Publications by authors named "Anita D'Souza"

Underrepresentation by race and ethnicity in oncology clinical trials, including those of hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT), is a known challenge. This analysis studied accrual on Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMT CTN) trials conducted in 2014 to 2020 by race/ethnicity, age, and sex, comparing these characteristics with those of potentially eligible patients identified from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) and Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) databases for the disease, age, and years of interest of BMT CTN studies. Five BMT CTN trials met the inclusion criteria, including 1 autologous HCT trial and 4 allogeneic HCT trials.

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In patients with multiple myeloma (MM) not-eligible for autologous haematopoietic cell transplantation (autoHCT), a simplified frailty index (SFI) identifies frail patients at risk for poor outcomes, but data are limited for transplant-eligible patients. In this registry-based retrospective study, we used an adapted version of the SFI to determine the prevalence of frailty in patients ≥65 years of age with MM undergoing autoHCT. Out of 5563 patients, 37.

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In this study, we compare outcomes of older patients with primary diffuse large B-cell lymphoma of the central nervous system (PCNSL) undergoing autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (autoHCT) with either thiotepa/carmustine (BCNU/Thio) or thiotepa/busulfan/cyclophosphamide (TBC) conditioning. We used a postpublication dataset made available by the Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplantation Research including patients who were ≥65 years in age with PCNSL and underwent autoHCT as consolidation with TBC or BCNU/Thio conditioning. Out of 147 patients; n = 84 received BCNU/Thio and n = 63 received TBC.

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Article Synopsis
  • Autologous hematopoietic cell transplantation (AHCT) has been a standard treatment for multiple myeloma (MM) for 40 years but is underused in racial and ethnic minority groups, despite the introduction of new therapies.* -
  • An institutional review of 1266 MM patients from 2012 to 2022 found overall AHCT utilization at 76%, but only 64.7% in non-Hispanic Black (NHB) patients compared to higher rates in other groups, highlighting significant racial disparities.* -
  • Key factors influencing AHCT utilization included patient age, health conditions, and caregiver support; while NHB utilization increased slightly over time, it still lagged behind non-Hispanic White
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  • - The study analyzed the effects of cytogenetic abnormalities in 283 AL amyloidosis patients treated with daratumumab-based therapies, focusing on abnormalities like t(11;14), deletion(13q), and gain/amp(1q).
  • - Among various subgroups, only +1q showed a significant lower rate of very good partial response and was linked to worse hematologic event-free survival, while t(11;14) did not negatively impact overall survival.
  • - The findings suggest that patients with the +1q abnormality may benefit from targeted clinical trials with novel immunotherapies to improve their treatment outcomes.
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  • The Glasgow prognostic score (GPS) and CAR-HEMATOTOX (CAR-HT) score help identify multiple myeloma (MM) patients at risk for immune-related side effects and early death during cellular immunotherapy.
  • A study involving 126 MM patients treated with T-cell redirecting bispecific antibodies (bsAb) assessed the impact of these scores on patient outcomes.
  • While 19% of patients were deemed high risk according to GPS, they did not experience worse outcomes, but those classified as high risk by CAR-HT faced more infections and had lower survival rates, indicating the need for better infection management.
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Article Synopsis
  • Immunoglobulin light chain (AL) amyloidosis is a serious condition caused by abnormal plasma cells that can affect multiple organs and lead to significant health issues.
  • The use of high dose melphalan and autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) is a common treatment approach, enhanced by new therapies like bortezomib and daratumumab, which help most patients achieve substantial health improvements.
  • The ongoing S2213 trial aims to determine which treatment method, ASCT or non-ASCT, will provide better outcomes specifically related to major organ function and overall survival in patients with AL amyloidosis.
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Recent studies demonstrating the feasibility of outpatient chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-modified T-cell therapy administration are either restricted to CARs with 41BB costimulatory domains or use intensive at-home monitoring. We report outcomes of outpatient administration of all commercially available CD19- and B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA)-directed CAR T-cell therapy using a strategy of no remote at-home monitoring and an early cytokine release syndrome (CRS) intervention strategy. Patients with hematologic malignancies who received CAR T-cell therapy in the outpatient setting during 2022 to 2023 were included.

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It is well-established that most patients with systemic light chain (AL) amyloidosis have multi-organ involvement and are often diagnosed after a lag period of increasing symptoms. We leverage electronic health record (EHR) data from the TriNetX research network to describe the incidence, timing, and co-occurrence of precursor conditions of interests in a cohort of AL amyloidosis patients identified between October 2015-December 2020. Nineteen precursor diagnoses of interest representing features of AL amyloidosis were identified using ICD codes up to 36 months prior to AL amyloidosis diagnosis.

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Multiple myeloma (MM) is a heterogenous plasma cell malignancy, for which the established prognostic models exhibit limitations in capturing the full spectrum of outcome variability. Leveraging single-cell RNA-sequencing data, we developed a novel plasma cell gene signature. We evaluated and validated the associations of the resulting plasma cell malignancy (PBM) score with disease state, progression and clinical outcomes using data from five independent myeloma studies consisting of 2115 samples (1978 MM, 65 monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, 35 smoldering MM, and 37 healthy controls).

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Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to evaluate the safety and effectiveness of teclistamab in patients with relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma, involving 110 patients treated at various institutions before August 2023.
  • The overall response rate to teclistamab was 62%, with a notable 51% achieving at least a very good partial remission, and median follow-up data showed promising progression-free survival rates at 3 and 6 months.
  • Side effects included cytokine release syndrome in 56% of patients, with primary prophylaxis using intravenous immunoglobulin significantly reducing infection risks.
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Persistent Immune Effector Cell Associated Hematotoxicity (ICAHT) is a significant side effect of BCMA CAR T-Cell therapy in patients with relapsed multiple myeloma (MM). The use of stem cell boosts in ICAHT has been described, however studies have been limited by small patient numbers and short follow up. Herein, we report on our multi-institutional experience of ICAHT, defined by an absolute neutrophil count (ANC) of ≤ 1000, thrombocytopenia with a platelet count ≤ 50,000 or/and anemia as hemoglobin (hgb) ≤9 g/dL, in patients who received BCMA CAR T therapy, and the effects of subsequent stem cell boost on hematopoietic reconstitution and clinical outcome.

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Objective: To evaluate the psychometric properties of the AL-PROfile, a patient-reported outcome measure combining the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS)-29, two items from PROMIS Cognitive Function, and select Patient-Reported Outcomes version of the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (PRO-CTCAE) items.

Methods: Content validity was assessed through cognitive debriefing interviews of 20 patients who completed the AL-PROfile (Study 1). Study 2 involved 297 participants who completed the AL-PROfile and Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36).

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Autologous haematopoietic cell transplantation (autoHCT) and continuous post-transplant maintenance therapy are the standard of care in transplant-eligible multiple myeloma (MM) patients. We sought to describe symptom burden and identify symptom clusters occurring in MM patients after autoHCT using data from the BMT CTN 0702 randomized controlled trial comparing the outcomes of three treatment interventions after an autoHCT in 758 MM patients. We analysed individual transplant-related symptoms assessed via the FACT-BMT questionnaire at enrolment and annually for 4-year post-autoHCT.

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It is well-established that light chain (AL) amyloidosis patients have multi-organ involvement and are often diagnosed after a lag period of increasing symptoms. We leverage electronic health record (EHR) data from the TriNetX research network to describe the incidence, timing, and co-occurrence of precursor conditions of interests in a cohort of AL amyloidosis patients identified between October 2015-December 2020. Nineteen precursor diagnoses of interest representing features of AL amyloidosis were identified using ICD codes up to 36 months prior to AL amyloidosis diagnosis.

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Background: The Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research (CIBMTR) provides a 1-year overall survival calculator to estimate outcomes for individual patients before they undergo allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) to inform risk. The calculator considers pre-HCT clinical and demographic characteristics, but not patient-reported outcomes (PROs). Because pre-HCT PRO scores have been associated with post-HCT outcomes, the authors hypothesized that adding PRO scores to the calculator would enhance its predictive power.

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The reduced risk of chronic graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD) with posttransplant cyclophosphamide (ptCy) in the setting of haploidentical related donor and more recently, with HLA-matched related and matched and mismatched unrelated donor allogeneic transplantation has been established. There is, however, paucity of data to show if ptCy impacts chronic GVHD pathogenesis, its phenotype and evolution after HCT regardless of the donor status. We examined the differences in chronic GVHD incidence and presentation in 314 consecutive patients after receiving their first allogeneic transplantation (HCT) using ptCy-based GVHD prophylaxis (ptCy-HCT; n = 120; including 95 with haploidentical related donor) versus conventional calcineurin inhibitor-based prophylaxis (CNI-MUD; n = 194) between 2012 and 2019.

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The mortality due to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) approaches 40% in recipients of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy (CAR-T). The efficacy of repeated vaccine doses, including bivalent boosters, remains unknown. We examined the efficacy of repeated vaccine doses among CAR-T recipients who received at least 2 or more vaccine doses after T cell infusion.

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Amyloid consults do not have to be vexing.

Hematology Am Soc Hematol Educ Program

December 2023

Diagnosing amyloidosis can be challenging due to its clinical heterogeneity, need for multiple specialists to make a diagnosis, and lack of a single diagnostic test for the disease. Patients are often diagnosed late, in advanced stage, and after exhibiting multiple symptoms and signs for a long period. It is important to develop a clinical suspicion of amyloidosis, particularly in those with multisystemic symptoms and high-risk patient populations such as those with precursor hematologic conditions.

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Chimeric antigen receptor T-cell (CAR-T) therapy and bispecific T-cell engagers (BsAb) have emerged as promising immunotherapeutic modalities in patients with relapsed and/or refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM). However, there is limited data on the safety and efficacy of CAR-T and BsAb therapies in MM patients with a prior history of allogeneic transplantation (allo-HCT). Thirty-three MM patients with prior allo-HCT received CAR-T (n = 24) or BsAb (n = 9) therapy.

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