Pilot Study on Asparaginase Monitoring in Indian Children with High-Risk ALL

Nine high-risk pediatric patients in India showed subtherapeutic trough asparaginase activity during induction therapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The prospective pilot study by Himanshu Dhanda measured serum enzyme activity at pre-dose and 24-hour post-dose time points, correlating levels with biochemical toxicities. The document, last updated in 2026, presents evidence for potential inadequate drug exposure in a resource-limited setting.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the correlation between asparaginase activity levels and treatment-related toxicities based on the reported biochemical outcomes.
• Studying interpatient pharmacokinetic variability in pediatric populations based on the reported range of peak enzyme levels.
• Investigating the feasibility and impact of therapeutic drug monitoring in resource-limited settings based on the study's conclusions.
• Benchmarking drug exposure levels against therapeutic targets based on the reported subtherapeutic trough activity.

Strengths

• The description provides specific, quantitative results including patient counts (n=9), enzyme activity ranges (0.52–1.97 IU/mL), and toxicity incidence (e.g., hepatotoxicity in 5/5).
• The study design is clearly described as a prospective pilot with defined measurement time points (trough and peak).
• The data is explicitly shared under a permissive CC-BY-4.0 license.

Limitations

• The dataset is a single 728.2 KB DOCX document; the underlying structured data (e.g., patient-level records, column definitions) is not directly accessible.
• The sample size is small, involving only nine high-risk patients, as noted in the description.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred from the textual report.

Provenance

Source

Himanshu Dhanda via figshare.

Collection Method

Prospective pilot study measuring serum asparaginase activity using a spectrophotometric assay during induction therapy.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-21 04:37:46; freshness should be verified.

Geography

India