Mono-dispersed SiO(2)-CaO bioactive glass nanospheres (BGNS) were prepared by a two step sol-gel method in the absence of surfactant. The size of BGNS ranged from 200 to 350 nm in diameter and exhibited a rough surface texture. In vitro biomineralization tests showed that BGNS could rapidly induce the deposition of an apatite layer in simulated body fluid (SBF). The effect of bioactive glass on the biomechanical properties of various mammalian cells was first reported in this paper. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was used for measuring the biomechanical properties of mammalian cells. The result showed that BGNS-medium could significantly decrease the plasma membrane stiffness of bone marrow stem cells (BMSCs) by ∼50% and stimulate BMSCs spreading. The effect of BGNS on biomechanical properties of bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAECs) was opposite to that on BMSCs. BGNS increased the BAECs' stiffness and stimulated the elongation of endothelial cells and the formation of endothelial networks, which might potentially facilitate the vascularization of implanted BGNS-based biomaterials in tissue engineering as a scaffold or as an injectable system.

The effects of ibrutinib on the natural history of autoimmune cytopenias (AIC) among chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) patients treated in routine clinical practice require further investigation. Using the Mayo Clinical CLL Database, 193 CLL patients treated with ibrutinib between November 2013 and January 2017 outside the context of a clinical trial were identified; complete review of their medical records was performed for details of past history of AIC and treatment-emergent AIC. We identified 29/193 (15%) patients with history of AIC prior to ibrutinib start. Of 12 patients requiring AIC therapy at ibrutinib start, 8 (67%) were able to discontinue or de-escalate AIC treatment, and no patient had worsening of their AIC after initiating ibrutinib. Eleven (6%) patients developed treatment-emergent AIC after a median of 59 (range, 6-319) days following the initiation of ibrutinib, 7 of whom (64%) were able to continue ibrutinib. Overall and event-free survival from time of ibrutinib start were not significantly different between patients with history of AIC and those with no history of AIC. Treatment-emergent AIC were seen exclusively in patients with unmutated IGHV and were associated with a shorter EFS. These results suggest a low rate of treatment-emergent AIC and improvement in patients with existing AIC.

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