Publications by authors named "Blade J"

Background: Hypereosinophilic syndromes (HES) are a heterogenous group of eosinophilic disorders. To date, only retrospective studies of limited sample-size and/or follow-up duration are available.

Methods: The COHESion study is a national prospective multicenter multidisciplinary cohort recruiting both adults or children with the spectrum of eosinophilic disorders (including reactive HE/HES [HE/HES-R], idiopathic HES [HES-I], lymphocytic HES [HES-L], neoplastic HE/HES [HE/HES-N], HE of unknown significance [HE-US], as well as IgG4-related disease [IgG4RD] or ANCA-negative eosinophilic granulomatosis with polyangiitis [EGPA] overlaps).

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Antiapoptotic Bcl-2 family proteins are involved in myeloma cell survival. To date, their expression in multiple myeloma (MM) patients has mostly been analyzed at the RNA level. In the present study, we quantified for the first time the protein expression of the Bcl2-family members using a capillary electrophoresis immunoassay in 120 newly diagnosed MM patients, aged ≤65 years, treated in the context of the PETHEMA/GEM2012 study.

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This study examines the impact of cytogenetic abnormalities and their co-segregation on the prognosis of newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients. The analysis included 1304 patients from four different GEM-PETHEMA clinical trials. Genetic alterations, such as t(4;14), t(14;16), del(17p), +1q, and del(1p), were investigated using FISH on CD38 purified plasma cells.

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The impact of measurable residual disease (MRD) in relapse/refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM) patients treated with T-cell redirecting immunotherapy is uncertain. We analyzed MRD dynamics using next-generation flow in 201 patients treated in clinical trials with chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells and T-cell engagers (TCE). Achieving MRD negativity at 10 was associated with 89% reduction in the risk of progression and/or death.

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Article Synopsis
  • - In a study of 138 multiple myeloma (MM) patients, researchers explored the benefits of monitoring peripheral residual disease (PRD) in blood instead of relying solely on more invasive bone marrow (BM) assessments.
  • - Positive PRD results from next-generation flow (NGF) indicated a significantly higher risk of disease progression/death, and those with undetectable PRD had excellent survival rates.
  • - The findings suggest that PRD monitoring is a valuable and less cumbersome method for identifying patients at risk of relapse during maintenance treatment in transplant-eligible MM patients.
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Quantitative immunoprecipitation mass spectrometry (QIP-MS) allows the identification of the M-protein in patients with multiple myeloma (MM) otherwise in complete response, and could be considered suitable for measurable residual disease (MRD) evaluation in peripheral blood. In the context of the GEM2012MENOS65 and GEM2014MAIN trials, we compared the performance of QIP-MS in serum with next-generation flow (NGF) cytometry in bone marrow to assess MRD in paired samples obtained postinduction, transplant, consolidation and after 24 cycles of maintenance. At each time point, both NGF and QIP-MS were able to segregate 2 groups of patients with significantly different progression-free survival; when the evolution of the results obtained with either method was considered, maintaining or converting to MRD negativity was associated with longer survival, significantly better when compared with sustaining or converting to MRD positivity.

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  • - The PERSEUS study analyzed the effects of adding daratumumab (D) to the standard treatment VRd (bortezomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone) for adults with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma to see if it could improve outcomes.
  • - Participants were divided into two groups: one receiving D-VRd initially followed by D-R maintenance, and the other receiving standard VRd followed by lenalidomide alone.
  • - After about four years, results indicated that those who received D-VRd had better treatment responses and were more likely to remain alive and disease-free compared to the VRd-only group, with side effects being consistent with expectations for both treatments.
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  • Kidney light chain (AL) amyloidosis can lead to serious health issues including the need for kidney replacement therapy and increased mortality risk, with better outcomes linked to significant reductions in proteinuria after treatment.
  • This study aimed to confirm how different levels of kidney response to treatment relate to patient survival, using data from 732 patients over several years.
  • Results showed that deeper kidney responses within 6 months of treatment initiation were associated with significantly lower chances of needing kidney replacement therapy after 5 years.
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Purpose: Early treatment of high-risk smoldering myeloma has been shown to delay progression to multiple myeloma (MM). We conducted this trial with curative intention using a treatment approach employed for newly diagnosed patients with MM.

Methods: Patients with high-risk smoldering myeloma (>50% progression risk at 2 years) and transplant candidates were included and received induction therapy with carfilzomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone (KRd), six cycles, followed by high-dose melphalan (200 mg/m) autologous stem-cell transplantation (HDM-ASCT), two KRd consolidation cycles, and Rd maintenance for 2 years.

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  • TIGIT blockade in an ex vivo model reduced malignant plasma cells in multiple myeloma patients, but only half responded, leading to an investigation of whether increased TIGIT ligand expression inhibits T-cell immune responses.
  • Researchers characterized bone marrow macrophages through flow cytometry and studied the impact of TIGIT ligands on plasma cell survival and gene expression using advanced technologies.
  • Findings revealed decreased macrophage frequency in multiple myeloma, with increased malignant plasma cells surviving due to the presence of PVR ligand, which also inhibited T-cell effectiveness and increased TIGIT expression, contributing to resistance against TIGIT blockade.
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The value of quantitative immunoprecipitation mass spectrometry (QIP-MS) to identify the M-protein is being investigated in patients with monoclonal gammopathies but no data are yet available in high-risk smoldering myeloma (HRsMM). We have, therefore, investigated QIP-MS to monitor peripheral residual disease (PRD) in 62 HRsMM patients enrolled in the GEM-CESAR trial. After 24 cycles of maintenance, detecting the M-protein by MS or clonal plasma cells by next-generation flow cytometry (NGF) identified cases with a significantly shorter median progression-free survival (mPFS) (MS: not reached vs.

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  • CD38-targeting immunotherapy combined with lenalidomide and dexamethasone is the current best standard of care for newly diagnosed multiple myeloma patients who can't undergo transplants.
  • A phase 3 study involving 270 patients tested the effectiveness of adding weekly bortezomib to this regimen, comparing the outcomes of the combination (Isa-VRd) against the standard (IsaRd).
  • Results showed a significantly higher rate of minimal residual disease negativity at 18 months and better response rates in the Isa-VRd group, suggesting it could become the new standard of care for these patients.
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Systemic AL amyloidosis is a challenging disease for which many patients are considered frail in daily clinical practice. However, no study has so far addressed frailty and its impact on the outcome of these patients. We built a simple score to predict mortality based on three frailty-associated variables: age, ECOG performance status (<2 vs.

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The 2/20/20 International Myeloma Working Group (IMWG) score is the most employed risk score in clinical practice to evaluate the risk of progression from smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM) to symptomatic multiple myeloma. However, it faces a serious limitation: The risk score is applied at diagnosis and cannot be reapplied. Since a dynamic accurate patient risk assessment for progression is necessary, we aimed to investigate whether the detection of an evolving pattern in serum M-protein (SMP) improves the identification of high-risk patients.

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Smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM) precedes multiple myeloma (MM). The risk of progression of SMM patients is not uniform, thus different progression-risk models have been developed, although they are mainly based on clinical parameters. Recently, genomic predictors of progression have been defined for untreated SMM.

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  • * There are very few documented cases of benign monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) with IgD subtype, and only two had follow-up beyond five years.
  • * This report highlights a patient from those two cases who, after 26 years of follow-up, did not develop multiple myeloma or amyloidosis and died from unrelated causes, suggesting that IgD M-protein doesn’t always mean a malignant condition.
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The treatment landscape for multiple myeloma has significantly evolved in the last decade. Notwithstanding, a large proportion of patients continue to relapse and novel combinations continue to be needed. In this phase II study, selinexor, a first-in-class inhibitor of exportin-1 was evaluated in combination with standard daratumumab-bortezomib-dexamethasone (DVd), for the treatment of relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM).

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Background: Daratumumab, a monoclonal antibody targeting CD38, has been approved for use with standard myeloma regimens. An evaluation of subcutaneous daratumumab combined with bortezomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone (VRd) for the treatment of transplantation-eligible patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma is needed.

Methods: In this phase 3 trial, we randomly assigned 709 transplantation-eligible patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma to receive either subcutaneous daratumumab combined with VRd induction and consolidation therapy and with lenalidomide maintenance therapy (D-VRd group) or VRd induction and consolidation therapy and lenalidomide maintenance therapy alone (VRd group).

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The role of measurable residual disease (MRD) negativity as a biomarker to stop treatment is being investigated in transplant-eligible patients with multiple myeloma (MM). Thus, it is important to identify risk factors of MRD resurgence and/or progressive disease (PD) among patients achieving undetectable MRD to avoid undertreating them. Here, we studied 267 newly diagnosed transplant-eligible patients with MM enrolled in the GEM2012MENOS65 and GEM2014MAIN clinical trials who achieved MRD negativity by next-generation flow cytometry.

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Immunoparesis (IP) in multiple myeloma (MM) patients can be measured by classic assessment of immunoglobulin (Ig) levels or by analysis of the uninvolved heavy/light chain pair of the same immunoglobulin (uHLC) by the Hevylite® assay. In this study we evaluate the prognostic value of recovery from IP measured by classic total Ig and uHLC assessment in newly diagnosed MM transplant-eligible (NDMM-TE) patients with intensive treatment and its association with minimal residual disease (MRD). Patients were enrolled and treated in the PETHEMA/GEM2012MENOS65 trial and continued in the PETHEMA /GEM2014MAIN trial.

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Objective: Providing the most efficacious frontline treatment for newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (NDMM) is critical for patient outcomes. No direct comparisons have been made between bortezomib + lenalidomide + dexamethasone (VRD) and bortezomib + thalidomide + dexamethasone (VTD) induction regimens in transplant-eligible NDMM.

Methods: An integrated analysis was performed using patient data from four trials meeting prespecified eligibility criteria: two using VRD (PETHEMA GEM2012 and IFM 2009) and two using VTD (PETHEMA GEM2005 and IFM 2013-04).

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The proportion of non-transplant-eligible (NTE) newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (NDMM) patients excluded from clinical trials (CTs) and their prognosis is unknown. CT results may not be generalizable to real-world practice due to strict recruitment criteria. We analyzed causes of NTE-NDMM patient exclusion form CTs and their outcomes.

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Introduction: General practitioners (GPs) play a central role in the management and coordination of care of patients with malignant tumors and blood diseases. Civilian GPs encounter certain difficulties during the care of such patients. The practice of unit medicine in a military environment differs from that in a civilian context through expertise in fitness to serve and to deployment and the target population.

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Tumor recognition by T cells is essential for antitumor immunity. A comprehensive characterization of T cell diversity may be key to understanding the success of immunomodulatory drugs and failure of PD-1 blockade in tumors such as multiple myeloma (MM). Here, we use single-cell RNA and T cell receptor sequencing to characterize bone marrow T cells from healthy adults (n = 4) and patients with precursor (n = 8) and full-blown MM (n = 10).

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To improve the outcomes of patients with the otherwise incurable hematologic malignancy of multiple myeloma (MM), a key paradigm includes initial treatment to establish disease control rapidly followed by maintenance therapy to ensure durability of response with manageable toxicity. However, patients' prognosis worsens after relapse, and the disease burden and drug toxicities are generally more challenging with subsequent lines of therapy. It is therefore particularly important that patients with newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (NDMM) receive optimal frontline therapy.

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