Publications by authors named "Anne Marie W Block"

Spatial heterogeneity is a common phenomenon in metastatic solid tumors and an evolving concept in multiple myeloma (MM). The interplay between malignant plasma cells (PCs) and the microenvironment has not yet been analyzed in MM. For this purpose, we performed bone marrow aspirates and imaging-guided biopsies of corresponding lesions in newly diagnosed MM (NDMM) and relapsed/refractory MM (RRMM) patients.

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Background: Ofatumumab is a humanized type 1 anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody. Preclinical studies show improved complement-mediated cytotoxicity (CMC) compared to rituximab in mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). This study evaluates the safety and efficacy of combining ofatumumab with HyperCVAD/MA (O-HyperCVAD) in newly diagnosed MCL.

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  • Osteolytic lesions (OL) in multiple myeloma are influenced by malignant plasma cells (PC), but the reasons for varying bone destruction in different regions remain unclear.
  • A study using single-cell RNA sequencing analyzed 148,630 PC from various sites in 10 patients, revealing significant inter- and intra-patient variability.
  • Findings indicate that PC from OL express different genes compared to those from bone marrow, highlighting specific gene changes related to bone disease and showing transcriptional shifts post-induction therapy.
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  • Reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) for allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT) has issues with disease relapse and toxicity, prompting a study on enhancing the regimen by adding total body irradiation (TBI) and adjusting melphalan (Mel) dosages.
  • The study included two phase II trials comparing different regimens of fludarabine and melphalan with TBI, focusing on their effects on patient outcomes such as survival, disease control, and toxicity.
  • Results showed that the FluMelTBI-75 regimen had better tolerance, improved overall survival (OS), and progression-free survival (PFS), while also reducing stomatitis compared to the traditional FluMel regimen.
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  • * Researchers identified a new genetic variant (rs189434316) linked to normal cytogenetic B-ALL, with significant odds ratios indicating a strong association, along with replication of previously known variants in pediatric patients.
  • * The findings show that genetic susceptibility to B-ALL varies based on age and sex, revealing that certain genetic associations are specific to different age groups and genders, particularly indicating distinct impacts for older adults compared to younger populations.
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  • Many patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia (AML) often miss out on allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (alloHCT) because they can't achieve complete remission after chemotherapy.
  • A study compared two groups of high-risk AML patients: one receiving preemptive alloHCT (p-alloHCT) within four weeks of reinduction chemotherapy, and the other four weeks after recovery, finding no significant differences in overall survival or progression-free survival between the two groups.
  • The results suggest that early p-alloHCT is a viable option that allows patients who would typically not qualify for transplantation to receive it without adding extra toxicity, maximizing their treatment chances.
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Our objective was to recognize the association of autoimmune diseases (AD) in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and understand how this association could affect prognosis and management of both diseases. We describe our cohort of 10 patients and 34 patients reported in the English literature in addition to ten cohort studies. Interestingly, four cases showed improvement in AD after 5-azacitidine treatment.

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Purpose: To evaluate the prognostic significance of the international European LeukemiaNet (ELN) guidelines for reporting genetic alterations in acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

Patients And Methods: We analyzed 1,550 adults with primary AML, treated on Cancer and Leukemia Group B first-line trials, who had pretreatment cytogenetics and, for cytogenetically normal patients, mutational status of NPM1, CEBPA, and FLT3 available. We compared complete remission (CR) rates, disease-free survival (DFS), and overall survival (OS) among patients classified into the four ELN genetic groups (favorable, intermediate-I, intermediate-II, adverse) separately for 818 younger (age < 60 years) and 732 older (age ≥ 60 years) patients.

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Cytogenetic abnormalities are important diagnostic and prognostic criteria for hematologic malignancies. Karyotyping and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) are the conventional methods by which these abnormalities are detected. The sensitivity of these microscopy-based methods is limited by the abundance of the abnormal cells in the samples and therefore these analyses are commonly not applicable to minimal residual disease (MRD) stages.

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Deletion of 13q14.3 (del(13q)) is the most common cytogenetic abnormality in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and implies a favorable prognosis. We explored the feasibility of detecting del(13q) by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for miR-15a and miR-16-1, whose loci are located in the deleted region.

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Background: Treating the octogenarian and nonagenarian patients who have acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with intensive chemotherapy is controversial. Several models to predict outcome were proposed, including the use of a comorbidity index. However, it is unclear whether the Charlson comorbidity index (CCI) or the hematopoietic cell transplant comorbidity index (HCTCI) is more sensitive.

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Smoking is associated with both acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and lung cancer. We therefore searched our database for concomitant presentation of AML and lung cancer. Among 775 AML cases and 5225 lung cancer cases presenting to Roswell Park Cancer Institute between the years January 1992 and May 2008 we found 12 (1.

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Objectives: Pediatric embryonal heterologous rhabdomyosarcoma of the cervix is a rare tumor.

Methods: We present an interesting clinico-pathologic situation of two sisters presenting with pediatric embryonal heterologous rhabdomyosarcoma of the cervix.

Results: Pediatric embryonal heterologous rhabdomyosarcomas of the cervix are relatively uncommon.

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The purpose of this study was to evaluate fluorescence in situ hybridization abnormalities of the 2p23 anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) gene loci in lymphomas with anaplastic morphology. We studied 24 anaplastic large cell lymphomas (ALCL) classified by World Health Organization criteria [17 primary nodal/systemic (10 ALK+, 7 ALK-), seven primary cutaneous], and 17 additional non-Hodgkin's lymphomas [one ALK+ B-lineage lymphoma, 14 ALK- diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (seven anaplastic variants, five nonanaplastic, two secondary CD30+), two follicular lymphomas]. ALK- lymphomas with anaplastic morphology showed extra nonrearranged anaplastic lymphoma kinase gene loci (P=0.

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We describe 15 patients (9 children) with precursor B-cell (pB) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) with surface immunoglobulin (sIg) light chain restriction revealed by flow cytometric immunophenotyping (FCI). The same sIg+ immunophenotype was present at diagnosis and in 3 relapses in 1 patient. In 15 patients, blasts were CD19+ CD10+ (bright coexpression) in 14, CD34+ in 12, surface kappa+ in 12, surface lambda+ in 3; in 8 of 8, terminal deoxyribonucleotidyl transferase (TdT)+; and in 4, surface IgD+ in 2 and surface IgM+ in 1.

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Massive hyperdiploidy (>50 chromosomes) and tetraploidy (4n) are rare cytogenetic abnormalities in myelocytic malignancies, and their significance is unknown. We report on 11 patients with acute myelocytic leukemia (AML) and two patients with a myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) with massive hyperdiploidy (10 patients) or tetraploidy (3 patients) seen at our institution over a 12-year period. Eleven patients were male and two were female.

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Seventy-seven patients were identified with Rare recurring (excluding 11q23, 21q22, inv(16), and t(15;17)) chromosome abnormalities among 511 patients with treatment-related myelodysplastic syndromes and acute leukemia accepted from centers in the United States, Europe, and Japan. The abnormality subsets included 3q21q26 (17 patients), 11p15 (17 patients), t(9;22)(q34;q11) (10 patients), 12p13 (9 patients), t(8;16)(p11;p13) (9 patients), and an "other" subset, which included t(6;9)(p23;q34) (3 patients), t(10;11)(p13;q13 approximately q21) (3 patients), t(1;17)(p36;q21) (2 patients), t(8;14)(q24;q32) (2 patients), t(11;19)(q13;q13) (2 patients), t(1;3)(p36;q21) (2 patients), and t(3;5)(q21;q31) (1 patient). Increased karyotypic complexity with additional balanced and unbalanced rearrangements was observed in 70% of cases.

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  • Clinically palpable thyroid nodules are common, seen in about 10% of the population, but only a small fraction (5-7%) are malignant.
  • Fine-needle aspiration is a key diagnostic tool but has a 30% indeterminate rate, leading to unnecessary surgeries for benign cases.
  • The study introduced genomic instability measurements to improve diagnostic accuracy, finding significant differences in genomic instability between benign and malignant thyroid tissues.
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