Older patients with acute myeloid leukemia were treated with intensive chemotherapy and then randomly assigned to receive placebo or oral azacitidine (CC-486) daily for 14 days per 28-day cycle. ...CC-486 was associated with significantly longer relapse-free and overall survival, with some gastrointestinal side effects but maintenance of quality of life.
Iron overload due to red blood cell (RBC) transfusions is associated with morbidity and mortality in lower-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) patients. Many studies have suggested improved survival ...after iron chelation therapy (ICT), but valid data are limited. The aim of this study was to assess the effect of ICT on overall survival and hematologic improvement in lower-risk MDS patients in the European MDS registry. We compared chelated patients with a contemporary, non-chelated control group within the European MDS registry, that met the eligibility criteria for starting iron chelation. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to assess overall survival (OS), treating receipt of chelation as a time-varying variable. Additionally, chelated and non-chelated patients were compared using a propensity-score matched model. Of 2,200 patients, 224 received iron chelation. The hazard ratio and 95% confidence interval for OS for chelated patients, adjusted for age, sex, comorbidity, performance status, cumulative RBC transfusions, Revised-International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS-R), and presence of ringed sideroblasts was 0.50 (0.34-0.74). The propensity-score analysis, matched for age, sex, country, RBC transfusion intensity, ferritin level, comorbidity, performance status, and IPSS-R, and, in addition, corrected for cumulative RBC transfusions and presence of ringed sideroblasts, demonstrated a significantly improved OS for chelated patients with a hazard ratio of 0.42 (0.27-0.63) compared to non-chelated patients. Up to 39% of chelated patients reached an erythroid response. In conclusion, our results suggest that iron chelation may improve OS and hematopoiesis in transfused lower-risk MDS patients. This trial was registered at
The onset and progression of numerous serious diseases (e.g., various types of malignancies, neurodegenerative diseases, and cardiac diseases) are, on a molecular level, associated with protein ...modifications and misfolding. Current methods for the detection of misfolded proteins are not able to detect the whole misfolded subproteome and, moreover, are rather laborious and time consuming. Herein, we report on a novel simple method for the detection of misfolded proteins employing a surface plasmon resonance (SPR) biosensor and heat shock protein 70 (Hsp70) that recognizes and traps misfolded proteins in a nucleotide-dependent manner. We use this method for the detection of misfolded proteins in blood plasma of patients with various subtypes of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and healthy donors. Our results reveal significantly elevated levels of misfolded proteins in the two stages of MDS that are most affected by oxidative stress: low-risk (RARS) and intermediate-risk (RCMD) patients. This approach can be extended to a variety of diseases and provides unique insights into the thus far unexplored area of blood proteome.
The European LeukemiaNet MDS (EUMDS) registry is collecting data of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) patients belonging to the IPSS low or intermediate-1 category, newly diagnosed by local cytologists. ...The diagnosis of MDS can be challenging, and some data report inter-observer variability with regard to the assessment of the MDS subtype. In order to ensure that correct diagnoses were made by the participating centres, blood and bone marrow slides of 10% of the first 1000 patients were reviewed by an 11-person panel of cytomorphologists. All slides were rated by at least 3 panel members (median 8 panel members; range 3–9). Marrow slides from 98 out of 105 patients were of good quality and therefore could be rated properly according to the WHO 2001 classification, including assessment of dysplastic lineages. The agreement between the reviewers whether the diagnosis was MDS or non-MDS was strong with an intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC) of 0.85. Six cases were detected not to fit the entry criteria of the registry, because they were diagnosed uniformly as CMML or AML by the panel members. The agreement by WHO 2001 classification was strong as well (ICC = 0.83). The concordance of the assessment of dysplastic lineages was substantial for megakaryopoiesis and myelopoiesis and moderate for erythropoiesis. Our data show that in general, the inter-observer agreement was high and a very low percentage of misdiagnosed cases had been entered into the EUMDS registry. Further studies including histomorphology are warranted.
Granulocytopenia Čermák, Jaroslav
Vnitřní lékar̆stvĭ,
Summer 2018, Letnik:
64, Številka:
5
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Granulocytopenia is defined as a decrease of peripheral blood granulocytes below lower limit of normal range. Patients with severe granulocytopenia - agranulocytosis exhibit < 0.5 × 109/l ...granulocytes in peipheral blood. Granulocytopenia may result from congenital or acquired defective production of granulocyte precursors or it may be a consequence of increased destruction of mature granulocytes, most frequently caused by immune mechanisms. Investigation of origin of granulocytopenia must be connected with exclusion of etiological agents causing secondary neutropenia (infections, autoimmune disorders, drugs, LGL syndrome). Patients with > 0.5 × 109/l of granulocytes usually do not exhibit clinical symptoms unless they do not suffer from a concomitant disease (especially immunodeficiency). Patients with severe granulocytopenia are indicated for supportive treatment and for administration of G-CSF. Children with severe congenital neutropenia (SCN) are at risk of later development of MDS or AML and are candidates for SCT when signs of disease progression appears. Key words: diagnosis - granulocytopenia - growth factors - pathogenesis - transplantation -treatment.
Aplastic anemia Čermák, Jaroslav
Vnitřní lékar̆stvĭ,
Summer 2018, Letnik:
64, Številka:
5
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Aplastic anemia - bone marrow failure (AA) is defined as pancytopenia with hypocellular bone marrow without signs of marrow fibrosis or of presence of abnormal cells. Recent studies showed that most ...of AA cases might be mediated by immune mechanisms. Toxic agent leads to expression of neoantigens or cryptic antigens on the surface of pluripotent hematopoietic stem cells with subsequent activation of immune effector cells and induction of stem cell apoptosis. Histopathological findings obtained from bone marrow biopsy are crucial for diagnosis of AA. Hypoplastic MDS, PNH, hairy cell leukemia and late manifestation of congenital cytopenias must be excluded in differential diagnosis. Allogeneic stem cell transplantation from HLA matched related donor or combined immune suppression represent the first line treatment for patients with severe AA (SAA). Transplantation from unrelated donor may be a second line treatment for patients who failed to respond to immunosuppressive therapy. Recent studies showed eltrombopag or its combination with immune supression as an effective therapeutic approach to AA patients. Up to 15 % of AA patients may later develop PNH, MDS or acute leukemia. An influence of disturbed immune mechanisms as well as of immunosuppressive treatment on the development of clonal proliferation is currently discussed. Key words: aplastic anemia - diagnosis - eltrombopag - immunosuppression - transplantation - treatment.
Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) results from a deficiency in inhibitors of activated complement. This lack leads to complement mediated intravascular hemolysis, to activation of coagulation ...system with increased risk of thrombotic complications and to various degree of bone marrow failure. A molecular basis of PNH is a somatic mutation of PIGA gene causing a lack of glycosyl phosphatidyl inositol which binds many important antigens to cell surface membrane including inhibitors of activated complement CD59 and CD55 antigens. Presence of CD59 and CD55 deficient cells in peripheral blood detected by flow cytometry is essential for diagnosis of PNH. Standard treatment of PNH includes transfusions of leukocyte depleted red blood cells, anticoagulation prophylaxis and administration of folinic acid. PNH patients with predominant signs of bone marrow failure and profound cytopenia may by candidates for stem cell transplantation or combination immunosuppression. Patients with severe hemo-lysis and/or thrombotic complications are indicated for administration of eculizumab - a monoclonal antibody against C5 part of complement. Key words: diagnosis - eculizumab - immunosuppression - paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria - pathogenesis - transplantation - treatment.
This multicenter, randomized, open-label, phase III trial compared the efficacy and safety of decitabine with treatment choice (TC) in older patients with newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) ...and poor- or intermediate-risk cytogenetics.
Patients (N = 485) age ≥ 65 years were randomly assigned 1:1 to receive decitabine 20 mg/m(2) per day as a 1-hour intravenous infusion for five consecutive days every 4 weeks or TC (supportive care or cytarabine 20 mg/m(2) per day as a subcutaneous injection for 10 consecutive days every 4 weeks). The primary end point was overall survival (OS); the secondary end point was the complete remission (CR) rate plus the CR rate without platelet recovery (CRp). Adverse events (AEs) were recorded.
The primary analysis with 396 deaths (81.6%) showed a nonsignificant increase in median OS with decitabine (7.7 months; 95% CI, 6.2 to 9.2) versus TC (5.0 months; 95% CI, 4.3 to 6.3; P = .108; hazard ratio HR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.69 to 1.04). An unplanned analysis with 446 deaths (92%) indicated the same median OS (HR, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.68 to 0.99; nominal P = .037). The CR rate plus CRp was 17.8% with decitabine versus 7.8% with TC (odds ratio, 2.5; 95% CI, 1.4 to 4.8; P = .001). AEs were similar for decitabine and cytarabine, although patients received a median of four cycles of decitabine versus two cycles of TC. The most common drug-related AEs with decitabine were thrombocytopenia (27%) and neutropenia (24%).
In older patients with AML, decitabine improved response rates compared with standard therapies without major differences in safety. An unplanned survival analysis showed a benefit for decitabine, which was not observed at the time of the primary analysis.
We report 17 cytopenic patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) of refractory anaemia (RA) subtype with hyper‐, normo‐ or hypo‐cellular bone marrow (BM), who were treated with cyclosporin A ...(CyA). Substantial haematological response was observed in 14 patients (82%): their anaemia improved and all transfusion‐dependent patients achieved transfusion independence. Complete trilineage recovery was observed in four patients (23%). The CyA therapy has not yet failed in any of the 14 successfully treated patients during follow‐up times ranging from 5 to 30 months. CyA was well tolerated in 14 patients; serious side‐effects required termination of the therapy in three patients in whom the blood count rapidly deteriorated to former levels upon cessation of therapy. Two patients benefited from a combination therapy of CyA and erythropoietin. Six patients experienced various autoimmune phenomena. CyA could thus offer an alternative treatment for certain MDS patients with RA regardless of hyper‐, normo‐ or hypo‐cellularity of bone marrow (BM). The mechanism of the beneficial effect of CyA is discussed and remains the subject of an ongoing study.
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