No abstract

More patients with ANCA-associated vasculitides had sustained remission at month 28 with rituximab than with azathioprine. (Funded by the French Ministry of Health; MAINRITSAN ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00748644; EudraCT number, 2008-002846-51.).

Erdheim-Chester disease (ECD) is a rare form of non-Langerhans histiocytosis,with noncodified therapeutic management and high mortality. No treatment has yet been shown to improve survival in these patients. We conducted a multicenter prospective observational cohort study to assess whether extraskeletal manifestations and interferon-␣ treatment would influence survival in a large cohort of ECD patients. To achieve this goal, we thoroughly analyzed the clinical presentation of 53 patients with biopsyproven ECD, and we performed a survival analysis using Cox proportional hazard model. Fifty-three patients (39 men and 14 women) with biopsy-proven ECD were followed up between November 1981 and November 2010. Forty-six patients (87%) received interferon-␣ and/or PEGylated interferon-␣. Multivariate survival analysis using Cox proportional hazard model revealed that central nervous system involvement was an independent predictor of death (hazard ratio ‫؍‬ 2.51; 95% confidence interval, 1.28-5.52; P ‫؍‬ .006) in our cohort. Conversely, treatment with interferon-␣ was identified as an independent predictor of survival (hazard ratio ‫؍‬ 0.32; 95% confidence interval, 0.14-0.70; P ‫؍‬ .006). Although definitive confirmation would require a randomized controlled trial, these results suggest that interferon-␣ improves survival in ECD patients. This may be seen as a significant advance, as it is the first time a treatment is shown to improve survival in this multisystemic disease with high mortality. (Blood. 2011;117(10):2778-2782)

Severe ADAMTS13 deficiency occurs in 13% to 75% of thrombotic microangiopathies (TMA). In this context, the early identification of a severe, antibody-mediated, ADAMTS13 deficiency may allow to start targeted therapies such as B-lymphocytes-depleting monoclonal antibodies. To date, assays exploring ADAMTS13 activity require skill and are limited to only some specialized reference laboratories, given the very low incidence of the disease. To identify clinical features which may allow to predict rapidly an acquired ADAMTS13 deficiency, we performed a cross-sectional analysis of our national registry from 2000 to 2007. The clinical presentation of 160 patients with TMA and acquired ADAMTS13 deficiency was compared with that of 54 patients with detectable ADAMTS13 activity. ADAMTS13 deficiency was associated with more relapses during treatment and with a good renal prognosis. Patients with acquired ADAMTS13 deficiency had platelet count <30×109/L (adjusted odds ratio [OR] 9.1, 95% confidence interval [CI] 3.4–24.2, P<.001), serum creatinine level ≤200 µmol/L (OR 23.4, 95% CI 8.8–62.5, P<.001), and detectable antinuclear antibodies (OR 2.8, 95% CI 1.0–8.0, P<.05). When at least 1 criteria was met, patients with a severe acquired ADAMTS13 deficiency were identified with positive predictive value of 85%, negative predictive value of 93.3%, sensitivity of 98.8%, and specificity of 48.1%. Our criteria should be useful to identify rapidly newly diagnosed patients with an acquired ADAMTS13 deficiency to better tailor treatment for different pathophysiological groups.

Adults with severe thrombocytopenic purpura who responded poorly to therapeutic plasma exchange and who were treated with rituximab had shorter overall treatment duration and reduced 1-yr relapses than historical controls.

No abstract

These results do not support the primary hypothesis that methotrexate is safer than azathioprine. The two agents appear to be similar alternatives for maintenance therapy in patients with Wegener's granulomatosis and microscopic polyangiitis after initial remission. (ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00349674.)

BackgroundLarge granular lymphocyte leukemia is a rare lymphoproliferative disorder associated with autoimmune diseases and impaired hematopoiesis. This study describes the clinical and biological characteristics of 229 patients with T-cell or NK-cell large granular lymphocyte leukemia. Design and MethodsThe diagnosis was based on a large granular lymphocyte expansion (> 0.5¥10 9 /L) lasting more than 6 months. Monoclonal T-cell receptor γ gene rearrangement was detected in all the cases of T-cell large granular lymphocyte leukemia. Patients with chronic NK-cell lymphocytosis had an indolent disease, while those with multiorgan large granular lymphocyte infiltration and an aggressive clinical disease were considered to have NK-cell large granular lymphocyte leukemia. ResultsThe diagnosis of T-cell large granular lymphocyte leukemia was confirmed in 201 cases, chronic NK-cell lymphocytosis in 27 cases and NK-cell large granular lymphocyte leukemia in one case. Associated auto-immune diseases or other neoplasms were present in 74 and 32 cases, respectively. One hundred patients (44%) required treatment, mainly for neutropenia-associated infections (n=45), symptomatic auto-immune diseases (n =24), transfusion-dependant anemia (n=18), and other causes (n=13). Patients were treated with steroids (n= 33), methotrexate (n=62), cytoxan (n=32), or cyclosporine (n=24) either as first-, second-, third-or fourth-line therapy. The overall response rate at 3 months and complete response rate for the various treatments were as follows: steroids (12% and 3%), methotrexate (55% and 21%), cytoxan (66% and 47%), cyclosporine (21% and 4%), respectively. Four out of 13 patients responded to splenectomy. Eleven out of 15 patients responded to cytoxan after methotrexate treatment had failed. The mean number of treatments was 3.4 (range, 1-7). There were 15 large granular lymphocyte leukemia-related deaths. ConclusionsPatients with T-cell large granular lymphocyte leukemia and chronic NK-cell lymphocytosis have similar clinical and biological features and responses to treatment. First-line therapy with cytoxan should be tested in a prospective trial.Key words: large granular lymphocyte leukemia, LGL leukemia, NK lymphocytosis.Citation: Bareau B, Rey J, Hamidou M, Donadieu J, Morcet J, Reman O, Schleinitz N, Tournilhac O, Roussel M, Fest T, and