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Vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGFC) stimulates leukemia cell proliferation and survival, and promotes angiogenesis. We studied VEGFC expression in bone marrow samples from 353 adult acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients and its relationship with several clinical, cytogenetic, and molecular variables. We also studied the expression of 84 genes involved in VEGF signaling in 24 patients. We found that VEGFC expression was higher in AML patients with myelodysplasia-related changes (AML-MRC) than in patients with non-AML-MRC. We also found an association between VEGFC expression and the patient cytogenetic risk group, with those with a worse prognosis having higher VEGFC expression levels. No correlation was observed between VEGFC expression and survival or complete remission. VEGFC expression strongly correlated with expression of the VEGF receptors FLT1, KDR, and NRP1. Thus, in this series, VEGFC expression was increased in AML-MRC and in subgroups with a poorer prognosis, but has no impact on survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) following solid organ or hematologic malignancy (secondary ALL, s-ALL) is not well characterized. We analyzed the characteristics and outcome of patients with s-ALL and compared them with those of patients with de novo- ALL. Of 448 patients, 24 (5%) had previous neoplasia. Sixteen patients had received previous cytotoxic therapy (therapy-associated ALL, t-ALL), and eight had not (antecedent-malignancy ALL, am-ALL). Except for more advanced age in patients with s-ALL, no statistically significant differences were observed in WBC count, CNS involvement, immunophenotype or cytogenetics between the groups, nor in complete remission (t-ALL: 94%; am-ALL: 75%; de novo-ALL: 85%), 3-year remission duration (58%; 50%; 72%), overall survival (71%; 38%; 60%) or event-free survival (53%, 38%; 53%). Our study did not show poor clinical or cytogenetic features or inferior outcome in ALL patients with antecedent neoplastic disease, irrespective of the type of treatment received for the neoplasia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Myeloid malignancies (MMs) are heterogeneous groups of diseases which present different prognoses. Using data from the population-based Girona Cancer Registry, we estimated the relative survival (RS) rates and relative excess risk of death among patients with MMs in the province of Girona between 1994 and 2008. The 5-year RS rate was 49.7%, ranging from 20.2% for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) to 75.3% for myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN). Marked differences in RS were observed when the age of patients was considered: an increase in RS was mainly found in younger patients with myelodysplastic syndromes and MPN. Furthermore, cases of chronic myeloid leukemia treated with imatinib had a significantly better outcome compared with those that were untreated. Despite the slight improvement in the survival rate of younger patients with AML, RS remained stable for 15 years, as no significant improvements were made in the management of the disease during that period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study demonstrating the co-existence of JAK2 V617F and CALR mutations in primary myelofibrosis. Methods used include peripheral blood or bone marrow samples, DNA extraction from blood or bone marrow samples collected in ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid anticoagulant, and allele-specific polymerase chain reaction. The authors stress that the study will just examine whether patients with double-mutant disease have specific phenotype and clinical course.