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This document is a letter to the editor published in the journal Leukemia & Lymphoma. The letter discusses the long-term survival of patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who have mutations in the nucleophosmin 1 (NPM1mut) gene. The study analyzed 179 newly diagnosed NPM1mut AML patients who were treated with intensive chemotherapy and had extensive molecular data available. The results showed that the presence of certain mutations, such as FLT3ITD and DNMT3AR882, significantly impacted overall survival. The study also identified a small group of patients who lived more than 5 years after AML diagnosis, and they were found to be younger and have fewer FLT3ITD mutations. [Extracted from the article]

We retrospectively examined the results of a new chemo-free approach combining blinatumomab with ponatinib (blina/pona) in 26 relapsed/refractory Philadelphia positive (Ph+) acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) patients. All but one achieved complete morphologic remission, and 23 achieved a complete molecular response. With a median follow-up of 34.4 months, the median overall (OS) and event-free (EFS) survivals were 20 and 15.3 months, respectively. After blina/pona, 8 patients underwent an allotransplant (allo), while among the 18 non-transplanted cases, 15 received ponatinib in maintenance. Fifteen relapse/progressions occurred with a significant difference between allo and non allo cases (12.5% vs 82.3%, p = 0.003). However, OS and EFS were similar between both groups. Finally, blina/pona was well tolerated with eight reversible neurologic events and three cytokine release syndromes. Prospective studies are needed to properly assess the safety, tolerability and efficacy of the combination therapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2005, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) proposed standard criteria for diagnosis, organ scoring and global assessment of chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGvHD) severity. We retrospectively reclassified cGvHD with NIH criteria in a monocentric cohort of 130 consecutive adult patients with hematological malignancies presenting cGvHD after receiving allo-hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT) with a fludarabine-busulfan-antithymocyte globulin (ATG) conditioning regimen, among 313 consecutive HSCT recipients. We compared NIH and Seattle classifications to correlate severity and outcome. The follow up range was effectively 2-120 months. Forty-four percent developed Seattle-defined cGvHD (22% limited, 78% extensive forms). Using NIH criteria, there were 23%, 40% and 37% mild, moderate and severe forms, respectively, and 58%, 32% and 8% classic cGvHD, late acute GvHD and overlap syndrome. Five-year overall survival was 55% (49-61), and cumulative incidences of non-relapse mortality (NRM) and relapse/progression at 2 years were 19% (14-23) and 19% (14-24). NIH mild and moderate forms were associated with better survival compared to severe cGvHD (hazard ratio [HR] = 3.28, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.38-7.82, p = 0.007), due to higher NRM among patients with severe cGvHD (HR = 3.04, 95% CI: 1.05-8.78, p = 0.04) but comparable relapse risk ( p = NS). In conclusion, the NIH classification appears to be more accurate in predicting outcome mostly by the reclassification of old-defined extensive forms into NIH-defined moderate or severe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor is presented on the effectiveness of the histone deacetylase inhibitor abexinostat (S78454/PCI-24781) treatment to T-cell lymphoma.

In this article the authors discuss their study evaluating the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), the Adult Comorbidity Evaluation-27 (ACE27) Index, and the Hemato-poietic Cell Transplantation-specific Comorbidity Index (HCT-CI) in elderly patients treated for acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Topics include the benefit/risk ratio of intensive chemotherapy in older ALL patients, induction chemotherapy, and maintenance treatment in ALL patients in remission.