical trials is also available from the NCI Web site.
References:
Treatment of Recurrent, Refractory, or Progressive Childhood LCH
Recurrent Low-Risk Organ Involvement
The optimal therapy for patients with relapsed or recurrent disease has not been determined. Several regimens exist. Patients with recurrent bone disease who reoccur months after stopping vinblastine and prednisone can benefit from treatment with a reinduction of vinblastine weekly and daily prednisone for 6 weeks. If there is no active disease or very little evidence of active disease, treatment can be changed to every 3 weeks with the addition of oral methotrexate weekly and mercaptopurine nightly.[1] An alternative treatment regimen employs vincristine and cytosine arabinoside.[2]
A phase II trial of thalidomide for Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) patients (10 low-risk patients; 6 high-risk patients) who failed primary and at least one secondary regimen demonstrated complete (4 out of 10) and partial (3 out of 10) responses for the low-risk patients. However, dose-limiting toxicities may limit the overall usefulness of thalidomide.[3]
Refractory High-Risk Organ Involvement
The current Histiocyte Society clinical trial for patients with refractory high-risk organ (liver, spleen or bone marrow) involvement, as well as resistant multisystem low-risk organ involvement, is an intensive acute myeloid leukemia-like protocol. Prompt change of therapy to cladribine (2-CdA) and/or cytosine arabinoside may provide an improvement in overall survival.[4]; [5][Level of evidence: 3iiiDii] This is a very intense regimen and requires that physicians are able to treat infectious and metabolic complications. Responses may be delayed. Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) has been done for patients with multisystem high-risk organ involvement that is refractory to chemotherapy.[6,7,8] HSCT has resulted in a relatively high toxic death rate. The use of reduced-intensity conditioning, especially for patients that have received intensive chemotherapy just prior to HSCT, may reduce toxic deaths and improve outcome.[9]
Progressive Multisystem LCH
A new treatment plan is indicated when a patient with multisystem involvement shows progressive disease after 6 weeks of standard treatment, or has not had a partial response by 12 weeks. Data from the German-Austrian-Dutch Group studies have shown that these children have only a 10% chance of surviving.[10] Results of the LCH-II trial revealed that patients treated with vinblastine/prednisone who did not respond well by 6 weeks had a 27% chance of survival.[11][Level of evidence: 1iiA] Those treated with vinblastine/prednisone/etoposide with a good response at 6 weeks had a 52% chance of survival. Reports about the use of 2-CdA and 2'-deoxycoformycin as salvage therapies for LCH have been published.[12,13] In this trial, these drugs were more often effective for patients with bone, skin, or lymph node involvement. Only one-third of patients with LCH of the liver, bone marrow, spleen, or lung responded. Another study demonstrated that patients with multiple reactivations or high-risk disease could be effectively treated with continuous infusion 2-CdA for 3 days.[14] Seven of 10 patients on this trial required no more therapy. Two patients with multiorgan LCH that was resistant to other agents, including 2-CdA, responded to treatment with clofarabine.[15][Level of evidence: 3iiiDii]
References:
Late Disease and Treatment Effects of Childhood LCH
The reported overall incidence of long-term consequences of Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) has ranged from 20% to 70%. The reason for this wide variation is due to case definition, sample size, therapy used, method of data collection, and follow-up duration. Of note, in one study of the quality of life of long-term survivors of skeletal LCH, the quality of life scores were not significantly different from healthy control children and adults.[1] In addition, the quality of life scores were very similar between those with and without permanent sequelae.
Children with low-risk organ involvement (skin, bones, lymph nodes or pituitary gland) have an approximately 20% chance of developing long-term sequelae.[2] Those with diabetes insipidus (DI) are at risk for panhypopituitarism and should be monitored carefully for adequacy of growth and development. In a retrospective review of 141 patients with LCH and DI, 43% developed growth hormone (GH) deficiency. [3,4,5] The 5-year and 10-year risks of GH deficiency among children with LCH and DI were 35% and 54%, respectively. There was no increased reactivation of LCH in patients who received GH compared with those who did not.[3]
Growth and development problems are more frequent because of the young age at presentation, and the more toxic effects of long-term prednisone therapy in the very young child. Patients with multisystem involvement have a 71% incidence of long-term problems.[2,3,4,5]
Hearing loss has been found in 38% of children treated for LCH.[5] Seventy percent of LCH patients in this study had ear involvement which included aural discharge, mastoid swelling, and hearing loss. Of those with computed tomography/magnetic resonance imaging abnormalities in the mastoid, 59% had hearing loss.[6][Level of evidence: 3iiiC]
Neurologic symptoms secondary to vertebral compression of cervical lesions have been reported in 3 out of 26 LCH patients with spinal lesions.[5] Central nervous system (CNS) LCH occurs most often in children with LCH of the pituitary or CNS-risk skull bones (mastoid, orbit, or temporal bone). Significant cognitive defects and magnetic resonance imaging abnormalities may develop in some long-term survivors with CNS-risk skull lesions.[7] Some patients have markedly abnormal cerebellar function and behavior abnormalities, while others have subtle deficits in short-term memory and brain stem-evoked potentials.[8]
Orthopedic problems from lesions of the spine, femur, tibia, or humerus may be seen in 20% of patients. These problems include vertebral collapse or instability of the spine that may lead to scoliosis, and facial or limb asymmetry.
Diffuse pulmonary disease may result in poor lung function with higher risk for infections and decreased exercise tolerance. These patients should be followed with pulmonary function testing, including the diffusing capacity of carbon monoxide and ratio of residual volume to total lung capacity.[9]
Liver disease may lead to sclerosing cholangitis, which rarely responds to any treatment other than liver transplantation.[10]
Dental problems characterized by loss of teeth have been significant for some patients, usually related to overly aggressive dental surgery.
Bone marrow failure secondary to LCH or from therapy is rare and is associated with a higher risk of malignancy. Patients with LCH have a higher-than-normal risk of developing secondary cancers.[11,12] Leukemia (usually acute myeloid) occurs after treatment, as does lymphoblastic lymphoma. Concurrent LCH/malignancy has been reported in a few patients, and some patients have had their malignancy first, followed by development of LCH. Three patients with T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) and aggressive LCH, for which the two disorders had shared markers of clonality, have been reported.[13,14] One study reported two cases in which clonality with the same T-cell receptor gamma genotype was found.[13] The authors of this study emphasized the plasticity of lymphocytes developing into Langerhans cells. In the second study, one patient with LCH after T-ALL who had the same T-cell receptor gene rearrangements and activating mutations of the NOTCH1 gene was described.[14]
An association between solid tumors and LCH has also been reported. Solid tumors associated with LCH include retinoblastoma, brain tumors, hepatocellular carcinoma, and Ewing sarcoma.
Follow Up for Childhood LCH Survivors
Specific long-term follow-up guidelines after treatment of childhood cancer or in those who have received chemotherapy have been published by the Children's Oncology Group, and are available on their Curesearch Website.
References:
Adult LCH
General Information
Incidence
It is estimated that one to two adult cases of Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) occur per million population.[1] The true incidence of this disease is impossible to know because large published studies usually are from referral centers and the disorder often is under-diagnosed. A survey from Germany reported that 66% of the LCH patients were women with an average age of 43.5 years for all patients.[2]
Presentation of Adult LCH by Organ, Site, or System
Adult LCH patients may have symptoms and signs for many months before a definitive diagnosis and treatment. LCH in adults is often similar to that in children, except that adult pulmonary LCH is closely associated with smoking. Adult pulmonary LCH has some unique biologic characteristics.
Presenting symptoms from published studies are (in order of decreasing frequency) dyspnea or tachypnea, polydipsia and polyuria, bone pain, lymphadenopathy, weight loss, fever, gingival hypertrophy, ataxia, and memory problems. Among the signs of LCH are skin rash, scalp nodules, soft tissue swelling near bone lesions, lymphadenopathy, gingival hypertrophy, and hepatosplenomegaly. Patients who present with isolated diabetes insipidus (DI) should be carefully observed for onset of other symptoms or signs characteristic of LCH. At least 80% of patients with DI had involvement of other organ systems: bone (68%), skin (57%), lung (39%), and lymph nodes (18%).[3]
Skin and oral mucosa
Many patients have a papular rash with brown, red, or crusted areas ranging from the size of a pinhead to a dime. In the scalp, the rash is similar to that of seborrhea. Skin in the inguinal region, genitalia, or around the anus may have open ulcers that do not heal after antibacterial or antifungal therapy. In the mouth, swollen gums or ulcers along the cheeks, roof of the mouth or tongue may be signs of LCH.
Bones
The relative frequency of bone involvement in adults differs from that in children: mandible (30% vs. 7%) and skull (21% vs. 40%).[1,2,3,4] The frequency in adults of vertebrae (13%), pelvis (13%), extremities (17%), and rib (6%) lesions are similar to those found in children.[1]
Lung
Pulmonary LCH is slightly more prevalent in smokers than in nonsmokers and the male/female ratio may be near unity depending on the incidence of smoking in the population studied.[5,6] Patients with pulmonary LCH usually present with cough, dyspnea, or chest pain, although nearly 20% of adults with lung involvement have no symptoms.[7,8] The presence of chest pain may indicate the presence of a spontaneous pneumothorax. The Langerhans cells (LCs) in adult lung lesions were shown to be mature dendritic cells expressing high levels of the accessory molecules CD80 and CD86, unlike LCs found in other lung disorders.[8] In addition, pulmonary LCH in adults appears to be primarily a reactive process, rather than a clonal proliferation as seen in childhood LCH.[9]
The most frequent pulmonary function abnormality finding in patients with pulmonary LCH is a reduced carbon monoxide diffusing capacity in 70% to 90% of cases.[10,11] A high-resolution computed tomography (CT) scan, which reveals cysts and nodules, usually in the upper lobes, are characteristic of LCH (see the Pulmonary Langerhans cell histiocytosis section on Computed tomography). Despite the typical CT findings, most pulmonologists agree that a lung biopsy is needed to confirm the diagnosis.[12] The presence of cystic abnormalities on high-resolution CT scans appears to be a poor predictor of which patients will have progressive disease.[13]
Multisystem disease
Adults with LCH can have multisystem disease including bone (18%), skin (13%), and DI (5%) in those with pulmonary disease.
References:
Treatment of Adult LCH
Standard Treatment Options
Most investigators have previously recommended treatment according to the guidelines given above for standard treatment of children with Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH). However, excessive neurologic toxicity from vinblastine prompted closure of the LCH-A1 trial. Extensive or mutilating surgery to remove teeth or jaw bones is not indicated. Systemic chemotherapy will cause bone lesions to regress and the involved teeth and jaw bones can reform. Thalidomide and oral methotrexate have been effective in adults with skin disease.[1,2]
Results from LCH studies in children show that the rate of recurrent disease is appreciably reduced when patients receive 6 months of treatment with vinblastine and prednisone as opposed to single-agent treatment or attempts to irradiate multiple bone lesions.[3]
Anecdotal reports have described the successful use of the bisphosphonate pamidronate in controlling severe bone pain in patients with multiple osteolytic lesions.[4,5,6]
Another approach using anti-inflammatory agents (pioglitazone and rofecoxib) coupled with trofosfamide in a specific timed sequence was successful in two patients with disease resistant to standard chemotherapy treatment.[7]
Treatment Options Under Clinical Evaluation
There have been no published clinical trial results for adult LCH patients.
- LCH-A1: The LCH-A1 trial for adult patients using vinblastine and prednisone with mercaptopurine is closed to patient accrual. It should be noted that early toxicity data has shown that neuropathy secondary to vinblastine is frequent. For patients who do not respond to this front-line therapy, cladribine is effective for adults with skin, bone, lymph node, and probably pulmonary and central nervous system disease.[8,9,10]
- Special considerations on the LCH-A1 trial for adult LCH patients with lung disease and who smoke cigarettes: Steroid efficacy for treating adult LCH is controversial because past case series reports on LCH patients with pulmonary disease did not control for smoking cessation. Most adult patients with LCH have gradual disease progression with continued smoking. The disease may regress or progress with the cessation of smoking.[11] In the LCH-A1 trial, patients are first offered a smoking cessation program and observation. If the smoking cessation program does not work, steroid treatment is started. Treatment of progressive disease after 6 months of steroids is up to the investigator's choice, but usually includes vinblastine and mercaptopurine or 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine.
- Lung transplant may be necessary for adults with extensive pulmonary destruction from LCH.[12] A multicenter study documented a 54% survival at 10 years posttransplant with 20% of patients having recurrent LCH that did not impact survival; longer follow-up of these patients is needed.
For more information about LCH trials for adults, see the Histiocyte Society Website
Current Clinical Trials
Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's list of cancer clinical trials that are now accepting patients with adult Langerhans cell histiocytosis. The list of clinical trials can be further narrowed by location, drug, intervention, and other criteria.
General information about clinical trials is also available from the NCI Web site.
References:
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Changes to the Summary (11 / 22 / 2010)
The PDQ cancer information summaries are reviewed regularly and updated as new information becomes available. This section describes the latest changes made to this summary as of the date above.
Childhood LCH
Added text about the LCH-II trial and the survival rates for the different treatment options (cited Braier et al. as reference 12).
Histopathologic, Immunologic, and Cytogenetic Characteristics of LCH
Added text about the modern classification of the histiocytic diseases and the origin and characteristics of the Langerhans cell (cited Jaffe and Allen et al. as references 2 and 4, respectively).
The Cytokine Analysis by Immunohistochemical Staining and Gene Expression Array Studies subsection was renamed from Cytokine Analysis by Immunohistochemical Staining.
Added text about an analysis of gene expression in Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) by gene array techniques, including the genes upregulated and the expression profile of T cells.
Added text about several published studies evaluating the level of various cytokines or growth factors in the blood of patients with LCH.
Presentation of LCH in Children
Added text to state that all of the bone marrow biopsy specimens in one study had increased numbers of dysplasia of megakaryocytes, often with emperipolesis (cited Galluzzo et al. as reference 22).
Treatment of Childhood LCH
Added level of evidence 3iiiC.
Revised text about the treatment that patients received on the JLSG-96 trial.
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About This PDQ Summary
Purpose of This Summary
This PDQ cancer information summary for health professionals provides comprehensive, peer-reviewed, evidence-based information about the treatment of childhood and adult Langerhans cell histiocytosis. It is intended as a resource to inform and assist clinicians who care for cancer patients. It does not provide formal guidelines or recommendations for making health care decisions.
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- Thomas G. Gross, MD, PhD (Nationwide Children's Hospital)
- Kenneth L. McClain, MD, PhD (Texas Children's Cancer Center and Hematology Service at Texas Children's Hospital)
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