The Effect of the Pre-Transplant Disease Status on the Outcome for Recipients of T-Cell Depleted Allogeneic Haematopoietic Stem Cell Transplants for Large B Cell Lymphomas.

Objectives: Deauville scores (DS) from PET/CT imaging are increasingly being used to direct response-adjusted treatment strategies in lymphoma, including large B cell lymphomas (LBCL). We aimed to investigate the outcome of allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloHSCT) in LBCL and the role played by pre-transplant disease status, as determined by DS.

Methods: We performed a retrospective, observational study of adults treated with a T-cell depleted alloHSCT for de novo DLBCL or high-grade transformation.

Intrabone transplantation of CD34+ cells with optimized delivery does not enhance engraftment in a rhesus macaque model.

Intrabone (IB) injection of umbilical cord blood has been proposed as a potential mechanism to improve transplant engraftment and prevent graft failure. However, conventional IB techniques produce low retention of transplanted cells in the marrow. To overcome this barrier, we developed an optimized IB (OIB) injection method using low-volume, computer-controlled slow infusion that promotes cellular retention in the marrow.

Tracking of Adoptively Transferred Natural Killer Cells in Rhesus Macaques Using Zirconium-Oxine Cell Labeling and PET Imaging.

Purpose: Trials of adoptive natural killer (NK)-cell immunotherapy for hematologic malignancies have thus far shown only marginal effects, despite the potent antitumor activity of these cells. Homing of infused cells to tumor microenvironments is critical for efficacy, but has not been well characterized. We established a novel method to track and quantify the distribution of adoptively transferred NK cells using rhesus macaques (RM) as a clinically relevant preclinical model.

Editorial: Should child psychiatry be more like paediatric oncology?

Looked at from a public health perspective, psychiatric disorders are devastating and cost humanity a tremendous amount of suffering as well as resources. On the other hand, childhood cancer is relatively rare and on a large scale, causes much less mortality and morbidity. Yet, when it comes to anything from public perception, to funding or to hyperbolic tabloid headlines, oncology wins hands down.

The importance of natural killer cell killer immunoglobulin-like receptor-mismatch in transplant outcomes.

Purpose Of Review: In recent years, the rules of engagement between natural killer (NK) cells and their targets have become better defined with the identification of an array of NK surface molecules, notably the killer immunoglobulin-like (KIR) receptors and their ligands on target cells through which signals of activation or suppression of NK function are mediated. After allogeneic stem cell transplantation (SCT), the opportunity for NK cell activation can occur both in human leucocyte antigen (HLA) matched and HLA mismatched pairs. Although less well explored in HLA identical transplants, many studies confirm the importance of NK KIR mismatching in the graft-versus-leukemia effect in haploidentical (haplo) SCT and this has stimulated recent research to better define the role of NK mismatching on transplant outcome.

Orphan NKs! The mystery of the self-renewing NK cells.

Like children alive when their parents have not been born, there is a population of natural killer (NK) cells which appear to be self-renewing, according to 2 articles in this issue of . Corat et al and Schlums et al take us closer to this mystery by answering the question: is ongoing production from hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) required to maintain NK-cell homeostasis in humans?

A subset of virus-specific CD161 T cells selectively express the multidrug transporter MDR1 and are resistant to chemotherapy in AML.

The establishment of long-lived pathogen-specific T cells is a fundamental property of the adaptive immune response. However, the mechanisms underlying long-term persistence of antigen-specific CD4 T cells are not well-defined. Here we identify a subset of memory CD4 T cells capable of effluxing cellular toxins, including rhodamine (Rho), through the multidrug efflux protein MDR1 (also known as P-glycoprotein and ABCB1).

KIR gene haplotype: an independent predictor of clinical outcome in MDS patients.

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDSs) are a group of hematopoietic disorders affecting the myeloid lineage, characterized by cytopenias and clonal evolution to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). We hypothesized that natural killer (NK) cells and their activating killer immunoglobulin-like receptors (aKIRs) influence the immune surveillance and clinical outcome of patients with MDSs. Here, we first examined the distribution of aKIR genes and haplotype in 2 independent cohorts of MDS and AML patients.

Regulatory B cells are enriched within the IgM memory and transitional subsets in healthy donors but are deficient in chronic GVHD.

A subset of regulatory B cells (Bregs) in mice negatively regulate T-cell immune responses through the secretion of regulatory cytokines such as IL-10 and direct cell-cell contact and have been linked to experimental models of autoimmunity, inflammation, and cancer. However, the regulatory function of Bregs in human disease is much less clear. Here we demonstrate that B cells with immunoregulatory properties are enriched within both the CD19(+)IgM(+)CD27(+) memory and CD19(+)CD24(hi)CD38(hi) transitional B-cell subsets in healthy human donors.

Opportunities and limitations of natural killer cells as adoptive therapy for malignant disease.

Although natural killer (NK) cells can be readily generated for adoptive therapy with current techniques, their optimal application to treat malignant diseases requires an appreciation of the dynamic balance between signals that either synergize with or antagonize each other. Individuals display wide differences in NK function that determine their therapeutic efficacy. The ability of NK cells to kill target cells or produce cytokines depends on the balance between signals from activating and inhibitory cell-surface receptors.

Leukemia-induced phenotypic and functional defects in natural killer cells predict failure to achieve remission in acute myeloid leukemia.

The majority of patients with acute myeloid leukemia will relapse, and older patients often fail to achieve remission with induction chemotherapy. We explored the possibility that leukemic suppression of innate immunity might contribute to treatment failure. Natural killer cell phenotype and function was measured in 32 consecutive acute myeloid leukemia patients at presentation, including 12 achieving complete remission.

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors impair B-cell immune responses in CML through off-target inhibition of kinases important for cell signaling.

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have significant off-target multikinase inhibitory effects. We aimed to study the impact of TKIs on the in vivo B-cell response to vaccination. Cellular and humoral responses to influenza and pneumococcal vaccines were evaluated in 51 chronic phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients on imatinib, or second-line dasatinib and nilotinib, and 24 controls.

Repeated vaccination is required to optimize seroprotection against H1N1 in the immunocompromised host.

Background: In 2009 the declaration by the World Health Organization of a global pandemic of influenza-H1N1 virus led to a vaccination campaign to ensure protection for immunocompromised patients. The goal of this study was to determine the efficacy of the 2009 H1N1 vaccine in patients with hematologic malignancies.

Design And Methods: We evaluated humoral and cellular immune responses to 2009 H1N1 vaccine in 97 adults with hematologic malignancies and compared these responses with those in 25 adult controls.

Humoral and cellular immunity to primary H1N1 infection in patients with hematologic malignancies following stem cell transplantation.

Limited data are available on immunologic responses to primary H1N1 infection in patients with hematologic malignancies. We present a prospective, case-surveillance study of such patients with real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) confirmed H1N1-influenza who presented to our institution between September 2009 and January 2010. Ninety-two patients presented with influenza-like symptoms, and 13 had H1N1 infection confirmed by RT-PCR, including 4 allogeneic stem cell transplant recipients (1 with acute myelogenous leukemia, 1 with chronic lymphoblastic leukemia [CLL], 1 with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, and 1 with chronic myelogenous leukemia), 5 patients with multiple myeloma following autologous stem cell transplantation, 1 patient with multiple myeloma perimobilization, 2 patients with NHL post chemotherapy, and 1 patient with CLL.

Favorable outcomes in patients surviving 5 or more years after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for hematologic malignancies.

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is a curative treatment for some hematologic malignancies. As the overall number of survivors continues to increase, studies systematically examining outcomes in long-term survivors are needed. We studied the clinical and quality-of-life outcomes in HSCT recipients surviving 5 or more years from HSCT.

Donor KIR Genes 2DL5A, 2DS1 and 3DS1 are associated with a reduced rate of leukemia relapse after HLA-identical sibling stem cell transplantation for acute myeloid leukemia but not other hematologic malignancies.

Stem cell transplantation (SCT) from a healthy donor can be curative for patients with hematologic malignancies resistant to other treatments. Elimination of malignant cells through a graft-versus-leukemia (GVL) effect involves donor T and natural killer (NK) cells, but their relative contribution to this process is poorly defined. NK cell alloreactivity and GVL effects are controlled by the nature of the interaction of NK activation receptors and killer-immunoglobulin-like-receptors (KIR) with major histocompatibility locus class I antigens on the target cell.

Case 40. Misdiagnosis of refractory macrocytic anemia.

A diagnosis of myelodysplastic syndrome, refractory anemia subtype, was made in an elderly Indian woman on the basis of a refractory macrocytic anemia with normal vitamin B(12) and folate assays, normal thyroid function, essentially normal liver function and normal cytogenetic analysis. Disease evolution revealed that the diagnosis was erroneous.