Most modern treatment protocols for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) include the analysis of minimal residual disease (MRD). To ensure comparable MRD results between different MRD-polymerase chain ...reaction (PCR) laboratories, standardization and quality control are essential. The European Study Group on MRD detection in ALL (ESG-MRD-ALL), consisting of 30 MRD-PCR laboratories worldwide, has developed guidelines for the interpretation of real-time quantitative PCR-based MRD data. The application of these guidelines ensures identical interpretation of MRD data between different laboratories of the same MRD-based clinical protocol. Furthermore, the ESG-MRD-ALL guidelines will facilitate the comparison of MRD data obtained in different treatment protocols, including those with new drugs.
Abstract
Background
Triazole resistance is an increasing problem in invasive aspergillosis (IA). Small case series show mortality rates of 50%–100% in patients infected with a triazole-resistant ...Aspergillus fumigatus, but a direct comparison with triazole-susceptible IA is lacking.
Methods
A 5-year retrospective cohort study (2011–2015) was conducted to compare mortality in patients with voriconazole-susceptible and voriconazole-resistant IA. Aspergillus fumigatus culture-positive patients were investigated to identify patients with proven, probable, and putative IA. Clinical characteristics, day 42 and day 90 mortality, triazole-resistance profiles, and antifungal treatments were investigated.
Results
Of 196 patients with IA, 37 (19%) harbored a voriconazole-resistant infection. Hematological malignancy was the underlying disease in 103 (53%) patients, and 154 (79%) patients were started on voriconazole. Compared with voriconazole-susceptible cases, voriconazole resistance was associated with an increase in overall mortality of 21% on day 42 (49% vs 28%; P = .017) and 25% on day 90 (62% vs 37%; P = .0038). In non-intensive care unit patients, a 19% lower survival rate was observed in voriconazole-resistant cases at day 42 (P = .045). The mortality in patients who received appropriate initial voriconazole therapy was 24% compared with 47% in those who received inappropriate therapy (P = .016), despite switching to appropriate antifungal therapy after a median of 10 days.
Conclusions
Voriconazole resistance was associated with an excess overall mortality of 21% at day 42 and 25% at day 90 in patients with IA. A delay in the initiation of appropriate antifungal therapy was associated with increased overall mortality.
A multicenter, retrospective, cohort study showed a 21% higher day 42 mortality in voriconazole-resistant invasive aspergillosis compared with voriconazole-susceptible cases. In resistant cases, switch to appropriate antifungal therapy was associated with increased mortality compared with patients who directly received appropriate antifungal therapy.
Care Sport Connectors (CSCs) have been appointed to create a connection between the primary care and physical activity (PA) sectors to stimulate residents who are inactive to become more physically ...active to gain health benefits. The objective of this explorative study was to find out whether CSCs achieve these goals by testing the hypothesis that more residents become physically active, and score higher for health-related fitness and health-related quality of life.
We conducted a longitudinal study design whereby participants (n = 402) were measured at three time points: at the start of their PA program (T0); after 6 months (T1); and after 1 year (T2). Participants conducted a fitness test to measure their health-related physical fitness and filled in questionnaires to assess PA level (PA-, Fit-, Combi-, and sport norm), health-related quality of life, motivation for PA, and personal information. We used a multi-level analysis to test whether outcomes of participants differ over time. Participants who dropped out and maintainers were compared with a chi-square test and a one-way ANOVA.
This study showed that one-third of the participants dropped out (n = 139). Participants who dropped out were, compared with maintainers, less physically active (P = 0.004) and were more often reached in bigger municipalities, by an integral approach. More participants meet the PA norm (P = 0.007) and sport norm (P<0.001) at T2 then at T0. Scores in health-related physical fitness and quality of life were significant but not a meaningful gain in health-related fitness.
More residents become physically active and participate in sport because they took part in a PA programs or activity organized by a CSC. Lifestyle interventions should be offered with a higher frequency, intensity, and focus on behavior change. It is necessary to invest in combined lifestyle interventions offered by a collaboration of primary care, welfare, and PA professionals.
Abstract Objective In 2008 GROINSS-V-I, the largest validation trial on the sentinel node (SN) procedure in vulvar cancer, showed that application of the SN-procedure in patients with early-stage ...vulvar cancer is safe. The current study aimed to evaluate long-term follow-up of these patients regarding recurrences and survival. Methods From 2000 until 2006 GROINSS-V-I included 377 patients with unifocal squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva (T1,<4 cm), who underwent the SN-procedure. Only in case of SN metastases an inguinofemoral lymphadenectomy was performed. For the present study follow-up was completed until March 2015. Results The median follow-up was 105 months (range 0–179). The overall local recurrence rate was 27.2% at 5 years and 39.5% at 10 years after primary treatment, while for SN-negative patients 24.6% and 36.4%, and for SN-positive patients 33.2% and 46.4% respectively (p = 0.03). In 39/253 SN-negative patients (15.4%) an inguinofemoral lymphadenectomy was performed, because of a local recurrence. Isolated groin recurrence rate was 2.5% for SN-negative patients and 8.0% for SN-positive patients at 5 years. Disease-specific 10-year survival was 91% for SN-negative patients compared to 65% for SN-positive patients (p < .0001). For all patients, 10-year disease-specific survival decreased from 90% for patients without to 69% for patients with a local recurrence (p < .0001). Conclusions Survival is very good for patients with a negative SN, but still 36% of these patients, as well as 46% of the patients with a positive SN, will have a local recurrence. Although a local recurrence is treated with curative intent, the disease-specific survival of these patients decreases significantly.
Most current treatment protocols for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) include minimal residual disease (MRD) diagnostics, generally based on PCR analysis of rearranged antigen receptor genes. ...Although flow cytometry (FCM) can be used for MRD detection as well, discordant FCM and PCR results are obtained in 5-20% of samples. We evaluated whether 6-color FCM, including additional markers and new marker combinations, improved the results. Bone marrow samples were obtained from 363 ALL patients at day 15, 33 and 78 and MRD was analyzed using 6-color (218 patients) or 4-color (145 patients) FCM in parallel to routine PCR-based MRD diagnostics. Compared with 4-color FCM, 6-color FCM significantly improved the concordance with PCR-based MRD data (88% versus 96%); particularly the specificity of the MRD analysis improved. However, PCR remained more sensitive at levels <0.01%. MRD-based risk groups were similar between 6-color FCM and PCR in 68% of patients, most discrepancies being medium risk by PCR and standard risk by FCM. Alternative interpretation of the PCR data, aimed at prevention of false-positive MRD results, changed the risk group to standard risk in half (52%) of these discordant cases. In conclusion, 6-color FCM significantly improves MRD analysis in ALL but remains less sensitive than PCR-based MRD-diagnostics.
Analysis of minimal residual disease (MRD) in childhood acute myeloid leukemia (AML) may predict for clinical outcome. MRD levels were assessed by flowcytometric immunophenotyping in 94 children with ...AML enrolled into a single trial (United Kingdom Medical Research Council AML12 and similar Dutch Childhood Oncology Group ANLL97). An aberrant immunophenotype could be detected in 94% of patients. MRD levels after the first course of chemotherapy predicted for clinical outcome: 3-year relapse-free survival was 85%+/-8% (s.e.) for MRD-negative patients (MRD<0.1%), 64%+/-10% for MRD-low-positive patients (0.1%<or=MRD<0.5%) and only 14+/-9% for MRD-high-positive patients (MRD>or=0.5%; P<0.001), whereas overall survival was 95%+/-5%, 70%+/-10% and 40%+/-13%, respectively, (P<0.001). Multivariate analysis allowing for age, karyotype, FLT3-internal tandem duplications and white blood cell count at diagnosis showed that MRD after the first course of chemotherapy was an independent prognostic factor. Although comparison of paired diagnosis-relapse samples (n=23) showed immunophenotypic shifts in 91% of cases, this did not hamper MRD analysis. In conclusion, flowcytometric MRD detection is possible in children with AML. The level of MRD after the first course of chemotherapy provides prognostic information that may be used to guide therapy.
Detection of minimal residual disease (MRD) is a major independent prognostic marker in the clinical management of pediatric and adult B-cell precursor Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (BCP-ALL), and ...risk stratification nowadays heavily relies on MRD diagnostics. MRD can be detected using flow cytometry based on aberrant expression of markers (antigens) during malignant B-cell maturation. Recent advances highlight the significance of novel markers (e.g., CD58, CD81, CD304, CD73, CD66c, and CD123), improving MRD identification. Second and next-generation flow cytometry, such as the EuroFlow consortium's eight-color protocol, can achieve sensitivities down to 10
(comparable with the PCR-based method) if sufficient cells are acquired. The introduction of targeted therapies (especially those targeting CD19, such as blinatumomab or CAR-T19) introduces several challenges for flow cytometric MRD analysis, such as the occurrence of CD19-negative relapses. Therefore, innovative flow cytometry panels, including alternative B-cell markers (e.g., CD22 and CD24), have been designed. (Semi-)automated MRD assessment, employing machine learning algorithms and clustering tools, shows promise but does not yet allow robust and sensitive automated analysis of MRD. Future directions involve integrating artificial intelligence, further automation, and exploring multicolor spectral flow cytometry to standardize MRD assessment and enhance diagnostic and prognostic robustness of MRD diagnostics in BCP-ALL.
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is characterized by excessive deposition of collagen in the lung, leading to chronically impaired gas exchange and death
. Oxidative stress is believed to be critical in ...this disease pathogenesis
, although the exact mechanisms remain enigmatic. Protein S-glutathionylation (PSSG) is a post-translational modification of proteins that can be reversed by glutaredoxin-1 (GLRX)
. It remains unknown whether GLRX and PSSG play a role in lung fibrosis. Here, we explored the impact of GLRX and PSSG status on the pathogenesis of pulmonary fibrosis, using lung tissues from subjects with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, transgenic mouse models and direct administration of recombinant Glrx to airways of mice with existing fibrosis. We demonstrate that GLRX enzymatic activity was strongly decreased in fibrotic lungs, in accordance with increases in PSSG. Mice lacking Glrx were far more susceptible to bleomycin- or adenovirus encoding active transforming growth factor beta-1 (AdTGFB1)-induced pulmonary fibrosis, whereas transgenic overexpression of Glrx in the lung epithelium attenuated fibrosis. We furthermore show that endogenous GLRX was inactivated through an oxidative mechanism and that direct administration of the Glrx protein into airways augmented Glrx activity and reversed increases in collagen in mice with TGFB1- or bleomycin-induced fibrosis, even when administered to fibrotic, aged animals. Collectively, these findings suggest the therapeutic potential of exogenous GLRX in treating lung fibrosis.
Monitoring of minimal residual disease (MRD) has become routine clinical practice in frontline treatment of virtually all childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and in many adult ALL patients. ...MRD diagnostics has proven to be the strongest prognostic factor, allowing for risk group assignment into different treatment arms, ranging from significant treatment reduction to mild or strong intensification. Also in relapsed ALL patients and patients undergoing stem cell transplantation, MRD diagnostics is guiding treatment decisions. This is also why the efficacy of innovative drugs, such as antibodies and small molecules, are currently being evaluated with MRD diagnostics within clinical trials. In fact, MRD measurements might well be used as a surrogate end point, thereby significantly shortening the follow-up. The MRD techniques need to be sensitive (≤10−4), broadly applicable, accurate, reliable, fast, and affordable. Thus far, flow cytometry and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis of rearranged immunoglobulin and T-cell receptor genes (allele-specific oligonucleotide ASO-PCR) are claimed to meet these criteria, but classical flow cytometry does not reach a solid 10−4, whereas classical ASO-PCR is time-consuming and labor intensive. Therefore, 2 high-throughput technologies are being explored, ie, high-throughput sequencing and next-generation (multidimensional) flow cytometry, both evaluating millions of sequences or cells, respectively. Each of them has specific advantages and disadvantages.
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