Most patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) are diagnosed with early-stage disease and managed with active surveillance. The individual course of patients with early-stage CLL is heterogeneous, and their probability of needing treatment is hardly anticipated at diagnosis. We aimed at developing an international prognostic score to predict time to first treatment (TTFT) in patients with CLL with early, asymptomatic disease (International Prognostic Score for Early-stage CLL [IPS-E]). Individual patient data from 11 international cohorts of patients with early-stage CLL (n = 4933) were analyzed to build and validate the prognostic score. Three covariates were consistently and independently correlated with TTFT: unmutated immunoglobulin heavy variable gene (IGHV), absolute lymphocyte count higher than 15 × 109/L, and presence of palpable lymph nodes. The IPS-E was the sum of the covariates (1 point each), and separated low-risk (score 0), intermediate-risk (score 1), and high-risk (score 2-3) patients showing a distinct TTFT. The score accuracy was validated in 9 cohorts staged by the Binet system and 1 cohort staged by the Rai system. The C-index was 0.74 in the training series and 0.70 in the aggregate of validation series. By meta-analysis of the training and validation cohorts, the 5-year cumulative risk for treatment start was 8.4%, 28.4%, and 61.2% among low-risk, intermediate-risk, and high-risk patients, respectively. The IPS-E is a simple and robust prognostic model that predicts the likelihood of treatment requirement in patients with early-stage CLL. The IPS-E can be useful in clinical management and in the design of early intervention clinical trials.

A detailed analysis was performed of the immunomodulatory and proteomic profiles of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) administered to two patients with refractory acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The respiratory, hemodynamic, and multiorgan failure resolved and multiple pulmonary and systemic inflammation markers decreased. These observations highlight the mechanistic information that can be gained from clinical experience and the value of correlating in vitro potency assessments with clinical effects.

Ibrutinib, a Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitor is approved for relapsed/refractory and del(17p)/TP53 mutated chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Discrepancies between clinical trials and routine healthcare are commonly observed in oncology. Herein we report real-world results for 95 poor prognosis Swedish patients treated with ibrutinib in a compassionate use program. Ninety-five consecutive patients (93 chronic lymphocytic leukemia, 2 small lymphocytic leukemia) were included in the study between May 2014 and May 2015. The median age was 69 years. 63% had del(17p)/TP53 mutation, 65% had Rai stage III/IV, 28% had lymphadenopathy ≥10cm. Patients received ibrutinib 420 mg once daily until progression. At a median follow-up of 10.2 months, the overall response rate was 84% (consistent among subgroups) and 77% remained progression-free. Progression-free survival and overall survival were significantly shorter in patients with del(17p)/TP53 mutation (P=0.017 and P=0.027, log-rank test); no other factor was significant in Cox proportional regression hazards model. Ibrutinib was well tolerated. Hematomas occurred in 46% of patients without any major bleeding. Seven patients had Richter's transformation. This real-world analysis on consecutive chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients from a well-defined geographical region shows the efficacy and safety of ibrutinib to be similar to that of pivotal trials. Yet, del(17p)/TP53 mutation remains a therapeutic challenge. Since not more than half of our patients would have qualified for the pivotal ibrutinib trial (RESONATE), our study emphasizes that real-world results should be carefully considered in future with regards to new agents and new indications in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. IntroductionChronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), the most common leukemia in adults, is characterized by a clonal expansion of CD5 + and CD23 + B-lymphocytes which accumulate in blood, bone marrow and lymphoid tissues. Chemoimmunotherapy is the standard first-line treatment, but patients with del(17p) or TP53 gene muta- The CLL cell receives survival and proliferation signals from the microenvironment, and the B-cell receptor (BCR) is a key factor in this interaction. Bruton´s tyrosine kinase (BTK) is a non-receptor tyrosine kinase and plays a crucial role in BCR signalling. Ibrutinib is an oral, selective and irreversible inhibitor of BTK. It binds to the cysteine-481 amino acid of the BTK enzyme. Real -world results of ibrutinib in patients with5 Next-generation BTK inhibitors are under clinical development with promising early results. 6In the first phase 2 study of ibrutinib, 71% of patients with relapsed or refractory CLL achieved a partial response (PR) according to the International Workshop on Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (IWCLL) 2008 criteria, 7 and an additional 18% of patients had PR with lymphocytosis (PR-L). 8 The response was independent of clinical and genomic risk factors including del(17p). The 3-year followup of this study reported no late occurring toxicity, and progression was...

Candidatus N. mikurensis is an emerging tick-borne pathogen that may give rise to a systemic inflammatory syndrome in persons with hematologic or autoimmune diseases that could be mistaken for recurrence of the underlying disease and/or unrelated arteriosclerotic vascular events. Awareness of this new pathogen is warranted among rheumatologists, hematologists, oncologists, and infectious disease specialists.

Patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) may be more susceptible to Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) due to age, disease, and treatment-related immunosuppression. We aimed to assess risk factors of outcome and elucidate the impact of CLL-directed treatments on the course of COVID-19. We conducted a retrospective, international study, collectively including 941 patients with CLL and confirmed COVID-19. Data from the beginning of the pandemic until March 16, 2021, were collected from 91 centers. The risk factors of case fatality rate (CFR), disease severity, and overall survival (OS) were investigated. OS analysis was restricted to patients with severe COVID-19 (definition: hospitalization with need of oxygen or admission into an intensive care unit). CFR in patients with severe COVID-19 was 38.4%. OS was inferior for patients in all treatment categories compared to untreated (p < 0.001). Untreated patients had a lower risk of death (HR = 0.54, 95% CI:0.41–0.72). The risk of death was higher for older patients and those suffering from cardiac failure (HR = 1.03, 95% CI:1.02–1.04; HR = 1.79, 95% CI:1.04–3.07, respectively). Age, CLL-directed treatment, and cardiac failure were significant risk factors of OS. Untreated patients had a better chance of survival than those on treatment or recently treated.

Mast cell leukemia (MCL) is a rare subtype of systemic mastocytosis (SM) defined by &gt;20% mast cells (MC) on a bone marrow aspirate. We evaluated 92 patients with MCL from the European Competence Network on Mastocytosis registry. Thirty-one (34%) patients had a diagnosis of MCL with an associated hematologic neoplasm (MCL-AHN). Chronic MCL (lack of C-findings) comprised 14% of patients, and only 4.5% had 'leukemic MCL' (≥ 10% circulating MCs). KIT D816V was found in 62/85 (73%) evaluable patients; 9 (11%) individuals exhibited alternative KIT mutations, and no KIT variants were detected in 14 (17%) subjects. Ten evaluable patients (17%) had an abnormal karyotype and the poor-risk SRSF2, ASXL1, and RUNX1 (S/A/R) mutations were identified in 16/36 (44%) patients who underwent next-generation sequencing. Midostaurin was the most common therapy, administered to 65% of patients, and 45% as first-line therapy. The median overall survival (OS) was 1.6 years. In multivariate analysis (S/A/R mutations excluded due to low event rates), a diagnosis of MCL-AHN (HR 4.7, 95% CI 1.7 - 13.0, p = 0.001) and abnormal karyotype (HR 5.6, 95% CI 1.4 - 13.3, p = 0.02) were associated with inferior OS; KIT D816V positivity (HR 0.33, 95% CI 0.11 - 0.98, p = 0.04) and midostaurin treatment (HR 0.32, 95% CI 0.08 - 0.72, p = 0.008) were associated with superior OS. These data provide the most comprehensive snapshot of the clinicopathologic, molecular, and treatment landscape of MCL to date, and should help further inform subtyping and prognostication of MCL.

Background: In indolent systemic mastocytosis (ISM), several risk factors of disease progression have been identified. Previous studies, performed with limited patient numbers, have also shown that the clinical course in ISM is stable and comparable to that of cutaneous mastocytosis (CM). The aim of this project was to compare the prognosis of patients with ISM with that of patients with CM. Methods: We employed a dataset of 1993 patients from the registry of the European Competence Network on Mastocytosis (ECNM) to compare outcomes of ISM and CM. Results: We found that overall survival (OS) is worse in ISM compared to CM. Moreover, in patients with typical ISM, bone marrow mastocytosis (BMM), and smoldering SM (SSM), 4.1% of disease progressions have been observed (4.9% of progressions in typical ISM group, 1.7% in BMM, and 9.4% in SSM). Progressions to advanced SM were observed in 2.9% of these patients. In contrast, six patients with CM (1.7%) converted to ISM and no definitive progression to advanced SM was found. No significant differences in OS and event-free survival (EFS) were found when comparing ISM, BMM, and SSM. Higher risk of both progression and death was significantly associated with male gender, worse performance status, and organomegaly. Conclusion: Our data confirm the clinical impact of the WHO classification that separates ISM from CM and from other SM variants.

Long-term real-world results of ibrutinib therapy in patients with relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia: 30-month follow up of the Swedish compassionate use cohort LETTERS TO THE EDITOR