Objective Pleural effusion (PE) is a common adverse event that occurs during dasatinib therapy for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). However, the pathomechanism of PE and appropriate management of ...Asian patients with CML have not been elucidated. This study investigated the incidence rate, risk, and appropriate management of PE in Asian patients with CML treated with dasatinib. Methods We retrospectively collected data on patients in the chronic phase of CML who received first-line dasatinib therapy and were registered in the CML-Cooperative Study Group database. Patients We identified 44 cases of PE in a series of 89 patients and analyzed previously reported risk factors and effective management of PE. Results A univariate analysis revealed that age, diabetes mellitus, chronic renal failure, hypertension, the history of cardiovascular events, and dasatinib dose were significantly associated with PE. A multivariate analysis revealed that age ≥65 years old was the only independent risk factor for PE. Dasatinib dose reduction and switching to a tyrosine kinase inhibitor showed a statistically significant difference in effectively reducing PE volume compared to single diuretic use. Conclusion Although further studies are warranted, our observations showed that advanced age is a significant risk factor for PE, and tyrosine kinase inhibitor dose reduction or replacement of dasatinib may be an effective management strategy for PE in Asian CML patients who received first-line treatment with dasatinib in real-world clinical practice.
No valid treatment for isolated myeloid sarcoma (IMS) has yet been established, and no thorough genetic examinations have been performed because of its low incidence and unique manner of development. ...We herein report a 34-year-old man with pancreatic IMS with t(8;21)/RUNX1-RUNX1T1 rearrangement. He was treated with high-dose cytarabine followed by allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). This is the first report of pancreatic IMS with t(8;21). Positron emission tomography/computed tomography and genetic study are useful for the diagnosis, and allo-HSCT achieved complete remission in this patient.
The aim of this multicenter phase 2 trial, Stop Nilotinib (NILSt), was to examine the safety and efficacy of discontinuation of nilotinib in patients with chronic phase (CP)-chronic myelogenous ...leukemia (CML). Patients with CP-CML who had achieved molecular response (MR
4.5
) after initiation of imatinib or nilotinib therapy received consolidation therapy with nilotinib 300–400 mg twice daily for up to 24 months. Patients who maintained MR
4.5
at 24 months of consolidation therapy proceeded to discontinuation of nilotinib. The study enrolled 149 patients; 112 patients proceeded to consolidation therapy with nilotinib; 90 patients maintained MR
4.5
with consolidation therapy, and 87 proceeded to discontinuation of nilotinib. The treatment-free remission (TFR) (MR
4.5
) rate at both 1 and 3 years after discontinuation of nilotinib was the same, at 60.9% (90% CI 51.6–69.7). Among 34 patients with molecular relapse, nilotinib was resumed in 33 patients; all of them attained MR
4.5
. There was no significant association between molecular relapse and age, sex, Sokal score, previous interferon-α exposure, duration of tyrosine kinase inhibitors treatment, or trough concentration of nilotinib. With nilotinib, it might be possible to avoid prognostic factors for TFR that exist with imatinib discontinuation. Cessation of nilotinib after two years of consolidation was safe and feasible.
Trial registration
UMIN000007141.
Small populations of glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored protein-deficient (GPI-) cells accounting for up to 0.01% of total granulocytes can be accurately detected by a high-sensitivity flow ...cytometry (FCM) assay established by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI method) and have a prognostic value in bone marrow failure (BMF); however, the significance of GPI(-) granulocytes accounting for 0.001–0.009% of granulocytes remains unclear. To clarify this issue, we examined the peripheral blood of 21 BMF patients in whom minor (around 0.01%) populations of GPI(-) granulocytes had been previously detected by a different high-resolution FCM method (OPTIMA method, which defines ≥ 0.003% GPI(-) granulocytes as an abnormal increase) using both the CLSI and OPTIMA methods simultaneously. These two methods detected an “abnormal increase” in GPI(-) granulocytes in 10 patients (48%) and 17 patients (81%), respectively. CLSI detected 0.002–0.005% (median, 0.004%) GPI(-) granulocytes in 7 patients who were deemed positive for PNH-type cells according to the OPTIMA method, which detected 0.003–0.012% (median 0.006%) GPI(-) granulocytes. The clone sizes of GPI(-) cells detected by each assay were positively correlated (
r
= 0.994,
p
< 0.001). Of the seven patients who were judged positive for PNH-type cells by OPTIMA alone, five received immunosuppressive therapy, and all of them achieved a partial or complete response. GPI(-) granulocytes detected in BMF patients by the CLSI method should thus be considered significant, even at percentages of < 0.01%.
Data characterizing the safety and effectiveness of eculizumab in patients with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) are limited. We describe the safety and effectiveness of eculizumab in PNH ...patients enrolled in a post-marketing surveillance study. Types and frequencies of observed adverse events were similar to those reported in previous clinical trials and no meningococcal infection was reported. Effectiveness outcomes included the reduction of intravascular hemolysis, the change in hemoglobin (Hb) level, the withdrawal of transfusion and corticosteroids, the change of renal function, and overall survival. The effect of eculizumab on intravascular hemolysis was demonstrated by a reduction in lactate dehydrogenase levels at all measurements after baseline. Significant increases in Hb levels from baseline were also observed after 1 month’s treatment with eculizumab (
p
< 0.01). Of those who were transfusion-dependent at baseline, the median number of transfusions decreased significantly from 18 to 0 unit/year after 1 year of treatment with eculizumab (
p
< 0.001). An increase in Hb and a high rate of transfusion independence were observed, especially in patients with platelet count ≥150 × 10
9
/L. Approximately 97 % of patients showed maintenance or improvement of renal function. Overall survival rate was about 90 % (median follow-up 1.9 years). These results suggest an acceptable safety profile and favorable prognosis after eculizumab intervention.
Background:
Acute encephalopathy with biphasic seizures and late reduced diffusion (AESD) often causes various neurological sequelae, necessitating early and objective differentiation of AESD from a ...febrile seizure (FS). Therefore, we developed a scoring system that predicts AESD onset using only early laboratory data.
Methods:
We selected patients with AESD or FS admitted to the Tottori University Hospital between November 2005 and September 2020 and collected laboratory data from onset to discharge in patients with FS and from onset to the second neurological events in patients with AESD.
Results:
We identified 18 patients with AESD and 181 patients with FS. In comparison with patients with FS, patients with AESD showed statistically significant increases in ammonia (NH3), blood sugar (BS), and serum creatinine (Cr) levels, and the white blood cell (WBC) count, and a significant decrease in pH at <3 h from onset. We set the cut-off values and adjusted the weight of each of these parameters based on data obtained <3 h from onset and proposed a scoring system for predicting AESD. This system showed 91% sensitivity and 94% specificity for distinguishing AESD from FS. These accuracies were only slightly improved by the addition of information related to consciousness and seizure duration (sensitivity, 91%; specificity, 96%).
Conclusion:
NH3, BS, and Cr levels, WBC count, and pH were significantly different between patients with AESD and patients with FS at <3 h from seizure onset. This scoring system using these data may enable the prediction of AESD onset for patients under sedation or without precise clinical information.
There is only one report of patients with developmental delay due to a 6q16.1 deletion that does not contain the SIM1 gene. A 3-year-old female showed strabismus, cleft soft palate, hypotonia at ...birth, and global developmental delay. Exome sequencing detected a de novo 6q16.1 deletion (chr6: 99282717-100062596) (hg19). The following genes were included in this region: POU3F2, FBXL4, FAXC, COQ3, PNISR, USP45, TSTD3, CCNC, and PRDM13.
Dystrophin Dp71 is one of the isoforms produced by the
gene which is mutated in patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD). Although Dp71 is expressed ubiquitously, it has not been detected in ...normal skeletal muscle. This study was performed to assess the expression of Dp71 in human skeletal muscle.
Human skeletal muscle RNA and tissues were obtained commercially. Mouse skeletal muscle was obtained from normal and DMD
mice. Dp71 mRNA and protein were determined by reverse-transcription PCR and an automated capillary Western assay system, the Simple Western, respectively. Dp71 was over-expressed or suppressed using a plasmid expressing Dp71 or antisense oligonucleotide, respectively.
Full-length Dp71 cDNA was PCR amplified as a single product from human skeletal muscle RNA. A ca. 70 kDa protein peak detected by the Simple Western was determined as Dp71 by over-expressing Dp71 in HEK293 cells, or suppressing Dp71 expression with antisense oligonucleotide in rhabdomyosarcoma cells. The Simple Western assay detected Dp71 in the skeletal muscles of both normal and DMD mice. In human skeletal muscle, Dp71 was also detected. The ratio of Dp71 to vinculin of human skeletal muscle samples varied widely, indicating various levels of Dp71 expression.
Dp71 protein was detected in human skeletal muscle using a highly sensitive capillary Western blotting system.
BCR–ABL tyrosine kinase, generated from the reciprocal chromosomal translocation t(9;22), causes chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). BCR–ABL is inhibited by imatinib; however, several mechanisms of ...imatinib resistance have been proposed that account for loss of imatinib efficacy in patients with CML. Previously, we showed that overexpression of the efflux drug transporter P‐glycoprotein partially contributed to imatinib resistance in imatinib‐resistant K562 CML cells having no BCR–ABL mutations. To explain an additional mechanism of drug resistance, we established a subclone (K562/R) of the cells and examined the BCR–ABL signaling pathway in these and wild‐type K562 (K562/W) cells. We found the K562/R cells were 15 times more resistant to imatinib than their wild‐type counterparts. In both cell lines, BCR–ABL and its downstream signaling molecules, such as ERK1/2, ERK5, STAT5, and AKT, were phosphorylated in the absence of imatinib. In both cell lines, imatinib effectively reduced the phosphorylation of all the above, except ERK1/2, whose phosphorylation was, interestingly, only inhibited in the wild‐type cells. We then observed that phospho‐ERK1/2 levels decreased in the presence of siRNA targeting BCR–ABL, again, only in the K562/W cells. However, using an ERK1/2 inhibitor, U0126, we found that we could reduce phospho‐ERK1/2 levels in K562/R cells and restore their sensitivity to imatinib. Taken together, we conclude that the BCR–ABL‐independent activation of ERK1/2 contributes to imatinib resistance in K562/R cells, and that ERK1/2 could be a target for the treatment of CML patients whose imatinib resistance is due to this mechanism. (Cancer Sci 2009)