PD-L1 blockade immunotherapy rewires cancer-induced emergency myelopoiesis.

Introduction: Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer treatment, demonstrating exceptional clinical responses in a wide range of cancers. Despite the success, a significant proportion of patients still fail to respond, highlighting the existence of unappreciated mechanisms of immunotherapy resistance. Delineating such mechanisms is paramount to minimize immunotherapy failures and optimize the clinical benefit.

Safety and Efficacy of Extracorporeal Photopheresis for Acute and Chronic Graft-versus-Host Disease.

Despite novel biological agents, steroid-dependent or -refractory graft-versus-host disease (GvHD) remains a severe complication of allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT). Extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) is an alternative, non-immunosuppressive treatment for patients with acute (aGvHD) or chronic (cGvHD) GvHD. The aim of this study was to investigate the safety and efficacy of ECP in the treatment of acute and chronic GvHD; We prospectively studied 112 patients with cGvHD who received one or more previous lines of treatment and 28 patients with steroid-dependent or refractory grade II-IV aGvHD post-alloHSCT.

Post-transplantation monitoring and quantitation of microparticles in allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation.

Background: Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HCT) represents a curative treatment for various blood-related disorders, including hematological malignancies and genetic disorders. The success of this procedure hinges on the efficacy of the conditioning regimen and the graft's ability to engraft and function properly. Microparticles (MPs), small vesicles produced from stimulated, apoptotic, or activated cells, are involved in both physiological and pathological processes.

The non-canonical BAF chromatin remodeling complex is a novel target of spliceosome dysregulation in SF3B1-mutated chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

SF3B1 mutations are recurrent in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), particularly enriched in clinically aggressive stereotyped subset #2. To investigate their impact, we conducted RNA-sequencing of 18 SF3B1 and 17 SF3B1 subset #2 cases and identified 80 significant alternative splicing events (ASEs). Notable ASEs concerned exon inclusion in the non-canonical BAF (ncBAF) chromatin remodeling complex subunit, BRD9, and splice variants in eight additional ncBAF complex interactors.

The seasonal distribution of immune thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura is influenced by geography: Epidemiologic findings from a multi-center analysis of 719 disease episodes.

Prior studies have suggested that immune thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (iTTP) may display seasonal variation; however, methodologic limitations and sample sizes have diminished the ability to perform a rigorous assessment. This 5-year retrospective study assessed the epidemiology of iTTP and determined whether it displays a seasonal pattern. Patients with both initial and relapsed iTTP (defined as a disintegrin and metalloprotease with thrombospondin type motifs 13 activity <10%) from 24 tertiary centers in Australia, Canada, France, Greece, Italy, Spain, and the US were included.

Cardiotoxicity in Acute Myeloid Leukemia in Adults: A Scoping Study.

According to the National Cancer Institute of the NIH, acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a rapidly growing cancer with a large quantity of myeloblasts. AML is most often observed in adults over the age of 35, accounting for 1% of all cancer types. In 2023, the number of new cases being reported was estimated to reach around 20,380 in total and the rate of mortality in the same year was 1.

Change in Neurocognitive Function in Patients Who Receive CAR-T Cell Therapies: A Steep Hill to Climb.

Immunotherapy with chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cell therapies has brought substantial improvement in clinical outcomes in patients with relapsed/refractory B cell neoplasms. However, complications such as cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS) limit the therapeutic efficacy of this treatment approach. ICANS can have a broad range of clinical manifestations, while various scoring systems have been developed for its grading.

Additional booster doses in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia induce humoral and cellular immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 similar to natural infection regardless ongoing treatments: A study by ERIC, the European Research Initiative on CLL.

Profound immune dysregulation and impaired response to the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine put patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) at risk of severe COVID-19. We compared humoral memory and T-cell responses after booster dose vaccination or breakthrough infection. (Green) Quantitative determination of anti-Spike specific antibodies.

Caplacizumab for immune thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura: real-world multicenter data.

Given the limited real-world data of caplacizumab, our multicenter real-world study was designed to assess the safety and efficacy of caplacizumab in immune thrombotic thrombocytopenic pupura (iTTP), compared to historic controls. We have studied 70 patients: 23 in the caplacizumab and 47 in the historic control group. Plasma exchange was applied in all episodes except for two patients that denied plasma exchange.

The evolving landscape of COVID-19 and post-COVID condition in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia: A study by ERIC, the European research initiative on CLL.

In this retrospective international multicenter study, we describe the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and related disorders (small lymphocytic lymphoma and high-count monoclonal B lymphocytosis) infected by SARS-CoV-2, including the development of post-COVID condition. Data from 1540 patients with CLL infected by SARS-CoV-2 from January 2020 to May 2022 were included in the analysis and assigned to four phases based on cases disposition and SARS-CoV-2 variants emergence. Post-COVID condition was defined according to the WHO criteria.

Sickle Cell Disease: Current Understanding and Future Options.

Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a prevalent inherited hemoglobin disorder encompassing a cluster of congenital hemolytic anemias, each distinguished by the prevalence of sickle hemoglobin (HbS) [...

Molecular and Clinical Characteristics of Different Toxicity Rates in Anti-CD19 Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cells: Real-World Experience.

Commercially available anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor T cells (CARΤ cells) have offered long-term survival to a constantly expanding patient population. Given that novel toxicities including cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and neurotoxicity (ICANS) have been observed, we aimed to document the safety and toxicity of this treatment in a real-world study. We enrolled 31 adult patients referred to our center for CAR T therapy.

Circulating microvesicles across a population with various degree of cardiovascular burden are associated with systolic blood pressure.

Circulating microvesicles (MVs) have been studied in heterogeneous, divergent, and rather small patient populations with cardiovascular risk . Therefore, we measured endothelial (EMVs), platelet (PMVs) and erythrocyte (RMVs) MVs in patients with divergent cardiovascular risk. We then compared them to coronary artery disease (CAD) and healthy subjects and identified independent MVs' predictors.

Risk Factors, Prevalence, and Outcomes of Invasive Fungal Disease Post Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapies: A Retrospective Monocenter Real-Life Analysis.

(1) Background: Autologous, allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) and other cellular therapies, including CAR T cell and gene therapy, constitute a cornerstone in the management of various benign and malignant hematological disorders. Invasive fungal infections (IFD) remain a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in HCT recipients. Therefore, we investigated the prevalence and risk factors of IFD following HCT and other cellular therapies in an era of novel antifungal prophylaxis.

Real-world Data and Economic Evaluation of Nivolumab in Previously Treated Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Greek Patients.

Background/aim: Nivolumab is an FDA-approved immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) for patients with advanced, pre-treated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, treatment profiles and patient outcomes often differ in routine clinical practice while the financial impact of approved therapies is largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the efficacy, tolerability, and economic impact of nivolumab in real-world settings (RWS) in Greece.

The Role of Myocardial Strain Imaging in the Pre- and Post-Operative Assessment of Patients with Single Ventricle.

The term "single ventricle" refers to a wide range of cardiac structural and functional abnormalities which cause the morphologically right or left ventricle to be hypoplastic or functionally inadequate. Patients with single-ventricle physiology have followed a series of palliative surgeries, resulting in the dominant ventricle supporting only the systemic circulation and the systemic venous return draining directly to the pulmonary arteries. Such patients present a progressive decline in myocardial performance, and their management is associated with high morbidity, mortality and resource usage.

Cardiorenal multimorbidity in hospitalized cardiology patients: The Hellenic Cardiorenal Morbidity Snapshot (HECMOS) study.

Purpose: Cardiovascular disease is commonly accompanied by renal dysfunction. Multimorbidity in hospitalized patients impacts unfavorably on prognosis and hospital stay. We aimed to illustrate the contemporary burden of cardiorenal morbidity across inpatient cardiology care in Greece.

Chromatin activation profiling of stereotyped chronic lymphocytic leukemias reveals a subset 8-specific signature.

The chromatin activation landscape of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) with stereotyped B-cell receptor immunoglobulin is currently unknown. In this study, we report the results of a whole-genome chromatin profiling of histone 3 lysine 27 acetylation of 22 CLLs from major subsets, which were compared against nonstereotyped CLLs and normal B-cell subpopulations. Although subsets 1, 2, and 4 did not differ much from their nonstereotyped CLL counterparts, subset 8 displayed a remarkably distinct chromatin activation profile.

Thromboembolic events in patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH): Real world data of a Greek nationwide multicenter retrospective study.

Thrombosis is the most common and a life-threatening complication in patients with Paroxysmal Nocturnal Hemoglobinuria. One-third of patients with PNH experience at least one thromboembolic event during the course of the disease, with thrombosis being the most common cause of death in these patients. The mechanism of thrombosis in PNH is complex and continues to be of great research interest.