Publications by authors named "Fozza C"

: Immune thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (iTTP) is a thrombotic microangiopathy caused by the formation of anti-ADAMTS13 antibodies. Caplacizumab is approved for the treatment of acute episodes of iTTP in conjunction with plasma exchange (PEX) and immunosuppression. Real-world data for the use of caplacizumab in Italy have been recently published by a limited number of centers located in the northern and middle regions of the country only.

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  • The study evaluated the safety and effectiveness of rituximab biosimilars compared to the original rituximab (Mabthera) in 800 patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma or chronic lymphocytic leukemia across 13 centers in Italy.
  • Out of 505 newly diagnosed patients analyzed, 16.8% experienced adverse drug reactions (ADRs), mostly during the first and second infusions, with the common reactions being general disorders and administration site conditions.
  • The results indicate that rituximab biosimilars are clinically safe and switching between different biosimilars does not increase adverse events, potentially encouraging wider use and lowering healthcare costs.
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Background: Pomalidomide, a third-generation oral immunomodulatory drug, exhibits efficacy in patients with relapsed multiple myeloma or those refractory to bortezomib and lenalidomide (RRMM).

Methods: In this clinical context, we employed flow cytometry and CDR3 spectratyping to monitor the dynamics of the T-cell repertoire during Pomalidomide treatment, aiming to investigate its potential to reverse the immunological abnormalities characteristic of RRMM.

Results: By flow cytometry at baseline we found a significant decrease in CD4 + frequency in MM patients, while CD8 + frequency were significantly higher in patients when compared to controls.

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  • Lenalidomide (LEN) can help 60-70% of patients with del(5q) myelodysplastic neoplasm achieve independence from red blood cell transfusions (RBC-TI), but there's a concern about its toxicity and cost.
  • The HARMONY Alliance study followed 118 low-intermediate risk MDS patients who discontinued LEN, finding that 50 lost RBC-TI after a median of 49 months.
  • Factors like having a low transfusion burden before treatment, completing at least 12 LEN cycles, being younger, and having higher hemoglobin levels at withdrawal were linked to longer RBC-TI duration after discontinuing LEN.
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Introduction: Emerging evidence has proven that human endogenous retroviruses (HERVs) play a critical role in the pathogenesis of Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML), whereas the specific HERVs influencing the prognosis of AML patients have yet to be fully understood.

Methods: In this study, a systematic exploration was achieved to identify potential prognostic HERVs for AML, sourced from TCGA and GTEx database. Differential analysis and functional enrichment studies were conducted using GO, KEGG, GSEA, and GSVA.

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  • - Patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) treated with nilotinib or ponatinib have a risk of arterial occlusive events (AOEs), prompting recommendations for cardiovascular risk assessments before starting treatment.
  • - A study of 455 CML patients showed that using the updated SCORE2/SCORE2-OP algorithm, which accounts for various cardiovascular risk factors, identified a greater percentage of patients at high risk compared to the older SCORE method.
  • - Those classified as high to very high risk under SCORE2/SCORE2-OP experienced a significantly higher incidence of AOEs, emphasizing the algorithm's importance in guiding treatment decisions and enhancing patient care management.
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Health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is an important goal of therapy for patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS); however, little is known about HRQoL of these patients at clinical presentation. We report HRQoL profile of newly diagnosed patients with MDS across both the the International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS) and IPSS-Revised (IPSS-R) classifications, stratified by sex and age group categories, aiming to also establish European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-Core30 (EORTC QLQ-C30) reference values for these patients. Analysis was based on 927 patients with a median age of 73.

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  • In 2014, UNAIDS set ambitious global targets called "the three 95" for HIV control, aiming for widespread diagnosis, treatment, and viral suppression by 2025.
  • Although new HIV diagnoses in Italy have declined since 2012, a significant portion of new cases in 2020 presented with low CD4+ cell counts, highlighting the need for early testing and treatment.
  • A screening initiative in hospital settings diagnosed 11 new HIV infections among 300 patients, with a high percentage of individuals reporting unprotected sex; prompt treatment led to most patients achieving undetectable HIV levels.
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Cancer is a complex disease including approximately 200 different entities that can potentially affect all body tissues. Among the conventional treatments, radiotherapy and chemotherapy are most often applied to different types of cancers. Despite substantial advances in the development of innovative antineoplastic drugs, cancer remains one of the most significant causes of death, worldwide.

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Lymphomas represent a heterogeneous and widely diversified group of neoplastic diseases rising from a variety of lymphoid subsets at heterogeneous differentiation stages. These lymphoproliferative disorders lead to the clinicopathological complexity of the classification of lymphoid neoplasms, describing to date more than 40 categories of non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) and 5 categories of Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL). Inflammation has been shown to play a key role in the evolution of cancer diseases, and it might be interesting to understand their role also in the context of lymphoid neoplasms.

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  • The study investigated the clinical utility of the IMWG frailty score in treating patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma, focusing on its effectiveness in capturing patient-reported quality of life.
  • Researchers conducted a cross-sectional analysis involving 415 patients across multiple hospitals in Italy and the UK, excluding individuals with certain psychiatric or cognitive issues.
  • The findings highlighted the importance of assessing frailty using established criteria to understand its impact on health-related quality of life for these patients, providing insights for better treatment decisions.
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About 30 percent of patients diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) progress to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The senescence of bone marrow?derived mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) seems to be one of the determining factors in inducing this drift. Research is continuously looking for new methodologies and technologies that can use bioelectric signals to act on senescence and cell differentiation towards the phenotype of interest.

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Human hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) are pluripotent cells that gradually lose their self-renewal and regenerative potential, to give rise to mature cells of the hematopoietic system by differentiation. HSPC infusion is used to restore hematopoietic function in patients with a variety of onco-hematologic and immune-mediated disorders. The functionality of these cells is therefore of great importance to ensure the homeostasis of the hematopoietic system.

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Around one third of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) suffer from concomitant autoimmune disorders (AD). However the actual burden of such an association appears to be quite heterogeneous in different studies probably due to variable criteria in selecting both MDS patients and subtypes of AD. Moreover, both the prognostic implications and the potential applications of specific therapeutic approaches in this patient subgroup are still at least partially under debate.

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Digital health tools are increasingly being used in cancer care and may include electronic patient-reported outcome (ePRO) monitoring systems. We examined physicians' perceptions of usability and clinical utility of a digital health tool (GIMEMA-ALLIANCE platform) for ePRO monitoring in the real-life practice of patients with hematologic malignancies. This tool allows for the collection and assessment of ePROs with real-time graphical presentation of results to medical staff.

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(1) Tomentosin is the most representative sesquiterpene lactone extracted by Recently, it has gained particular attention in therapeutic oncologic fields due to its anti-tumor properties. (2) In this study, the potential anticancer features of tomentosin were evaluated on human Burkitt's lymphoma (BL) cell line, treated with increasing tomentosin concentration for cytotoxicity screening. (3) Our data showed that both cell cycle arrest and cell apoptosis induction are responsible of the antiproliferative effects of tomentosin and may end in the inhibition of BL cell viability.

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Multiple myeloma (MM) is an aggressive B cell malignancy. Substantial progress has been made in the therapeutic context for patients with MM, however it still represents an incurable disease due to drug resistance and recurrence. Development of more effective or synergistic therapeutic approaches undoubtedly represents an unmet clinical need.

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The authors present the case of a patient who underwent the removal of a small bluish lesion of the cheek. After discharge, the patient presented with profuse bleeding and hematoma of the cheek. Blood tests revealed severe secondary immune thrombocytopenia (SITP).

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  • BCR-ABL1 kinase domain mutation testing in TKI-resistant Ph+ ALL patients is typically done via Sanger sequencing (SS), but next-generation sequencing (NGS) offers improved sensitivity and the ability to distinguish between different types of mutations.
  • In a study of 171 Ph+ ALL patients, NGS identified additional mutations that SS missed, particularly in those with hematologic resistance or minimal residual disease, highlighting its superiority.
  • NGS provided a clearer view of mutation complexity, effectively identifying compound mutations and enhancing the accuracy of assessing mutation status in patients undergoing TKI therapy.
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Recommendations for dyslipidemia management aimed at reducing arterial occlusive events (AOEs) have been recently published. So far, no data have been reported on the management of dyslipidemia in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients treated with nilotinib. We investigated 369 CML adult patients, stratified according to the new Systematic Coronary Risk Evaluation (SCORE) scoring system.

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