A survey of cell processing practices for hematopoietic cell transplantation.

Background: There is considerable heterogeneity in cell handling practices for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in cell processing centers in Spain. The European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and international standards are not intended to establish best practices or to include all procedures; therefore, each cell processing laboratory must define its own practices and procedures.

Methods: A survey was conducted to better understand the differences among cell processing laboratories in Spain in terms of type of facilities and equipment available, service portfolio, staff, informatics systems, product handling, environmental and product quality control tests, batch release criteria, storage and shipping conditions, and criteria for product disposal or recall, to identify areas for harmonization.

Development and characterization of a cell donor registry for virus-specific T cell manufacture in a blood bank.

Adoptive cell therapy using virus-specific T cells (VST) is a strategy for treating common opportunistic viral infections after transplantation, particularly when these infections do not resolve through antiviral drug therapy. The availability of third-party healthy donors allows for the immediate use of cells for allogeneic therapy in cases where patients lack an appropriate donor. Here, we present the creation of a cell donor registry of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-typed blood donors, REDOCEL, a strategic initiative to ensure the availability of compatible cells for donation when needed.

Connectivity in transfusion medicine: Challenges, benefits, and goals.

Transfusion medicine requires meticulous record keeping from the time a blood donation is made to the time a patient receives a transfusion. As such, blood collection establishments and processing laboratories generate large amounts of data. This data must be managed, analyzed, and visualized appropriately to ensure safety of the blood supply.

Human Anelloviruses: Influence of Demographic Factors, Recombination, and Worldwide Diversity.

Anelloviruses represent the major and most diverse component of the healthy human virome, referred to as the anellome. In this study, we determined the anellome of 50 blood donors, forming two sex- and age-matched groups. Anelloviruses were detected in 86% of the donors.

Pathogen inactivation methods to prevent transfusion-transmissible arboviruses: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective: Arboviruses are emerging as a relevant threat to transfusion safety. Pathogen inactivation methods (PIMs) may reduce the risk of transmission through transfusion, as long as they meet minimum standards for effectiveness. This study aims to assess the log reduction of viral load achieved with different PIMs, according to the blood product they are used on and the arbovirus targeted.

Exploring the Diversity of the Human Blood Virome.

Metagenomics is greatly improving our ability to discover new viruses, as well as their possible associations with disease. However, metagenomics has also changed our understanding of viruses in general. The vast expansion of currently known viral diversity has revealed a large fraction of non-pathogenic viruses, and offers a new perspective in which viruses function as important components of many ecosystems.

Sensitivity and specificity analysis of 2D small field measurement array: Patient-specific quality assurance of small target treatments and spatially fractionated radiotherapy.

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to describe the tests carried out on a SRSMapCheck array, to verify its reliability and sensitivity for quality assurance (QA) of high gradient treatments as an alternative system to the use of high spatial resolution detectors, such as gafchromic film, whose processing requires meticulous and time-consuming procedures.

Methods: In an initial step, general functionality tests were carried out to verify that the equipment meets the manufacturer's specifications. A study of the accuracy of the application of correction factors to compensate for variation in detector response due to dose rate, field size and beam angle incidence has been included.

Preservation of anti-SARS-CoV-2 neutralising antibodies in convalescent plasma after pathogen reduction with methylene blue and visible light.

Background: COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP) is an experimental treatment against SARS-CoV-2. Although there has so far been no evidence of transmission through transfusion, pathogen reduction technologies (PRT) have been applied to CCP to mitigate risk of infectious disease. This study aims to assess the impact of methylene blue (MB) plus visible light PRT on the virus-neutralising activity of the specific antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.

Deep viral blood metagenomics reveals extensive anellovirus diversity in healthy humans.

Human blood metagenomics has revealed the presence of different types of viruses in apparently healthy subjects. By far, anelloviruses constitute the viral family that is more frequently found in human blood, although amplification biases and contaminations pose a major challenge in this field. To investigate this further, we subjected pooled plasma samples from 120 healthy donors in Spain to high-speed centrifugation, RNA and DNA extraction, random amplification, and massive parallel sequencing.

Adoptive transfer of ex vivo expanded SARS-CoV-2-specific cytotoxic lymphocytes: A viable strategy for COVID-19 immunosuppressed patients?

Cellular and humoral response to acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infections is on focus of research. We evaluate herein the feasibility of expanding virus-specific T cells (VST) against SARS-CoV-2 ex vivo through a standard protocol proven effective for other viruses. The experiment was performed in three different donors' scenarios: (a) SARS-CoV-2 asymptomatic infection/negative serology, (b) SARS-CoV-2 symptomatic infection/positive serology, and (c) no history of SARS-CoV-2 infection/negative serology.

COVID-19 pneumonia treated with ultra-low doses of radiotherapy (ULTRA-COVID study): a single institution report of two cases.

Introduction: Since the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, healthcare systems have focused their efforts into finding a treatment to avoid the fatal outcomes of severe acute respiratory syndrome due to coronavirus‑2 (SARS-CoV-2). Benefits and risks of systemic treatments remain unclear, with multiple clinical trials still ongoing. Radiotherapy could play a role in reducing the inflammatory response in the lungs and relieve life-threatening symptoms.

The storage of skull bone flaps for autologous cranioplasty: literature review.

The use of autologous bone flap for cranioplasty after decompressive craniectomy is a widely used strategy that allows alleviating health expenses. When the patient has recovered from the primary insult, the cranioplasty restores protection and cosmesis, recovering fluid dynamics and improving neurological status. During this time, the bone flap must be stored, but there is a lack of standardization of tissue banking practices for this aim.

Contamination of tissue allografts from a multiorgan-multitissue donor colonized by Candida auris.

Standards on tissue banking determine the need of microbiological monitoring during critical steps (recovery, processing, storage, and transplantation). This information will be useful for both discarding contaminated tissues or risk analysis (in case of recipient infection). In this study, we show the case of a multiorgan-multitissue donor colonized by Candida auris.

Hydroxyethyl starch is an alternative washing solution for peripheral bloodstem cells products.

Cryopreservation of hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) involves slow rate cooling in the presence of a cryoprotectant (DMSO) to avoid the damaging effects of intracellular ice formation. The infusion of DMSO with the thawed product has been related to adverse events. Reduction of DMSO content by washing the HSCs after thawing has been suggested as a method to avoid infusion-related side-effects.

COVID-19: hypofractionation in the Radiation Oncology Department during the 'state of alarm': first 100 patients in a private hospital in Spain.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Spain declared a 'state of alarm' on 14 March 2020. In our Radiation Oncology Department, experienced in administering hypofractionated treatments (partial irradiation in breast cancer, moderate hypofractionation in localized prostate cancer, etc), we have increased the hypofractionated treatment indications. We are only deferring the start of non-urgent treatments such as prostate tumours under androgen deprivation or benign brain tumours which are candidates for radiosurgery such as meningiomas or acoustic neuroma.

Effect of freezing and storage temperature on stability and antimicrobial activity of an antibiotic mixture used for decontamination of tissue allografts.

One of the most important risks to be controlled in tissue banking is the infection associated with the clinical use of auto- and allografts. Thus, tissue disinfection protocols are used, in addition to processing in controlled environments. For this purpose, combinations of antibiotics are designed to ensure a broad spectrum of antimicrobial activity.

Analysis of the Spanish CCR5-∆32 inventory of cord blood units: lower cell counts in homozygous donors.

The possibility to use CCR5-∆32 umbilical cord blood to cure HIV infection in patients in need of a hematopoietic transplant has been suggested. The less stringent HLA compatibility needed in this type of transplant facilitates the search of a suitable donor having the CCR5-∆32 mutation. To achieve an inventory of CCR5-∆32 cord blood units, the 20,236 best cell quality units of the Spanish Registry were genotyped.

Detection of hepatitis B virus in bone allografts from donors with occult hepatitis B infection.

The implementation of nucleic acid testing in donor screening has improved the safety of tissue allografts. Although infectious disease transmission can be considered a rare event, the detection of occult hepatitis B infection remains challenging. The studies concerning this risk are mainly based on testing blood specimens.

Collection, storage, inspection and quality control of platelet concentrates obtained by apheresis: The situation in Spain.

Background: Diverse variables are involved in apheresis platelet collection, processing and storage. This survey shows how these are realized in Spain.

Method: An analysis of collected data was performed in a questionnaire completed by ten Transfusion Centers (TC) which perform between 50 and 520 apheresis procedures per month.

Transmission of human immunodeficiency virus Type-1 by fresh-frozen plasma treated with methylene blue and light.

Background: The risk of transfusion-transmitted infection (TTI) has been minimized by introduction of nucleic acid testing (NAT) and pathogen inactivation (PI). This case report describes transmission of human immunodeficiency virus Type 1 (HIV-1) to two recipients despite these measures.

Study Design And Methods: In March 2009 a possible TTI of HIV-1 was identified in a patient that had received pooled buffy coat platelet concentrate (BC-PLT) in November 2005.

Quantitative analysis of plasma proteins in whole blood-derived fresh frozen plasma prepared with three pathogen reduction technologies.

Several plasma pathogen reduction technologies (PRT) are currently available. We evaluated three plasma PRT processes: Cerus Amotosalen (AM), Terumo BCT riboflavin (RB) and Macopharma methylene blue (MB). RB treatment resulted in the shortest overall processing time and in the smallest volume loss (1%) and MB treatment in the largest volume loss (8%).

Effect of CD8⁺ cell content on umbilical cord blood transplantation in adults with hematological malignancies.

Total nucleated (TNCs) and CD34(+) cells are considered major determinants of outcome after umbilical cord blood (UCB) transplantation but the effect of other cell subtypes present in the graft is unknown. This single-center cohort study included patients with hematological malignancies who received UCB transplantation after a myeloablative conditioning regimen. UCB units were primarily selected according to cell content, both TNCs and CD34(+) cells, and also according to the degree of HLA matching.