Bone-marrow minimal residual disease (MRD) causes relapse after chemotherapy in patients with acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). We postulate that the drug resistance is induced by the attachment of very late antigen (VLA)-4 on leukemic cells to fibronectin on bone-marrow stromal cells. We found that VLA-4-positive cells acquired resistance to anoikis (loss of anchorage) or drug-induced apoptosis through the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI-3K)/AKT/Bcl-2 signaling pathway, which is activated by the interaction of VLA-4 and fibronectin. This resistance was negated by VLA-4-specific antibodies. In a mouse model of MRD, we achieved a 100% survival rate by combining VLA-4-specific antibodies and cytosine arabinoside (AraC), whereas AraC alone prolonged survival only slightly. In addition, overall survival at 5 years was 100% for 10 VLA-4-negative patients and 44.4% for 15 VLA-4-positive patients. Thus, the interaction between VLA-4 on leukemic cells and fibronectin on stromal cells may be crucial in bone marrow MRD and AML prognosis.
Summary. The prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection and the effect of its eradication on platelet count in 48 Japanese patients with autoimmune thrombocytopenic purpura (AITP), including 40 chronic idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) and eight secondary AITP, were investigated. H. pylori infection was found in 25 ITP patients (62AE5%) and in two secondary AITP (25%). H. pylori eradication was obtained in 19 of 19 infected ITP patients (100%), who were not in remission (platelets < 100 · 10 9 /l) at the time of infection assessment. During follow-up (median 14AE8 months), 12 of 19 H. pylori-eradicated patients (63AE2%) showed a significant increase in platelet count accompanied by a significant decrease of plateletassociated immunoglobulin G (IgG). This response was maintained in all responding patients throughout the follow-up period. However, two infected patients with secondary AITP did not show platelet increase after eradication. The assessment of H. pylori infection and its eradication should be attempted in ITP as this approach could be an effective strategy, at least for some of these patients.
We report a patient with adult T-cell lymphoma who developed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) after allogeneic cord blood transplantation (CBT). Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) studies and molecular analysis using short tandem repeat (STR) sequences proved the AML to be of donor origin. Although 25 cases of donor cell leukemia (DCL) occurring after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation have previously been reported, there have been no reports of DCL after CBT. This case is the first-reported DCL patient after CBT. Am.
Central venous catheter-related blood stream infections (CR-BSIs) are a serious complication in patients with hematological malignancies. However, it remains unclear whether there is a difference in the rate of CR-BSI associated with the conventional type of central venous catheters (cCVCs) and peripherally inserted CVCs (PICCs) in such patients. To address this question, we retrospectively investigated the incidence of CR-BSIs associated with PICCs versus cCVCs in patients with hematological malignancies. We used PICCs in all consecutive patients requiring CVC placement between February 2009 and February 2013. We compared the CR-BSI rate in patients with PICCs with that in patients with cCVCs treated between September 2006 and January 2009 (control group). Eighty-four patients received PICCs and 85 received cCVCs. The most common reason for removal due to catheter-related complications was CR-BSI. The CR-BSI rate in the PICC group was significantly lower than that in the cCVC group (PICCs: 1.23/1000 catheter days; cCVCs: 5.30/1000 catheter days; P < 0.01). Catheter-related complications other than CR-BSIs occurred at an extremely low rate in the PICC group. The median catheter-related complication-free survival duration was significantly longer in the PICC group than in the cCVC group. Our study shows that PICCs are useful in patients with hematological malignancies.
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