Publications by authors named "Zhubin Gahvari"

The NCCN Guidelines for Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) provide recommendations for the evaluation, diagnosis, and comprehensive care of patients with MDS based on a review of recent clinical evidence that has led to important advances in treatment or has yielded new information on biologic factors that may have prognostic significance in MDS. The multidisciplinary panel of MDS experts is convened at least on an annual basis. During the annual meeting, the panel evaluates new and emerging data to inform their recommendations.

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Purpose: Knowledge of an inherited predisposition to myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and AML has important clinical implications for treatment decisions, surveillance, and care of at-risk relatives. National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines recently incorporated recommendations for germline genetic evaluation of patients with MDS/AML on the basis of personal and family history features, but the practicality of implementing these recommendations has not been studied.

Methods: A hereditary hematology quality improvement (QI) committee was formed to implement these guidelines in a prospective cohort of patients diagnosed with MDS/AML.

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Article Synopsis
  • Monoclonal proteins are found in about 5% of the U.S. population, and their occurrence increases with age, often linked to clonal plasma cell disorders.
  • Most individuals are asymptomatic, but conditions like monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) and smoldering multiple myeloma (SMM) can occur as precursors to multiple myeloma (MM).
  • Recent advancements have enhanced understanding of symptom development and progression, leading to updated diagnosis and treatment guidelines for MGUS and SMM, signaling a change in how these conditions are approached clinically.
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Article Synopsis
  • - CAR-T therapy is becoming crucial for treating relapsed multiple myeloma (MM), with BCMA being the primary target due to its presence on malignant plasma cells, especially in advanced disease stages.
  • - This review discusses early CAR-T trials, manufacturing challenges, and the current clinical landscape that led to the approval of two CAR-T products: Idecabtagene vicleucel and ciltacabtagene autoleucel.
  • - Future advancements in CAR-T for MM may focus on new targets like GPRC5D and SLAMF7, while addressing issues related to therapy relapse and failure to enhance treatment effectiveness.
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GATA binding protein 2 (GATA2) is a conserved zinc finger transcription factor that regulates the emergence and maintenance of complex genetic programs driving development and function of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs). Patients born with monoallelic GATA2 mutations develop myelodysplastic neoplasm (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML), whereas acquired GATA2 mutations are reported in 3% to 5% of sporadic AML cases. The mechanisms by which aberrant GATA2 activity promotes MDS and AML are incompletely understood.

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Article Synopsis
  • The treatment landscape for relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma is growing more complex due to the increasing number of available therapies, making it challenging to select the right treatment for heavily pretreated patients.
  • Early-stage patients often have several effective options, whereas those who are triple-class refractory face more limited choices and worse outcomes.
  • New therapies targeting specific biological markers, along with innovative combinations of existing treatments, hold promise for improving outcomes, even in patients with advanced disease.
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Aim: This study investigates the association between ABO blood phenotype and COVID-19 severity, measured by intensive care unit admission, need for intubation, hospitalization length and death. It further explores clinical predictors of COVID-19 severity within a primarily Hispanic demographic in San Diego County.

Materials & Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 942 total patients, 473 with available blood type, hospitalized at five Scripps Health hospitals with COVID-19.

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Over the last several years, the systemic treatment landscape for dedifferentiated liposarcoma (DDLPS) has notably expanded. Historically, systemic therapy options have been limited to cytotoxic chemotherapy agents, including doxorubicin, ifosfamide, gemcitabine, and docetaxel, that were shown to have efficacy in unselected populations of patients with soft tissue sarcomas. More recently, however, there have been phase II and III trials establishing clinical benefit of the cytotoxic agents trabectedin and eribulin along with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor pazopanib in patients with advanced liposarcoma and DDLPS.

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The introduction of CD38-targeting monoclonal antibodies (CD38 MoABs), daratumumab and isatuximab, has significantly impacted the management of patients with multiple myeloma (MM). Outcomes of patients with MM refractory to CD38 MoABs have not been described. We analyzed outcomes of 275 MM patients at 14 academic centers with disease refractory to CD38 MoABs.

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The choice of echo time (TE) is a complicated and controversial issue in proton MR spectroscopy, and represents a balancing act between signal-to-noise ratio and signal complexity. The TE values used in previous literature were selected either heuristically or based on limited empirical studies. In this work, we reconsider this problem from an estimation theoretic perspective.

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