Publications by authors named "Bataller A"

Even though venetoclax in combination with azacitidine (VenAza) is considered a low-intensity regimen, its patients present a high incidence of cytopenia and infections during the first courses, making the initial management a challenging phase. This difficulty in our center led to the establishment of an At-Home (AH) program for ramp-up and follow-up patients during the VenAza combination induction phase focused on therapy administration, patient and caregiver education, and management of adverse events (AEs). A total of 70 patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (ND-AML) or relapsed/refractory AML (R/R AML) were treated with VenAza from March 2019 to May 2022.

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Patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (ND-AML) derive variable survival benefit from venetoclax + hypomethylating agent (Ven-HMA) therapy. The primary objective in the current study was to develop genetic risk models that are predictive of survival and are applicable at the time of diagnosis and after establishing treatment response. Among 400 ND-AML patients treated with Ven-HMA at the Mayo Clinic, 247 (62%) achieved complete remission with (CR) or without (CRi) count recovery.

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The prognostic impact of measurable residual disease (MRD) in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is unequivocal; however, the optimal timepoint for achieving undetectable MRD is unclear. We retrospectively studied patients with newly diagnosed (ND) AML who achieved remission with frontline intensive chemotherapy and had MRD assessed by flow cytometry after induction (TP1) and after cycles 2 or 3 (TP2). Cases were grouped into MRD Neg/Neg, Pos/Neg or Pos/Pos at TP1 and TP2, respectively.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates how the diversity of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cells affects clinical outcomes in treating B cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL).
  • Researchers analyzed clonal dynamics and gene expression using single-cell techniques in patients receiving CD19CAR-T cells, revealing notable differences in how these T cells behave during treatment.
  • Key findings include a higher CD4:CD8 ratio in successful patients' T cells at infusion and an expansion of cytotoxic T cells linked to better treatment responses across different patient cohorts.
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The 2022 WHO revision and the ICC classification have recently modified the diagnostic criteria for chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) and acute myeloid leukemia. However, there is no consensus on whether CMML with NPM1 mutation (NPM1mut) should be diagnosed as AML. Nowadays, it is a subject of discussion because of its diagnostic and therapeutic implications.

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This 45-year study (1978-2022) at a single institution evaluated HSCT outcomes and complications, emphasizing recent advances, with to provide insights into HSCT's evolving field and ongoing efforts to enhance patient outcomes. Involving 1707 patients, the study revealed an initial phase (1978-1987) with a limited activity that yielded modest outcomes, a nearly three-decade span (1988-2016) with a substantial increase in transplant activity, emphasizing umbilical cord blood transplantation (UCBT) for patients lacking a suitable matched sibling donor. In addition to a gradual increase in recipient age, significant improvement in outcomes emerged in the recent period (2017-2022), marked by UCBT replacement with haploidentical transplants, introduction of PTCY-based GVHD prophylaxis for all type of transplants, and increased use of conditioning regimens with thiotepa, busulfan, and fludarabine.

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Introduction: NPM1-mutated (NPM1) myeloid neoplasms (MNs) with <20% bone marrow (BM) blasts (NPM1 MNs<20) are uncommon, and their classification remains inconsistent.

Methods: The clinicopathologic features of 54 patients with NPM1 MNs <20 were evaluated and compared with wild-type NPM1 MNs <20 and NPM1 MNs≥20, respectively.

Results: NPM1 MNs had similar features regardless of blast percentage, except for higher IDH2 (29% vs 7%, p = .

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Background: Allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT) remains the best consolidative modality in most patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Along with factors directly pertaining to SCT, pretransplantation disease control, performance status, and prior treatment-related complications are important factors that affect posttransplantation survival outcomes.

Methods: The authors compared the survival outcomes of patients ≥60 years of age treated on the phase 2 clinical trial of venetoclax (Ven) added to cladribine (CLAD) and low dose cytarabine (LDAC) alternating with azacitidine (CLAD/LDAC/Ven arm) (NCT03586609) who underwent allogeneic SCT in first remission to a retrospective cohort of patients ≥60 years of age who underwent SCT after intensive chemotherapy.

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Article Synopsis
  • Higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (HR-MDS) are characterized by severe blood cell deficiencies, high bone marrow blast counts, poor genetic markers, and challenging mutational profiles, leading to a generally poor survival outlook.
  • The main treatment options available are hypomethylating agents (HMAs) such as azacitidine and decitabine, which are used until they stop being effective or cause unacceptable side effects.
  • This review explores the biology of HR-MDS, current treatment strategies including HMAs, and the role of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation as a potential cure.
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Patients with relapsed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) experience dismal outcomes. We performed a comprehensive analysis of patients with relapsed AML to determine the genetic dynamics and factors predicting survival. We analyzed 875 patients with newly diagnosed AML who received intensive treatment or low-intensity treatment.

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This study aimed to investigate the kinetics of immune recovery following umbilical cord blood transplantation (UCBT) in adults who received a myeloablative conditioning (MAC) regimen and antithymocyte globulin (ATG). While the immune recovery kinetics has been extensively studied in pediatric UCBT recipients, limited data exist for adults. We conducted a comprehensive analysis of 221 consecutive adult patients who underwent UCBT with MAC and ATG at a single institution.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study investigates the effectiveness and safety of combining low-dose azacitidine and venetoclax as maintenance therapy for adults with acute myeloid leukaemia who are not eligible for immediate allogeneic stem-cell transplantation after reaching remission.
  • - Conducted at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, the phase 2 trial enrolled 35 patients, with a median follow-up time of 23.3 months, losing interest early due to slow patient recruitment.
  • - Initial results showed that the median relapse-free survival was not reached for the entire cohort, indicating potential benefits of this treatment combination, though specific outcomes were still in progress at the time of reporting.
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Therapy-related myeloid neoplasms (t-MNs) arise after exposure to cytotoxic therapies and are associated with high-risk genetic features and poor outcomes. We analyzed a cohort of patients with therapy-related chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (tCMML; n = 71) and compared its features to that of de novo CMML (dnCMML; n = 461). Median time from cytotoxic therapy to tCMML diagnosis was 6.

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Article Synopsis
  • Hypomethylating agents combined with venetoclax show effectiveness in treating acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) in patients who can't undergo intensive chemotherapy, particularly using an oral formulation called ASTX727.
  • A phase 2 study evaluated the safety and efficacy of ASTX727 with venetoclax in patients with newly diagnosed or relapsed/refractory AML, focusing on overall response rates after specific treatment cycles.
  • The study enrolled 62 patients, primarily older adults with a median age of 78, revealing a high prevalence of adverse risk factors and previous treatment challenges among participants.
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Relapse remains a major challenge in the clinical management of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and is driven by rare therapy-resistant leukemia stem cells (LSCs) that reside in specific bone marrow niches. Hypoxia signaling maintains cells in a quiescent and metabolically relaxed state, desensitizing them to chemotherapy. This suggests the hypothesis that hypoxia contributes to the chemoresistance of AML-LSCs and may represent a therapeutic target to sensitize AML-LSCs to chemotherapy.

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Cytomegalovirus (CMV) reactivations cause significant morbidity in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) recipients. Graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis with post-transplantation cyclophosphamide (PTCy) is associated with an increased risk of CMV infections. Data are limited comparing HSCT with PTCy performed from matched sibling donors (MSDs), matched unrelated donors (MUDs), and haploidentical (Haplo) donors.

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Background: Hypomethylating agents are approved in higher-riskmyelodysplastic syndromes. The combination of a hypomethylating agent with venetoclax is standard of care in acute myeloid leukaemia. We investigated the safety and activity of the first totally oral combination of decitabine plus cedazuridine and venetoclax in patients with higher-risk-myelodysplastic syndromes and chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia.

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Hypomethylating agents (HMAs) and venetoclax (Ven) represent the standard of care for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who are ineligible for intensive chemotherapy. However, the European LeukemiaNet (ELN) risk classifications have been validated for patients treated with intensive therapy. In this study, we validate a recently proposed new molecular prognostic risk signature (mPRS) for patients with AML treated with HMAs and Ven.

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Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T therapies are being developed for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) on the basis of the results obtained for other haematological malignancies and the need of new treatments for relapsed and refractory AML. The biggest challenge of CART therapy for AML is to identify a specific target antigen, since antigens expressed in AML cells are usually shared with healthy haematopoietic stem cells (HSC). The concomitant expression of the target antigen on both tumour and HSC may lead to on-target/off-tumour toxicity.

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Article Synopsis
  • Recent changes in the diagnostic criteria for chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia (CMML) have established a lower threshold for absolute monocytosis, leading to new insights in patient outcomes.
  • In a study of 313 CMML patients, those with oligomonocytic CMML (OM-CMML) demonstrated a significantly longer five-year survival rate compared to other forms of CMML.
  • The research indicates that OM-CMML is a favorable prognostic factor, while older age and the need for transfusions negatively impact patient outcomes, highlighting the subgroup's potential for better prognoses.
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DDX41 is the most frequently mutated gene in myeloid neoplasms associated with germline predisposition including myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). We analyzed 3795 patients with myeloid neoplasms and identified 151 (4%) with DDX41 variants and a diagnosis of AML (n = 96), MDS (n = 52), and chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (n = 3). The most frequent DDX41 variants were the somatic variant p.

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