Immune-modulating drugs and hypomethylating agents to prevent or treat relapse after allogeneic stem cell transplantation

Role of Endoscopic Techniques in the Diagnosis of Complications of Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation: A Review of the Literature

Allogeneic stem cell transplantation (Allo-SCT) implies that a donor and a recipient are not genetically identical. Allo-SCT is used to cure a variety of conditions, including hematologic malignancies using the graft versus tumor effect, nonmalignant hematologic, immune deficiencies, and, more recently, genetic disorders and inborn errors of metabolism. Given the immunosuppressive and myeloablative nature of some of the conditioning chemotherapy regimens used during the Allo-SCT, patients are often at high risk of infection, including viral infections affecting the gastrointestinal tract, following the transplant. Furthermore, other complications such as hepatic sinusoidal obstruction syndrome (SOS) or graft-versus-host disease may occur post-transplant and may require endoscopy to assist in the diagnosis. This review will provide newer insights into the importance of endoscopic techniques in the diagnosis of post-Allo-SCT complications with a focus on safety and timing.

COVID-19 in immunocompromised patients: A systematic review of cancer, hematopoietic cell and solid organ transplant patients

BACKGROUND

The clinical impact of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), in immunocompromised patients has not been systematically evaluated.

METHODS

We reviewed current literature reporting on COVID-19 in cancer (CA), hematopoietic cell (HCT), and solid organ transplant (SOT) patients and compared their clinical data and outcomes to the general population. For adult CA, HCT and SOT patients, an extensive search strategy retrieved all articles published until July 20, 2020 by combining the terms coronavirus, coronavirus infection, COVID-19, and SARS-CoV-2 in PubMed, Cochrane, and Web of Science, and following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis guidelines. For the pediatric CA cohort, a global COVID-19 registry was used. For the general population cohort, a large meta-analysis was used to compare pooled prevalence estimates, and two large meta-analyses were utilized to serve as pooled comparators for hospitalized COVID-19 patients.

FINDINGS

Compared to the general population, adult CA and SOT patients with COVID-19 had higher comorbidities, greater levels of inflammatory markers at diagnosis, and higher rates of intensive care and hospital mortality. Pediatric CA patients and HCT patients with COVID-19 tended to have clinical presentations and outcomes similar to the general population.

INTERPRETATION

To our knowledge, this is the first systematic review evaluating COVID-19 phenotype and outcomes in immunocompromised patients and comparing them to the general population, which shows that hospital outcomes appear to be worse in adult CA and SOT patients, potentially due to their higher co-morbidity burden.

FUNDING

None.

Allogeneic stem cell transplant in myelodysplastic syndrome-factors impacting survival

OBJECTIVES

The primary aim of this study was to evaluate survival outcomes following allo-HCT in myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), and the secondary aim was to study variables impacting survival.

METHODS

This analysis describes patient characteristics, treatment, and outcomes in 125 consecutive adult patients with MDS transplanted from 2005 to 2018.

RESULTS

The median age was 61 years, and median follow-up in patients alive at last follow-up was 29 months. The 2-year OS and RFS were 39% (95%CI 30%-48%) and 35.3% (95% CI: 27%-44%), respectively. Transfusion dependence, high-risk cytogenetics, and high serum ferritin were independent risk factors for death. The cumulative incidence of relapse (CIR) and non-relapse mortality (NRM) at 2 years were 23% and 41.6%, respectively. High serum ferritin was significantly associated with NRM. There was no association between the percentage of bone marrow blasts (either at diagnosis or at pretransplant evaluation), on relapse or survival. Induction chemotherapy did not offer any survival advantage in MDS RAEB-2 patients compared to cytoreduction with azacytidine alone.

CONCLUSION

Our results highlight the importance of karyotype on survival after allo-HCT and identify serum ferritin and transfusion dependence as important surrogate markers of outcome. In addition, our results demonstrate the efficacy of azacytidine for pretransplant cytoreduction.

Maintenance therapy in AML: The past, the present and the future

Curative treatment in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) depends on successful induction therapy to achieve a complete remission (CR), and subsequent post-remission therapy to prevent relapse. High relapse rates after consolidation therapy and after allogeneic stem cell transplant contribute to suboptimal outcomes in AML patients, and continue to represent a difficult challenge. Effective maintenance therapy could play an important role in prolonging the remission interval in the post-consolidation setting, especially in high risk AML patients. Maintenance treatment approaches based on conventional chemotherapy, immunotherapy, hypomethylating agents, and targeted small molecules have been explored in this setting, but no data so far have been convincing enough to establish this approach as the standard of care. However, ongoing and future studies including novel targeted therapies may demonstrate promising efficacy that could facilitate incorporation of maintenance therapy into clinical practice. In this review we summarize previous and ongoing approaches of maintenance therapy in AML and discuss the most promising strategies.

Low-dose hypomethylating agent decitabine in combination with aclacinomycin and cytarabine achieves a better outcome than standard FLAG chemotherapy in refractory/relapsed acute myeloid leukemia patients with poor-risk cytogenetics and mutations

Background

Relapsed and refractory acute myeloid leukemia (RR-AML) still poses major treatment concerns. Current treatments include high doses of cytarabine or fludarabine in combination with cytarabine and G-CSF (FLAG), but provide mixed results. Low-dose decitabine, a hypomethylating drug, in combination with aclarubicin and cytarabine (DAC) has shown safety and efficacy in the treatment of AML; however, clinical data are limited for the treatment of RR-AML.

Methods

In this study, we retrospectively compared the response and safety of DAC vs FLAG for RR-AML patients.

Results

For the 35 patients with RR-AML enrolled in this study, the overall response rates reached 100% and 55.6% in the DAC group and FLAG group, respectively (P=0.002). Complete response rates after DAC and FLAG treatment were 64.7% and 33.3%, respectively (P=0.002). Median overall survival (95% CI) of the DAC treatment group was significantly higher than for the FLAG group (median not achieved vs 16.8 months, P=0.021).

Conclusion

DAC treatment was also more effective in those patients with poor prognosis, suggesting that DAC resulted in a better outcome for RR-AML treatment. In conclusion, in our study, DAC therapy provided more safety and effectiveness and lower toxicity in the treatment of RR-AML compared to FLAG therapy.

Immunothérapie et greffe de cellules souches hématopoïétiques allogéniques

IMMUNOTHERAPY AND ALLOGENEIC STEM CELLS TRANSPLANTATION

Allogeneic stem cell transplantations represent perfect example of immunotherapy. Its positive aspects are due to the graft versus tumor effect. Unfortunately, this therapeutic advantage is usually associated with graft versus host effects. While the mechanism of these two graft reactions remain unclear, this is possible to modulate these immunologic effects. The type of conditioning regimen, the source of donor and the use of donor cells after the transplantation may influence the toxicity and the tumor response, leading to a better optimization of the procedure. This paper is presenting all the parameters which may contribute to improve allogeneic stem cell transplantations.