Chemoimmunotherapy with levamisole during maintenance therapy in children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia.

Thirty seven children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (All) treated according to 2 different protocols were randomized after remission induction to receive levamisole or not during remission maintenance continuous or intermittent polychemotherapy. The usefulness of levamisole in prolonged remission and survival time by the actuarial analysis were studied. At 36th month 45% patients treated with levamisole, and 30% without levamisole remained in complete remission. The increase of E+ lymphocyte and total lymphocyte count in the 18th week of chemoimmunotherapy, and their decrease in 27th week of the treatment were demonstrated. The granulocyte phagocytic activity increased in the 27th week of treatment. The results obtained suggest that levamisole therapy stimulates T lymphocyte production and phagocytic activity and enables the appropriate cytostatic treatment.