Rituximab plus bendamustine or chlorambucil for chronic lymphocytic leukemia: primary analysis of the randomized, open-label MABLE study.

MABLE investigated the efficacy and safety of rituximab plus bendamustine or rituximab plus chlorambucil in fludarabine-ineligible patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Patients received rituximab plus bendamustine or rituximab plus chlorambucil every four weeks for six cycles. Rituximab plus chlorambucil-treated patients without a complete response after Cycle 6 received chlorambucil monotherapy for at least six additional cycles or until complete response.

Treatment of myelodysplastic syndromes with valproic acid alone or in combination with all-trans retinoic acid.

Valproic acid (VPA) has been shown to inhibit histone deacetylase activity and to synergize with all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) in the differentiation induction of acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) blasts in vitro. We treated 18 patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and AML secondary to MDS (sAML/MDS) with VPA monotherapy (serum concentrations 346-693 microM [50-100 microg/mL]). Five patients received VPA and ATRA (80 mg/m(2)/d, days 1-7, every other week).

Levels of minimal residual disease detected by quantitative molecular monitoring herald relapse in patients with multiple myeloma.

Background And Objectives: Detection of minimal residual disease (MRD) has helped to improve the treatment of patients with leukemia. At present MRD testing in patients with multiple myeloma (MM) is not applied as a standard diagnostic or prognostic method.

Design And Methods: Immunoglobulin heavy chain (IgH) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) using patient-specific TaqMan probes together with LightCycler technology was performed to quantify minimal residual disease in MM.