Publications by authors named "Maria Sara Felice"

Background: Inborn Errors of Immunity (IEI) comprise several genetic anomalies that affect different components of the innate and adaptive responses, predisposing to infectious diseases, autoimmunity and malignancy. Different studies, mostly in adults, have reported a higher prevalence of cancer in IEI patients. However, in part due to the rarity of most of these IEI subtypes (classified in ten categories by the Primary Immunodeficiency Committee of the International Union of Immunological Societies), it is difficult to assess the risk in a large number of patients, especially during childhood.

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An association of deletions in the IKZF1 gene (IKZF1del) with poor prognosis in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) has been demonstrated. Additional deletions in other genes (IKZF1plus) define different IKZF1del subsets. We analyzed the influence of IKZF1del and/or IKZF1plus in the survival of children with ALL.

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Background: Retinoblastoma survivors in low- and middle-income countries are exposed to high-intensity treatments that potentially place them at higher risk of early subsequent malignant neoplasms (SMNs).

Methods: We followed 714 (403 [56.4%] nonhereditary and 311 [43.

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Genetic abnormalities provide vital diagnostic and prognostic information in pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and are increasingly used to assign patients to risk groups. We recently proposed a novel classifier based on the copy-number alteration (CNA) profile of the 8 most commonly deleted genes in B-cell precursor ALL. This classifier defined 3 CNA subgroups in consecutive UK trials and was able to discriminate patients with intermediate-risk cytogenetics.

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Several conventions have been established in order to define and characterize Mixed Phenotype Acute Leukemia (MPAL). However, megakaryocytic markers have not been included in the definition of MPAL neither in the European Group for the Immunological Characterization of Leukemias (EGIL) proposal nor in any of the WHO Classification of Tumors issues. We report four pediatric acute leukemia (AL) cases (prevalence: 0.

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Article Synopsis
  • A study of 233 children with ambiguous lineage leukemia (ALAL) aimed to define treatment strategies, as previous definitions had lacked clear therapy recommendations.
  • Results showed that acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL)-type treatments led to a significantly higher five-year event-free survival (EFS) rate (80%) compared to acute myeloid leukemia (AML)-type treatments (36%) and combined types (50%).
  • The findings recommend using ALL-type treatment for most pediatric ALAL patients, particularly those with CD19 leukemia, while AML-type treatment is advised for a minority, and transplantation shows no overall benefit except for certain poorly responding patients.
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The association between mature-B phenotype and MLL abnormalities in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a very unusual finding; only 14 pediatric cases have been reported so far. We describe the clinical and biological characteristics and outcome of five pediatric cases of newly diagnosed B lineage ALL with MLL abnormalities and mature immunophenotype based on light chain restriction and surface Ig expression. Blasts showed variable expression of CD10/CD34/TdT.

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Scant information about the early toxicity of high-dose chemotherapy regimens for the treatment of mature B-cell malignancies (B-non-Hodgkin lymphoma) in developing countries is available, so we performed a retrospective evaluation of children with B-non-Hodgkin lymphoma treated with Berlin-Frankfurt-Muenster-based protocols in Argentina (1993 to 2007). In the second protocol, induction chemotherapy was modified introducing high-dose cytarabine and etoposide (block CC) instead of high-dose methotrexate (block AA). Forty-one patients with stage III and elevated lactate dehydrogenase or stage IV or B-acute lymphoblastic leukemia were included.

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