Breast Cancer With Release of Tumor Cells in Peripheral Blood Mimicking Acute Myeloid Leukemia.

A 75-year-old woman with a history of lobular breast adenocarcinoma treated with mastectomy and radiotherapy in 2021 and on maintenance hormone therapy, presented with asthenia and tremors. Laboratory tests showed leucocytosis, anemia and low platelet count, with increased serum calcium, lactate dehydrogenase and indirect bilirubin levels. Haptoglobin was decreased and renal function was normal.

The Challenging Approach to Multiple Myeloma: From Disease Diagnosis and Monitoring to Complications Management.

The outcome of multiple myeloma (MM) has significantly improved in the last few decades due to several factors such as new biological discoveries allowing to better stratify disease risk, development of more effective therapies and better management of side effects related to them. However, handling all these aspects requires an interdisciplinary approach involving multiple knowledge and collaboration of different specialists. The hematologist, faced with a patient with MM, must not only choose a treatment according to patient and disease characteristics but must also know when therapy needs to be started and how to monitor it during and after treatment.

Belantamab mafodotin in triple-refractory multiple myeloma patients: A retro-prospective observational study in Italy.

Belantamab mafodotin is the first-in-class antibody-drug conjugates targeting B-cell maturation antigen to have demonstrated effectiveness in triple-class refractory multiple myeloma (TCR-MM) patients. We performed a retrospective study including 78 TCR patients, with at least four prior lines of therapy (LOTs), who received belantamab mafodotin within named patient program and expanded access program in Italy between 2020 and 2022. Median age was 65 years (range 42-86 years), ECOG performance status was ≥1 in 45% of patients.

Belantamab Mafodotin: From Clinical Trials Data to Real-Life Experiences.

Despite the recent approval of novel immunotherapies, such as immunomodulatory drugs, proteasome inhibitors and anti-CD38 monoclonal antibodies, Multiple Myeloma (MM) remains incurable, and the acquisition of triple-refractoriness leads to really dismal outcomes in even earlier lines of therapy. More recently, innovative therapeutic strategies targeting B cell maturation antigen (BCMA), highly expressed on the plasma cell surface, are drawing different future landscapes in terms of effectiveness and outcomes. Belantamab Mafodotin, a first-in-class anti-BCMA antibody-drug conjugate, demonstrated good efficacy and safety profile in triple-refractory patients in the phase 2 DREAMM-2 trial, and it was approved for the treatment of MM triple-exposed patients with >4 prior lines of therapy.