No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Most patients and family caregivers valued and expected family involvement in TDM. However, there is little explicit agreement in regard to which party in the dyad should take decisional leadership and who should play a supporting role.

Key Points• Nilotinib plus multiagent chemotherapy was feasible and showed a comparable outcome to previous results with imatinib for Ph-pos ALL.• The achievement of deep MR with nilotinib at postremission correlated well with the clinical outcomes for Ph-pos ALL.We investigated the effects of nilotinib plus multiagent chemotherapy, followed by consolidation/maintenance or allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) for adult patients with newly diagnosed Philadelphia-positive (Ph-pos) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Study subjects received induction treatment that comprised concurrent vincristine, daunorubicin, prednisolone, and nilotinib. After achieving complete hematologic remission (HCR), subjects received either 5 courses of consolidation, followed by 2-year maintenance with nilotinib, or allo-HCT. Minimal residual disease (MRD) was assessed at HCR, and every 3 months thereafter. The molecular responses (MRs) were defined as MR3 for BCR-ABL1/G6PDH ratios £10 23 and MR5 for ratios <10 25. Ninety evaluable subjects, ages 17 to 71 years, were enrolled in 17 centers. The HCR rate was 91%; 57 subjects received allo-HCT. The cumulative MR5 rate was 94%; the 2-year hematologic relapse-free survival (HRFS) rate was 72% for 82 subjects that achieved HCR, and the 2-year overall survival rate was 72%. Subjects that failed to achieve MR3 or MR5 were 9.1 times (P 5 .004) or 6.3 times (P 5 .001) more prone to hematologic relapse, respectively, than those that achieved MR3 or MR5. MRD statuses just before allo-HCT and at 3 months after allo-HCT were predictive of 2-year HRFS. Adverse events occurred mainly during induction, and most were reversible with dose reduction or transient interruption of nilotinib. The combination of nilotinib with high-dose cytotoxic drugs was feasible, and it effectively achieved high cumulative complete molecular remission and HRFS rates. The MRD status at early postremission time was predictive of the HRFS. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT00844298. (Blood. 2015;126(6):746-756)

Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) is characterized by chronic, complement-mediated hemolysis, frequently leading to debilitating clinical symptoms and life-threatening complications such as thromboembolism (TE). A retrospective analysis was performed on 301 patients from the South Korean National PNH Registry to describe disease burden and identify TE-associated risk factors. TE was identified in 18 % of patients and was associated with increased risk for mortality [odds ratio (OR), 6.85; P < 0.001]. A multivariate analysis showed that PNH patients with elevated hemolysis [lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels ≥1.5 times the upper limit of normal (ULN)] at diagnosis were at significantly higher risk for TE than patients with LDH <1.5 × ULN (OR 7.0; P = 0.013). The combination of LDH ≥1.5 × ULN with the clinical symptoms of abdominal pain, chest pain, dyspnea, or hemoglobinuria was associated with a greater increased risk for TE than elevated hemolysis or clinical symptoms alone. Continuous monitoring of these risk factors is critical for identifying PNH patients at risk for morbidities and mortality and allowing early intervention.

Purpose: Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) or its family may be considered to play an important role in lymphangiogenesis and lymphatic tumor spread, thereby affecting prognosis of colorectal cancer. Accordingly, the present study analyzed VEGF gene polymorphisms and their effect on the prognosis for patients with colorectal cancer. Experimental Design: Four hundred and forty-five consecutive patients with surgically treated colorectal adenocarcinoma were enrolled in the present study. The genomic DNA was extracted from fresh colorectal tissue and three VEGF (−2578C&gt;A, −634G&gt;C, and +936C&gt;T) gene polymorphisms were determined using a PCR/denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography assay. Results: Multivariate survival analysis showed that the survival for the patients with the −634 G/C genotype [overall survival (OS): hazard ratio (HR), 0.158; P &lt; 0.001] or C/C genotype (OS: HR, 0.188; P &lt; 0.001) were better than for the patients with the −634G/G genotype, whereas the +936 C/T genotype (OS: HR, 12.809; P &lt; 0.001) or T/T genotype (OS: HR, 37.260; P &lt; 0.001) was associated with a worse survival compared with the +936 C/C genotype. In haplotype analysis, the −2578A/−634G/+936T haplotype exhibited a significantly worse survival when compared with the wild −2578C/−634G/+936C haplotype (OS: HR, 3.866; P &lt; 0.001). Conclusions: VEGF gene polymorphisms were found to be an independent prognostic marker for patients with colorectal cancer. Accordingly, the analysis of VEGF gene polymorphisms can help identify patient subgroups at high risk of a poor disease outcome.

No abstract