Long-term follow-up of a prospective phase 2 clinical trial of extended treatment with rituximab in patients with B cell post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease and validation in real world patients.

The purpose of this report is to provide long-term follow-up of 38 patients diagnosed of post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease (PTLD) included in a phase 2 clinical trial of first line therapy with rituximab and to evaluate the same therapy in a real world cohort of 21 consecutive patients treated once the trial was closed. Eligible patients were ≥ 18 years of age with a biopsy-proven CD20 positive B cell PTLD and treatment naive except for reduction of immunosuppression. Treatment consisted in four weekly infusions of rituximab at the standard dose of 375 mg/m.

Cost-effectiveness of primary antifungal prophylaxis with posaconazole versus itraconazole in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Purpose: To evaluate the cost-effectiveness of posaconazole vs itraconazole in the prevention of invasive fungal infections (IFIs) in recipients of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT).

Methods: Total hospital-based costs from initial admission for allo-HSCT until day 100 after transplantation were evaluated for 49 patients in whom the clinical efficacy of antifungal prophylaxis with posaconazole vs itraconazole had been previously analyzed and reported. Clinical and economic data were used to determine the incremental costs per IFI avoided and per life-year gained for posaconazole compared with itraconazole.

Clinical and microbiological epidemiology of Streptococcus pneumoniae bacteremia in cancer patients.

Objectives: In the current era of changing epidemiology of invasive pneumococcal disease, we aimed to assess the clinical features, antimicrobial susceptibility, vaccination status, serotypes, genotypes and outcomes of pneumococcal bacteremia in cancer patients.

Methods: Prospective observational analysis of all consecutive cancer adults admitted to a university hospital (January 2006-April 2011).

Results: Of 971 episodes of bacteremia, 63 (6.

Analysis of apoptosis regulatory genes altered by histone deacetylase inhibitors in chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells.

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) play a key role in the regulation of acetylation status not only of histones but also of many other non-histone proteins involved in cell cycle regulation, differentiation or apoptosis. Therefore, histone deacetylase inhibitors (HDACi) have emerged as promising anticancer agents. Herein, we report the characterization of apoptosis in B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) induced by two HDACi, Kendine 92 and SAHA.

Prospective study of clinical and biological prognostic factors at diagnosis in patients with early stage B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

Retrospective series have reported many clinical and biological significant prognostic factors in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). We describe a prospective cohort of 135 patients with CLL homogeneously studied at diagnosis for prognostic factors. Biological variables analyzed were CD38 and ZAP-70 expression, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) for 13q-, +12, 11q-, and 17p-, and conventional cytogenetics.

Frontline treatment of follicular lymphoma with fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, and rituximab followed by rituximab maintenance: toxicities overcome its high antilymphoma effect. Results from a Spanish Cooperative Trial (LNHF-03).

We assessed the efficacy of fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, and rituximab in combination (FCR) as frontline treatment in patients with follicular lymphoma (FL) followed by rituximab maintenance. Seventy-five untreated patients with FL received FCR followed by maintenance with rituximab 375 mg/m(2) weekly during 4 weeks and every 6 months for 2 years. The overall response rate was 100%, with 89% complete remission (CR) and 11% partial remission (PR).

Relationship between deoxycytidine kinase (DCK) genotypic variants and fludarabine toxicity in patients with follicular lymphoma.

DCK catalyzes the intracellular phosphorylation of fludarabine. The promoter and coding region of the DCK gene were analyzed in 74 follicular lymphoma (FL) patients receiving a therapeutic regimen that included fludarabine. DCK mRNA expression was quantified in a cohort of healthy donors.

High clinical and molecular response rates with fludarabine, cyclophosphamide and mitoxantrone in previously untreated patients with advanced stage follicular lymphoma.

Background: Purine analogs have demonstrated significant activity in patients with follicular lymphoma. The aim of this study was to analyze the efficacy and toxicity of a fludarabine combination as first-line treatment in patients with advanced-stage disease.

Design And Methods: This is a phase II trial including 120 patients (< or =65 years) treated with 6 cycles of fludarabine, cyclophosphamide and mitoxantrone (FCM).

Prospective phase II trial of extended treatment with rituximab in patients with B-cell post-transplant lymphoproliferative disease.

Background And Objectives: The elective treatment of patients with post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders is controversial. The purpose of this trial was to evaluate the efficacy of treatment with extended doses of rituximab adapted to the response in patients with post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorders after solid organ transplantation.

Design And Methods: This was a prospective, multicenter, phase II trial.

Gastrointestinal involvement in mantle cell lymphoma: a prospective clinic, endoscopic, and pathologic study.

The frequency of gastrointestinal (GI) tract involvement in mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) at diagnosis is reported to be below 30%. To investigate the actual frequency of GI involvement by MCL, upper and lower endoscopy was prospectively performed on 13 untreated MCL patients at diagnosis. Multiple biopsies from endoscopically normal and abnormal gastric and colonic mucosa were studied with immunohistochemistry (IHC) for CD20, CD5, and cyclin D1, as well as fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) for t(11;14) and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for immunoglobulin heavy chain gene.

Tumor microenvironment and mitotic checkpoint are key factors in the outcome of classic Hodgkin lymphoma.

Around 20% to 30% of patients with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) do not benefit from standard therapies and finally succumb to their disease. The factors that influence the outcome of HL have not been elucidated, underscoring the demand for the identification of biologic risk factors and new therapeutic targets. We analyzed the gene expression profiles of samples from 29 patients with advanced classic HL treated with standard therapy and compared the expression profiles of patients with favorable and unfavorable clinical outcome.

MDM2 antagonists activate p53 and synergize with genotoxic drugs in B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells.

B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) is characterized by the accumulation of long-lived CD5(+) B lymphocytes. Several drugs currently used in the therapy of B-CLL act, at least partially, through activation of the p53 pathway. Recently, nongenotoxic small-molecule activators of p53, the nutlins, have been developed that inhibit p53-MDM2 binding.

Type 2 diabetes mellitus, its treatment and risk for lymphoma.

In this study, we have investigated a potential association between Type 2 diabetes mellitus and its treatment with the risk of lymphoma. Here, we report on 565 incident lymphoma (non-Hodgkin and Hodgkin), multiple myeloma, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia cases and 601 hospital controls in a Spanish multicentric case-control study. Information on diabetes mellitus diagnosis and treatment was obtained through personal interview together with information on other known or putative risk factors for lymphoma.

Family clustering of blood cancers as a risk factor for lymphoid neoplasms.

Family aggregation of cancer was significantly more common among 588 incident cases with lymphoid neoplasms than among 631 controls (OR: 1.4; 95%CI= 1.1-1.

High dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation in patients with peripheral T-cell lymphoma not achieving complete response after induction chemotherapy. The GEL-TAMO experience.

Background And Objectives: Patients with aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphomas (NHL) who do not obtain a complete response (CR) after induction chemotherapy have a poor prognosis. However, provided they are sensitive to the first regimen of chemotherapy, 25-40% of them with a B-cell phenotype may achieve long-term survival when treated with high dose chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation (HDC/ASCT). The aim of this study was to analyze the efficacy of this therapy in the corresponding patients with peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL).

Refractory cold agglutinin-immunohaemolytic anaemia associated to marginal zone lymphoma responding to rituximab.

Cold agglutinin immunohaemolytic anaemia (CAIA) responds poorly to standard treatment. We report a case of marginal zone lymphoma complicated by CAIA that responded to rituximab after failing to respond to corticosteroids and chlorambucil.