Peripheral blood persistence and expansion of transferred non-genetically modified Natural Killer cells might not be necessary for clinical activity.

Natural killer (NK) cells are innate lymphocytes that react without previous exposition to virus infected or malignant cells and stimulate adaptive immune response to build a long-lasting immunity against it. To that end, tissue resident NK cells are predominantly regulatory as opposed to cytotoxic. In the hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) setting, which curative potential relies on the graft versus leukemia effect, NK cells are known to play a significant role.

Occurrence of Advance Care Planning and Hospital Course in Patients Admitted for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) During the Pandemic.

Introduction: The Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic highlighted the importance of understanding patients' goals, values, and medical care preferences given the high morbidity and mortality. We aimed to examine rates of advance care planning (ACP) documentation along with hospital course differences in the absence or presence of ACP among hospitalized patients with COVID-19.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study was performed at a single tertiary academic medical center.

The proteomic and particle composition of human platelet lysate for cell therapy products.

Following health agencies warning, the use of animal origin supplements should be avoided in biological products proposed as therapy in humans. Platelet lysate and several other growth factors sources are alternatives to replace fetal calf serum, the current gold standard in clinical-grade cell culture. However, the platelet supplement's content lacks data due to different production methods.

Patient Experiences With Ambulatory Telehealth in Neurology: Results of a Mixed-Methods Study.

Objective: To assess patient experiences with rapid implementation of ambulatory telehealth during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic.

Methods: A mixed-methods study was performed to characterize the patients' experience with neurology telehealth visits during the first 8 weeks of the COVID-19 response. Consecutive patients who completed a telehealth visit were contacted by telephone.

Adoptive immunotherapy with double-bright (CD56 /CD16 ) expanded natural killer cells in patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukaemia: a proof-of-concept study.

Patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) have a five-year survival rate of 28·7%. Natural killer (NK)-cell have anti-leukaemic activity. Here, we report on a series of 13 patients with high-risk R/R AML, treated with repeated infusions of double-bright (CD56 /CD16 ) expanded NK cells at an academic centre in Brazil.

Bone Marrow Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Acute-on-Chronic Liver Failure Grades 2 and 3: A Phase I-II Randomized Clinical Trial.

Introduction: Acute-on-chronic liver failure (ACLF) is an acute liver decompensation in cirrhotic patients, which leads to organ failures and high short-term mortality. The treatment is based on the management of complications and, in severe cases, liver transplantation. Since specific treatment is unavailable, we aimed to evaluate the safety and initial efficacy of bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSC) in patients with ACLF Grades 2 and 3, a population excluded from previous clinical trials.

Convalescent plasma for COVID-19 in hospitalised patients: an open-label, randomised clinical trial.

Background: The effects of convalescent plasma (CP) therapy in hospitalised patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) remain uncertain. This study investigates the effect of CP on clinical improvement in these patients.

Methods: This is an investigator-initiated, randomised, parallel arm, open-label, superiority clinical trial.

Human NK cells prime inflammatory DC precursors to induce Tc17 differentiation.

Adaptive immune responses are acknowledged to evolve from innate immunity. However, limited information exists regarding whether encounters between innate cells direct the generation of specialized T-cell subsets. We aim to understand how natural killer (NK) cells modulate cell-mediated immunity in humans.

What happens to intolerant, relapsed or refractory chronic myeloid leukemia patients without access to clinical trials?

Objective: To assess clinical outcomes of intolerant, relapsed or refractory patients who could not be treated with new tyrosine kinase inhibitors or experimental therapies.

Methods: A retrospective cohort of 90 chronic myeloid leukemia patients in all phases of the disease treated with imatinib mesylate as their first TKI therapy, and with dasatinib or nilotinib as the next line of therapy. We evaluated clinical outcomes of these patients, with special focus on the group that needed more than two therapy lines.

Correction to: Monitoring of intracerebellarly-administered natural killer cells with fluorine-19 MRI.

There was a typo in author Andrew Wahba's name in the initial online publication. The original article has been corrected.

Monitoring of intracerebellarly-administered natural killer cells with fluorine-19 MRI.

Purpose: Medulloblastoma (MB) is the most common malignant brain tumor in children. Recent studies have shown the ability of natural killer (NK) cells to lyse MB cell lines in vitro, but in vivo successes remain elusive and the efficacy and fate of NK cells in vivo remain unknown.

Methods: To address these questions, we injected MB cells into the cerebellum of immunodeficient mice and examined tumor growth at various days after tumor establishment via bioluminescence imaging.

Donor characteristics and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation outcome: experience of a single center in Southern Brazil.

Background: Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is a curative treatment for many patients with hematological disorders. Donor-recipient genetic disparity, especially involving the human leukocyte antigen system is a critical factor for transplant outcome.

Objective: To evaluate retrospectively donor characteristics and correlations with the occurrence of acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease, disease-free survival and overall survival in a Brazilian population submitted to allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation between 1994 and 2012 in a single center.

Isolation of human mesenchymal stem cells from amnion, chorion, placental decidua and umbilical cord: comparison of four enzymatic protocols.

Objective: To compare four enzymatic protocols for mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) isolation from amniotic (A-MSC) and chorionic (C-MSC) membranes, umbilical cord (UC-MSC) and placental decidua (D-MSC) in order to define a robust, practical and low-cost protocol for each tissue.

Results: A-MSCs and UC-MSCs could be isolated from all samples using trypsin/collagenase-based protocols; C-MSCs could be isolated from all samples with collagenase- and trypsin/collagenase-based protocols; D-MSCs were isolated from all samples exclusively with a collagenase-based protocol.

Conclusions: The trypsin-only protocol was least efficient; the collagenase-only protocol was best for C-MSCs and D-MSCs; the combination of trypsin and collagenase was best for UC-MSCs and none of tested protocols was adequate for A-MSCs isolation.

Comparison of cyclophosphamide-thalidomide-dexamethasone to bortezomib-cyclophosphamide-dexamethasone as induction therapy for multiple myeloma patients in Brazil.

Objective/background: Chemotherapy followed by autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) remains the standard treatment for multiple myeloma (MM). Thalidomide or bortezomib may be combined with cyclophosphamide and dexamethasone, in what are known as the CTD and VCD protocols, respectively. The objective of this study was to evaluate the clinical characteristics and response rates obtained with CTD and VCD, observing whether the inclusion of bortezomib to treat MM patients in Brazil increases therapeutic efficiency.

Brazilian legal and bioethical approach about donation for research and patents of human body parts.

The aim of this paper is to explain why the Brazilian legal system does not accept commercialization or commodification of human body parts, including genes or cells. As a consequence, in Brazil, the donation of human body parts for research-including basic or translational-must be made altruistically. For the same reason, the Brazilian patent system cannot be applied to human parts, cells or genes.

Comparison of human mesenchymal stromal cells from four neonatal tissues: Amniotic membrane, chorionic membrane, placental decidua and umbilical cord.

Background: Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are being investigated as a potential alternative for cellular therapy. This study was designed to compare the biological characteristics of MSCs isolated from amniotic membrane (A-MSCs), chorionic membrane (C-MSCs), placental decidua (D-MSCs) and umbilical cord (UC-MSCs) to ascertain whether any one of these sources is superior to the others for cellular therapy purposes.

Methods: MSCs were isolated from amniotic membrane, chorionic membrane, umbilical cord and placental decidua.

Characterization of Patients with Chronic Myeloid Leukemia Unresponsive to Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitors Who Underwent Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation.

Tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) were the first drugs to use an intracellular signaling molecule as a therapeutic target. Unresponsiveness to TKIs limits therapeutic options, making allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) the only option leading to molecular remission. The aim of this study is to characterize CML patients unresponsive to first- and/or second-generation TKI therapy who underwent HSCT and to describe the main factors associated with treatment failure.

Effects Of Hypoxia in Long-Term In Vitro Expansion of Human Bone Marrow Derived Mesenchymal Stem Cells.

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are considered multipotent stromal, non-hematopoietic cells with properties of self-renovation and differentiation. Optimal conditions for culture of MSC have been under investigation. The oxygen tension used for cultivation has been studied and appears to play an important role in biological behavior of mesenchymal cells.

Immunotherapy with natural killer cells: a possible approach for the treatment of Acute Myeloid Leukemia also in Brazil.

The allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) can cure intermediate and high-risk acute myeloid leukemia. Even with the development of strategies to reduce HSCT toxicity, this is still a complex treatment with high morbidity and mortality. Knowledge of the graft versus leukemia effect of HSCT has prepared the way for the development of Adoptive Immunotherapy or in vitro expansion of activated lymphocytes without alloreactivity, with subsequent intravenous infusion.

Gene Expression Profiling and Functional Characterization of Macrophages in Response to Circulatory Microparticles Produced during Trypanosoma cruzi Infection and Chagas Disease.

Background: Chronic inflammation and oxidative stress are hallmarks of chagasic cardiomyopathy (CCM). In this study, we determined if microparticles (MPs) generated during Trypanosoma cruzi (Tc) infection carry the host's signature of the inflammatory/oxidative state and provide information regarding the progression of clinical disease.

Methods: MPs were harvested from supernatants of human peripheral blood mononuclear cells in vitro incubated with Tc (control: LPS treated), plasma of seropositive humans with a clinically asymptomatic (CA) or symptomatic (CS) disease state (vs.

Brazilian guidelines on hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in acute myeloid leukemia.

Introduction/objectives: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) accounts for 90% of all cases of acute leukemia in adults. In Brazil, the mortality from myeloid leukemia is 1.74/100 000 men and 1.

Natural killer cell adoptive immunotherapy: Coming of age.

Cell therapy is a promising alternative to harsh chemotherapy and radiation therapy for cancer. Natural killer (NK) cells in particular have great potential for direct use in adoptive immunotherapy (AI) for cancer and to improve the graft-vs-leukemia (GVL) effect of hematopoietic stem cell transplants (HSCTs). NK cell number and function are associated with a strong GVL effect without inducing graft-versus-host disease in most settings.

Injured hepatocyte-released microvesicles induce bone marrow-derived mononuclear cells differentiation.

The ability of bone marrow-derived mononuclear cells (BMMCs) to differentiate into hepatocyte-like cells under different conditions has been demonstrated previously. In the present study, we investigated the effect of CCl4-injured hepatocytes on the differentiation of the non-adherent (NAD) fraction of BMMCs. Differentiation (cell fate) was analyzed after 2, 6 and 24h of co-culture by gene and protein expression and by urea production.

Importance of early absolute lymphocyte count after allogeneic stem cell transplantation: a retrospective study.

Introduction: Early lymphocyte recovery after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is related to the prevention of serious infections and the clearing of residual tumor cells.

Methods: We analyzed the absolute lymphocyte count at 20 (D+20) and 30 (D+30) days after HSCT in 100 patients with malignant hematologic diseases and correlated with the risk of transplant-related mortality, overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), nonrelapsed mortality (NRM), and risk of infection.

Results: Patients presenting with lymphocyte counts of <300 × 103/μL on D+30 have a 3.