Publications by authors named "Fontenay M"

Elevated circulating levels of calprotectin (CAL), the S100A8/A9 heterodimer, are biomarkers of severe systemic inflammation. Here, we investigate the effects of CAL on early human hematopoiesis. CAL demonstrates limited impact on gene expression in stem and progenitor cells, in contrast with interleukin-6 (IL6), which promotes the expression of the and genes in hematopoietic progenitors and the generation of monocytes that release CAL.

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  • A study was conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic in France to evaluate the effectiveness of various biomarkers in predicting short-term worsening (STW) of the disease in hospitalized patients.
  • The research involved analyzing data from 511 consecutive COVID-19 patients across 20 hospitals, identifying key blood test markers that could help in severity triage.
  • The results showed that out of the patients analyzed, 11.7% experienced STW, with certain biomarker levels at admission indicating a higher risk of rapid deterioration within seven days.
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  • Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are blood disorders marked by irregularities in myeloid cells and low blood cell counts, often caused by genetic mutations, though classification has mostly focused on cell appearance.
  • A study analyzing genomic data from over 3,200 MDS patients identified 16 distinct molecular subtypes, revealing varied clinical outcomes, with the majority of patients (86%) fitting into specific genetic groups linked to different survival rates.
  • The findings suggest that understanding these genetically defined subgroups can enhance MDS classification and inform future treatment strategies, emphasizing the importance of genetic insight in managing the disease.
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  • Advancements in understanding myelodysplastic neoplasms (MDS) have revealed important cellular and molecular factors that influence disease progression, highlighting the significance of immune dysregulation in the bone marrow during MDS evolution.
  • Despite these advancements, immunotherapy for MDS has lagged due to a lack of effective immune classifications for patient stratification and no widely accepted immune panels for clinical use.
  • To address these challenges, the i4MDS consortium proposes standardized immune monitoring approaches, including flow cytometry panels and cytokine assays, aiming to improve patient stratification and develop predictive markers for treatment response in MDS.
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  • Mutations in the UBA1 gene, which are linked to VEXAS syndrome, have been found in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), with a study identifying 7% of a cohort having specific UBA1 mutations.
  • An additional sequencing analysis of a larger group revealed 1% with other potentially harmful variants, and all 40 identified patients with likely/pathogenic mutations were male with various MDS subtypes.
  • Most patients with UBA1 mutations exhibited symptoms consistent with VEXAS syndrome, suggesting that routine screening for UBA1 mutations should be considered in MDS management.
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Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) with mutated SF3B1 gene present features including a favourable outcome distinct from MDS with mutations in other splicing factor genes SRSF2 or U2AF1. Molecular bases of these divergences are poorly understood. Here we find that SF3B1-mutated MDS show reduced R-loop formation predominating in gene bodies associated with intron retention reduction, not found in U2AF1- or SRSF2-mutated MDS.

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Myelodysplastic neoplasms (MDS) are characterized by clonal evolution starting from the compartment of hematopoietic stem and progenitors cells (HSPCs), leading in some cases to leukemic transformation. We hypothesized that deciphering the diversity of the HSPCs compartment may allow for the early detection of an emergent sub-clone that drives disease progression. Deep analysis of HSPCs repartition by multiparametric flow cytometry revealed a strong disorder of the hematopoietic branching system in most patients at diagnosis with different phenotypic signatures closely related to specific MDS features.

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  • One-third of COVID-19 patients deteriorate after emergency department admission, necessitating effective prognosis assessments to predict worsening conditions.
  • Current predictive biomarkers include lymphopenia and the PaO2/FiO2 ratio, while markers like immature granulocytes and monocyte differentiation did not show predictive value.
  • A combined score using decreased P/F ratio, lymphopenia, and loss of mHLA-DR proved effective in predicting patient outcomes, pointing to the importance of early immunosuppression monitoring in COVID-19 cases.
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Background: Pregnant women and their fetuses are particularly susceptible to respiratory pathogens. How they respond to SARS-CoV-2 infection is still under investigation.

Methods: We studied the transcriptome and phenotype of umbilical cord blood cells in pregnant women infected or not with SARS-CoV-2.

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During aging, the onset of mutations at low frequency in hematopoietic cells or clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate significance favors the evolution towards hemopathies such as myelodysplastic syndromes or acute leukemias, but also cardiovascular diseases and other pathologies. Acute or chronic inflammation related to age influences the clonal evolution and the immune response. Conversely, mutated hematopoietic cells create an inflammatory bone marrow environment facilitating their expansion.

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Transcription factor Forkhead box P1 (FOXP1) belongs to the same protein family as the FOXOs that are well-known regulators of murine hematopoietic stem progenitor cell (HSPC) maintenance via dampening oxidative stress. FOXP1 and FOXOs can play opposite, or similar, roles depending on cell context; they can crossregulate each other's expression. In a previous study, we have shown that FOXP1 contributes to healthy human HSPC and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cell growth.

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Artemisinin is an anti-malarial drug that has shown anticancer properties. Recently, ferroptosis was reported to be induced by dihydroartemisinin (DHA) and linked to iron increase. In the current study, we determined the effect of DHA in leukemic cell lines on ferroptosis induction and iron metabolism and the cytoprotective effect triggered in leukemic cells.

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  • The study examines the role of platelet activation in influencing mortality rates in COVID-19 patients by analyzing two patient cohorts for blood biomarkers related to platelet activity.
  • In cohort A of 208 patients, higher levels of soluble platelet biomarkers were noted in critical patients, linking them to increased in-hospital mortality; however, this association was not significant when adjusting for coagulopathy indicators.
  • Results from cohort B, which included nearly 2900 patients, indicated that prior use of antiplatelet medications did not significantly affect mortality outcomes, suggesting that coagulopathy may be a more critical factor in the progression of COVID-19.
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Multiparameter flow cytometry (MFC) is one of the essential ancillary methods in bone marrow (BM) investigation of patients with cytopenia and suspected myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). MFC can also be applied in the follow-up of MDS patients undergoing treatment. This document summarizes recommendations from the International/European Leukemia Net Working Group for Flow Cytometry in Myelodysplastic Syndromes (ELN iMDS Flow) on the analytical issues in MFC for the diagnostic work-up of MDS.

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BACKGROUND: Risk stratification and therapeutic decision-making for myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are based on the International Prognostic Scoring System–Revised (IPSS-R), which considers hematologic parameters and cytogenetic abnormalities. Somatic gene mutations are not yet used in the risk stratification of patients with MDS. METHODS: To develop a clinical-molecular prognostic model (IPSS-Molecular [IPSS-M]), pretreatment diagnostic or peridiagnostic samples from 2957 patients with MDS were profiled for mutations in 152 genes.

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The upcoming 5th edition of the World Health Organization (WHO) Classification of Haematolymphoid Tumours is part of an effort to hierarchically catalogue human cancers arising in various organ systems within a single relational database. This paper summarizes the new WHO classification scheme for myeloid and histiocytic/dendritic neoplasms and provides an overview of the principles and rationale underpinning changes from the prior edition. The definition and diagnosis of disease types continues to be based on multiple clinicopathologic parameters, but with refinement of diagnostic criteria and emphasis on therapeutically and/or prognostically actionable biomarkers.

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Background: Severe COVID-19 is associated with a high circulating level of calprotectin, the S100A8/S100A9 alarmin heterodimer. Baseline calprotectin amount measured in peripheral blood at diagnosis correlates with disease severity. The optimal use of this biomarker along COVID-19 course remains to be delineated.

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  • Recent advances in targeted therapies for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) have not significantly addressed many cases, especially those lacking actionable therapy targets.
  • In a study of 127 AML cases, 40% showed alterations in RAS pathway genes, which correlated with worse outcomes and survival rates for patients.
  • The combination of the MEK inhibitor trametinib and the anti-helminthic drug pyrvinium pamoate showed promising antileukemic effects in both laboratory tests and mouse models, suggesting a potential new treatment strategy for RAS+ AML.
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  • Mature blood cells develop from hematopoietic stem cells in bone marrow through a differentiation process that may be either organized (instructive) or random (stochastic).
  • Research using single-cell transcriptomic data showed variability in gene expression during blood cell differentiation, with notable peaks in variability at certain stages across different cell lineages.
  • Findings suggest that hematopoietic differentiation should be viewed as a dynamic stochastic process characterized by periods of uncertainty, supporting the idea that differentiation involves significant cell-to-cell variability.
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Purpose Of Review: Congenital or acquired ribosomopathies related to mutations or deletions in ribosomal proteins gene or ribosome-associated proteins exhibit defective ribosome biogenesis that expose the cell to translation defects. The mechanisms leading to low translation rate, loss-of-translation fidelity and translation selectivity are reviewed.

Recent Findings: New quantitative techniques to measure ribosome component stoichiometry reveal that the pool of ribosomes could be heterogeneous and/or decreased with a limited number of translationally competent ribosomes.

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Objectives: To identify which level of D-dimer would allow the safe exclusion of pulmonary embolism (PE) in COVID-19 patients presenting to the emergency department (ED).

Methods: This retrospective study was conducted on the COVID database of Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP). COVID-19 patients who presented at the ED of AP-HP hospitals between March 1 and May 15, 2020, and had CTPA following D-dimer dosage within 48h of presentation were included.

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