Most errors in clinical pathology originate in the preanalytical phase, which includes all steps from the preparation of animals and equipment to the collection of the specimen and its management ...until analyzed. Blood is the most common specimen collected in nonhuman primates. Other specimens collected include urine, saliva, feces, and hair. The primary concern is the variability of blood hematology and biochemistry results due to sampling conditions with the effects of capture, restraint, and/or anesthesia. Housing and diet have fewer effects, with the exception of food restriction to reduce obesity. There has been less investigation regarding the impact of sampling conditions of nonblood specimens.
A 2-year-old neutered female Small Munsterlander dog was presented for an insect bite. Physical examination revealed a poor body condition, a peripheral lymphadenomegaly, and suspected splenomegaly. ...A complete blood count (Sysmex XN-V) revealed marked leukocytosis with lymphocytosis and abnormal dot plots. An abnormal monomorphic lymphoid population and marked rouleaux formation were noted on the blood smear. Lymph node aspirates contained an atypical bimorphic population of lymphocytes, either with a plasmacytoid or a blastic appearance. This double population was also found in the spleen, liver, bone marrow, tonsils, and other tissues. Peripheral blood and lymph node clonality assays revealed clonal BCR gene rearrangement. Flow cytometry revealed a mixed population of small-sized B-cells (CD79a+ CD21+ MHCII+) and medium-sized B-cells (CD79a+ CD21- MHCII-) in lymph nodes and a dominant population of small-sized mature B-cells (CD21+ MHCII+) in peripheral blood. Though normoproteinemic, serum protein electrophoresis revealed an increased α2-globulin fraction with an atypical restricted peak, identified as monoclonal IgM by immunofixation. Urine protein immunofixation revealed a Bence-Jones proteinuria. A diagnosis of Waldenström's macroglobulinemia was made. Chemotherapy was initiated, but the dog was euthanized 12 months after the initial presentation due to marked clinical degradation.
Nonterminal blood sampling in laboratory mice is a very common procedure. With the goal of improving animal welfare, different sampling sites and methods have been compared but have not achieved a ...consensus. Moreover, most of these studies overlooked the quality of blood specimens collected. The main preanalytical concern with EDTA-treated blood specimens for hematology analyses is platelet aggregation, which is known to cause analytical errors. Our objective was to find a nonterminal blood sampling method with minimal adverse effects on mice and few or no platelet aggregates. We tested and compared 2 collection sites, 4 sampling methods, and 3 antithrombotic drugs in 80 C57BL6/j male and female mice by evaluating platelet aggregates on blood smears and platelet, WBC, and RBC counts. In addition, the blood collection process was carefully evaluated, and adverse effects were recorded. Platelet aggregation was lower in specimens collected from the jugular vein than from the facial vein, with no effect of the sampling device or the presence of an antithrombotic additive. Highly aggregated specimens were significantly associated with lower platelet counts, whereas aggregation had no effect on WBC or RBC counts. Adverse events during sampling were significantly associated with more numerous platelet aggregates. The jugular vein is thus a satisfactory sampling site in mice in terms of both animal welfare and low platelet aggregation. Using antithrombotic agents appears to be unnecessary, whereas improving sampling conditions remains a key requirement to ensure the quality of EDTA-treated blood specimens from mice.
Abstract
The Janus kinase 2 (JAK2)-driven myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) are chronic malignancies associated with high-risk complications and suboptimal responses to JAK inhibitors such as ...ruxolitinib. A better understanding of cellular changes induced by ruxolitinib is required to develop new combinatory therapies to improve treatment efficacy. Here, we demonstrate that ruxolitinib induced autophagy in JAK2
V617F
cell lines and primary MPN patient cells through the activation of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A). Inhibition of autophagy or PP2A activity along with ruxolitinib treatment reduced proliferation and increased the death of JAK2
V617F
cells. Accordingly, proliferation and clonogenic potential of JAK2
V617F
-driven primary MPN patient cells, but not of normal hematopoietic cells, were markedly impaired by ruxolitinib treatment with autophagy or PP2A inhibitor. Finally, preventing ruxolitinib-induced autophagy with a novel potent autophagy inhibitor Lys05 improved leukemia burden reduction and significantly prolonged the mice’s overall survival compared with ruxolitinib alone. This study demonstrates that PP2A-dependent autophagy mediated by JAK2 activity inhibition contributes to resistance to ruxolitinib. Altogether, our data support that targeting autophagy or its identified regulator PP2A could enhance sensitivity to ruxolitinib of JAK2
V617F
MPN cells and improve MPN patient care.
CTAD (citrate–theophylline–adenosine–dipyridamole) has been shown to be an almost universal anticoagulant in human and feline medicine, allowing most hematology, coagulation, and biochemical ...analyses. Forty canine blood specimens were collected in CTAD, EDTA, heparin, and citrate for hematology, biochemistry, and coagulation analyses. CTAD partially limited platelet aggregation observed in EDTA blood smears. CTAD specimens gave similar and well-correlated results for most variables of a complete blood cell count, except for mean corpuscular volume, which was moderately higher, and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration, which was moderately lower in CTAD than in EDTA; reticulocyte and platelet indexes were poorly correlated. CTAD plasma gave similar results to citrate for fibrinogen, antithrombin, and D-dimers, and relatively similar results for prothrombin time, but activated partial thromboplastin time was poorly correlated. Triglycerides, cholesterol, glucose, total proteins, phosphate, iron, alanine aminotransferase, γ-glutamyl transferase, and lipase were similar and well correlated in CTAD and heparin plasmas. Urea, creatinine, albumin, alkaline phosphatase, amylase, and aspartate aminotransferase showed moderate-to-marked bias, but these variables could be measured in CTAD plasma if new reference intervals were determined. Creatine kinase activity, potassium, chloride, and total carbon dioxide measurements are not recommended in CTAD plasma. CTAD is a prospective candidate as an almost universal anticoagulant for routine hematology, some plasma coagulation, and many biochemistry variables in dogs. Definitive recommendations will require study of abnormal canine blood specimens.
Although transcription factor CCAAT-enhancer binding protein α (C/EBPα) is critical for normal and leukemic differentiation, its role in cell and metabolic homeostasis is largely unknown in cancer. ...Here, multiomics analyses uncovered a coordinated activation of C/EBPα and Fms-like tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3) that increased lipid anabolism in vivo and in patients with FLT3-mutant acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Mechanistically, C/EBPα regulated the fatty acid synthase (FASN)-stearoyl-CoA desaturase (SCD) axis to promote fatty acid (FA) biosynthesis and desaturation. We further demonstrated that FLT3 or C/EBPα inactivation decreased monounsaturated FA incorporation to membrane phospholipids through SCD downregulation. Consequently, SCD inhibition enhanced susceptibility to lipid redox stress that was exploited by combining FLT3 and glutathione peroxidase 4 inhibition to trigger lipid oxidative stress, enhancing ferroptotic death of FLT3-mutant AML cells. Altogether, our study reveals a C/EBPα function in lipid homeostasis and adaptation to redox stress, and a previously unreported vulnerability of FLT3-mutant AML to ferroptosis with promising therapeutic application.
FLT3 mutations are found in 30% of AML cases and are actionable by tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Here, we discovered that C/EBPα regulates FA biosynthesis and protection from lipid redox stress downstream mutant-FLT3 signaling, which confers a vulnerability to ferroptosis upon FLT3 inhibition with therapeutic potential in AML. This article is highlighted in the In This Issue feature, p. 1501.
Nonterminal blood sampling in laboratory mice is a very common procedure. With the goal of improving animal welfare, different sampling sites and methods have been compared but have not achieved a ...consensus. Moreover, most of these studies overlooked the quality of blood specimens collected.
The main preanalytical concern with EDTA-treated blood specimens for hematology analyses is platelet aggregation, which is known to cause analytical errors. Our objective was to find a nonterminal blood sampling method with minimal adverse effects on mice and few or no platelet aggregates.
We tested and compared 2 collection sites, 4 sampling methods, and 3 antithrombotic drugs in 80 C57BL6/j male and female mice by evaluating platelet aggregates on blood smears and platelet, WBC, and RBC counts. In addition, the blood collection process was carefully evaluated, and adverse
effects were recorded. Platelet aggregation was lower in specimens collected from the jugular vein than from the facial vein, with no effect of the sampling device or the presence of an antithrombotic additive. Highly aggregated specimens were significantly associated with lower platelet counts,
whereas aggregation had no effect on WBC or RBC counts. Adverse events during sampling were significantly associated with more numerous platelet aggregates. The jugular vein is thus a satisfactory sampling site in mice in terms of both animal welfare and low platelet aggregation. Using antithrombotic
agents appears to be unnecessary, whereas improving sampling conditions remains a key requirement to ensure the quality of EDTA-treated blood specimens from mice.
Background
The Sysmex XN‐V is derived from the new Sysmex XN series of human hematology analyzers. The main changes from the previously validated XT‐2000iV analyzer include an optic‐fluorescent ...analysis for platelets and nucleated RBC count.
Objective
We aimed to validate the Sysmex XN‐V for canine blood according to American College for Veterinary Clinical Pathology and International Council for Standardization in Hematology recommendations.
Materials and Methods
Canine EDTA blood specimens and quality control material were analyzed on the Sysmex XN‐V to evaluate imprecision, bias, linearity, a comparison with the XT‐2000iV analyzer, interference effects, carry‐over, and stability. We also verified previously established Sysmex XT‐2000iV reference intervals (RIs).
Results
Imprecision and bias were low (<5%) for most variables. Observed total error was lower than allowable total error for most measured variables except lymphocytes and monocytes. Visually determined linearity was excellent for all variables, except for lymphocytes. The correlation between the XN‐V and XT‐2000iV analyzers was high (>0.93) for all variables except MCHC and reticulocyte indices. Correlations between the Sysmex XN‐V and manual differential counts were good for neutrophils and eosinophils, acceptable for lymphocytes, and fair for monocytes. Hemolysis, lipemia, and to a lesser extent icterus, had significant effects on measured hemoglobin concentration and associated variables. Carry‐over was not visually observed for any variable. Changes in the Sysmex XN‐V measurements after storage at 4℃ and 24℃ were similar to those described for the Sysmex XT‐2000iV analyzer. The previously established Sysmex XT‐2000iV RIs can be used to interpret results from the Sysmex XN‐V analyzer for most variables except red blood cell distribution width and mean platelet volume.
Conclusions
The performance of the Sysmex XN‐V analyzer was excellent and compared favorably with the Sysmex XT‐2000iV analyzer.
La numération plaquettaire est une analyse délicate et le résultat est souvent erroné notamment du fait d’une tendance à l’agrégation in vitro dans certaines espèces animales. Il a ainsi pu être ...démontré chez le Chat que ce phénomène peut être inhibé par l’association d’un anticoagulant avec des inhibiteurs plaquettaires : le CTAD (Citrate, Théophylline, Adénosine et Dipyridamole). Cette association permet ainsi l’obtention de numérations plaquettaires fiables sans affecter les autres populations sanguines, mais également d’effectuer des analyses d’hémostase et de biochimie. De nouveaux intervalles de référence ont dû être établis pour certaines variables hématologiques avec les analyseurs utilisés en laboratoire et dans les cliniques vétérinaires. Par ailleurs, si les effets antiagrégants du CTAD sont moins nets chez le Chien, il peut également servir d’anticoagulant « universel », permettant de réduire le nombre de prélèvements et d’améliorer ainsi le bien-être des animaux.
The platelet count is a delicate measurement, which may often be erroneous because of the tendency of platelets from some animal species to aggregate in vitro. This study demonstrated that this effect can be inhibited in cats using CTAD (Citrate, Theophylline, Adenosine and Dipyridamole) composed of an anticoagulant and platelet inhibitors. This association provides reliable platelet counts without affecting other blood populations and also allows hemostasis and biochemical analyses. New hematological reference intervals have been established for some variables with analyzers used in clinical pathology laboratories and veterinary clinics. Furthermore, if the antiplatelet clumping effects of CTAD are less marked in canine species, the CTAD can also serve as "universal" anticoagulant, reducing the number of blood samples and thus improving animal welfare.