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The association of autoimmune cytopenia (AIC) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) has been reported in small series, but the incidence of and risk factors for IBD in children with AIC are not known. One thousand six hundred nine children with chronic immune thrombocytopenic purpura, autoimmune haemolytic anaemia or Evans syndrome from the prospective OBS'CEREVANCE cohort are included in this study. Overall, 15 children were diagnosed with IBD, including 14 who developed IBD after AIC diagnosis (median delay: 21 months). The only risk factor for IBD development is age at AIC over 10 years. Out of 10 children genetically tested, germline variants associated with autoimmune disorders were identified in three (CTLA4: two, DOCK11: one). In children and adolescents monitored for AIC or past history of AIC, especially children over 10 years, gastro-intestinal (GI) symptoms (recurrent abdominal pains, GI bleeding, chronic diarrhoea, weight loss) should suggest IBD and deserve specific work-up and genetic studies. Identification of a causal germline variant will allow targeted therapy., (© 2024 The Author(s). British Journal of Haematology published by British Society for Haematology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Refractory chronic immune thrombocytopenia (r-cITP) is one of the most challenging situations in chronic immune thrombocytopenia (cITP). Pediatric r-cITP is inconsistently defined in literature, contributing to the scarcity of data. Moreover, no evidence is available to guide the choice of treatment. We compared seven definitions of r-cITP including five pediatric definitions in 886 patients with cITP (median [min-max] follow-up 5.3 [1.0-29.3] years). The pediatric definitions identified overlapping groups of various sizes (4%-20%) but with similar characteristics (higher proportion of immunopathological manifestations [IM] and systemic lupus erythematosus [SLE]), suggesting that they adequately captured the population of interest. Based on the 79 patients with r-cITP (median follow-up 3.1 [0-18.2] years) according to the CEREVANCE definition (≥3 second-line treatments), we showed that r-cITP occurred at a rate of 1.15% new patients per year and did not plateau over time. In multivariate analysis, older age was associated with r-cITP. One patient (1%) experienced two grade five bleeding events after meeting r-cITP criteria and while not receiving second-line treatment. The cumulative incidence of continuous complete remission (CCR) at 2 years after r-cITP diagnosis was 9%. In this analysis, splenectomy was associated with a higher cumulative incidence of CCR (hazard ratio: 5.43, 95% confidence interval: 1.48-19.84, p = 7.8 × 10 -4 ). In sum, children with cITP may be diagnosed with r-cITP at any time point of the follow-up and are at increased risk of IM and SLE. Second-line treatments seem to be effective for preventing grade 5 bleeding. Splenectomy may be considered to achieve CCR., (© 2024 The Authors. American Journal of Hematology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Kabuki syndrome (KS) is now listed in the Human Inborn Errors of Immunity (IEI) Classification. It is a rare disease caused by KMT2D and KDM6A variants, dominated by intellectual disability and characteristic facial features. Recurrently, pathogenic variants are identified in those genes in patients examined for autoimmune cytopenia (AIC), but interpretation remains challenging. This study aims to describe the genetic diagnosis and the clinical management of patients with paediatric-onset AIC and KS. Among 11 patients with AIC and KS, all had chronic immune thrombocytopenic purpura, and seven had Evans syndrome. All had other associated immunopathological manifestations, mainly symptomatic hypogammaglobinaemia. They had a median of 8 (5-10) KS-associated manifestations. Pathogenic variants were detected in KMT2D gene without clustering, during the immunological work-up of AIC in three cases, and the clinical strategy to validate them is emphasized. Eight patients received second-line treatments, mainly rituximab and mycophenolate mofetil. With a median follow-up of 17 (2-31) years, 8/10 alive patients still needed treatment for AIC. First-line paediatricians should be able to recognize and confirm KS in children with ITP or multiple AIC, to provide early appropriate clinical management and specific long-term follow-up. The epigenetic immune dysregulation in KS opens exciting new perspectives., (© 2024 British Society for Haematology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Defining immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) in two age groups-children and adults-overlooks the specific clinical features and needs of adolescents and young adults (AYAS). We previously reported a high risk of chronic disease at 12 months (50%); however, data on the course of chronic ITP, the risk of refractoriness and treatment strategies in AYAS are limited. Data from patients aged 12-25 years with chronic primary ITP at 12 months were extracted from three large registries between 2004 and 2021. Clinical and laboratory data were evaluated until 48 months of follow-up (FU). Refractory ITP was defined as the administration of ≥3 different lines of therapy. A total of 427 AYAS (64% female) with chronic ITP were included. Overall, 7% and 14% were classified as 'refractory' at 12 and 48 months of FU respectively. The proportion of males was greater in the refractory group than in the non-refractory group (43% vs. 35%). AYAS with refractory disease displayed lower median platelet counts, more bleeding and a higher need for treatment at initial diagnosis and FU than non-refractory patients. This study reveals that refractory ITP is uncommon in AYAS; however, AYAS with refractory ITP display a high disease burden at all time points, including at initial diagnosis., (© 2023 The Authors. British Journal of Haematology published by British Society for Haematology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Since its first description by Evans in 1951, this syndrome has been linked to chronic immune thrombocytopenia with the concurrent or delayed onset of autoimmune haemolytic anaemia or neutropenia. For decades, the evolution of Evans syndrome (ES) has carried a poor prognosis and often resulted in chronic steroid exposure, multiple immune suppressing medications directed against T or B lymphocytes, and splenectomy. This paper presents a new view of ES based on recent advances in genomics which begin to classify patients based on their underlying molecular variants in previously described primary immune disorders. This has opened up new avenues of targeted therapy or bone marrow transplant at rather than broad long-term immune suppression or splenectomy. Importantly, recent studies of the full lifespan of ES suggest that at least 80% of those paediatric patients will progress to various clinical or biological immunopathological manifestations with age despite the resolution of their cytopenias. Those patients merit long-term follow-up and monitoring in dedicated transition programs to improve outcome at the adult age., (© 2023 The Authors. British Journal of Haematology published by British Society for Haematology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

There are discrepancies across guidelines about whether the dosage of antinuclear antibodies (ANAs) is of use at the diagnosis of primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). This review describes the current knowledge about ANA prevalence in patients with primary ITP, and their potential usefulness as biomarkers for ITP evolution, response to treatments and increased risk of subsequent development of systemic lupus and thrombosis., (© 2023 British Society for Haematology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The spectrum of somatic mutations in pediatric histiocytoses and their clinical implications are not fully characterized, especially for non-Langerhans cell histiocytosis (-LCH) subtypes. A cohort of 415 children with histiocytosis from the French histiocytosis registry was reviewed and analyzed for BRAF V600E . Most BRAF WT samples were analyzed by next-generation sequencing (NGS) with a custom panel of genes for histiocytosis and myeloid neoplasia. Of 415 case samples, there were 366 LCH, 1 Erdheim-Chester disease, 21 Rosai-Dorfman disease (RDD), 21 juvenile xanthogranuloma (JXG, mostly with severe presentation), and 6 malignant histiocytosis (MH). BRAF V600E was the most common mutation found in LCH (50.3%, n = 184). Among 105 non-BRAF V600E -mutated LCH case samples, NGS revealed mutations as follows: MAP2K1 (n = 44), BRAF exon 12 deletions (n = 26), and duplications (n = 8), other BRAF V600 codon mutation (n = 4), and non-MAP-kinase pathway genes (n = 5). Wild-type sequences were identified in 17.1% of samples. BRAF V600E was the only variant significantly correlated with critical presentations: organ-risk involvement and neurodegeneration. MAP-kinase pathway mutations were identified in seven RDD (mostly MAP2K1) and three JXG samples, but most samples were wild-type on NGS. Finally, two MH samples had KRAS mutations, and one had a novel BRAF G469R mutation. Rarely, we identified mutations unrelated to MAP-kinase pathway genes. In conclusion, we characterized the mutational spectrum of childhood LCH and clinical correlations of variants and subtypes. Variants responsible for JXG and RDD were not elucidated in more than half of the cases, calling for other sequencing approaches., (© 2023 The Authors. American Journal of Hematology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Pediatric chronic immune thrombocytopenia (cITP) is a heterogeneous condition in terms of bleeding severity, second-line treatment use, association with clinical and/or biological immunopathological manifestations (IMs), and progression to systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). No risk factors for these outcomes are known. Specifically, whether age at ITP diagnosis, sex, or IMs impact cITP outcomes is unknown. We report the outcomes of patients with pediatric cITP from the French nationwide prospective cohort OBS'CEREVANCE. We used multivariate analyses to investigate the effect of age at ITP diagnosis, sex, and IMs on cITP outcomes. We included 886 patients with a median (min-max) follow-up duration of 5.3 (1.0-29.3) years. We identified an age cutoff that dichotomized the risk of the outcomes and defined two risk groups: patients with ITP diagnosed <10 years (children) and ≥ 10 years (adolescents). Adolescents had a two to four-fold higher risk of grade ≥3 bleeding, second-line treatment use, clinical and biological IMs, and SLE diagnosis. Moreover, female sex and biological IMs were independently associated with higher risks of biological IMs and SLE diagnosis, second-line treatment use, and SLE diagnosis, respectively. The combination of these three risk factors defined outcome-specific risk groups. Finally, we showed that patients clustered in mild and severe phenotypes, more frequent in children and adolescents, respectively. In conclusion, we identified that age at ITP diagnosis, sex, and biological IMs impacted the long-term outcomes of pediatric cITP. We defined risk groups for each outcome, which will help clinical management and further studies., (© 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Among 143 patients with elastase, neutrophil-expressed (ELANE)-related neutropenia enrolled in the French Severe Chronic Neutropenia Registry, 94 were classified as having severe chronic neutropenia (SCN) and 49 with cyclic neutropenia (CyN). Their infectious episodes were classified as severe, mild or oral, and analysed according to their natural occurrence without granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF), on G-CSF, after myelodysplasia/acute leukaemia or after haematopoietic stem-cell transplantation. During the disease's natural history period (without G-CSF; 1913 person-years), 302, 957 and 754 severe, mild and oral infectious events, respectively, occurred. Among severe infections, cellulitis (48%) and pneumonia (38%) were the most common. Only 38% of episodes were microbiologically documented. The most frequent pathogens were Staphylococcus aureus (37·4%), Escherichia coli (20%) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (16%), while fungal infections accounted for 1%. Profound neutropenia (<200/mm 3 ), high lymphocyte count (>3000/mm 3 ) and neutropenia subtype were associated with high risk of infection. Only the p.Gly214Arg variant (5% of the patients) was associated with infections but not the overall genotype. The first year of life was associated with the highest infection risk throughout life. G-CSF therapy achieved lower ratios of serious or oral infectious event numbers per period but was less protective for patients requiring >10 µg/kg/day. Infections had permanent consequences in 33% of patients, most frequently edentulism., (© 2021 British Society for Haematology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The nucleoside analogue, 2-chlorodeoxyadenosine (2CDA), was reported to be an active treatment for childhood Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) without risk organ (RO-) involvement. However, we lack data on long-term effects of 2CDA treatment, including the disease reactivation rate, permanent sequelae and long-term tolerance. This study included 44 children from the French LCH registry, treated for a RO- LCH with 2CDA monotherapy (median number of six courses). The median age at the beginning of 2CDA was 3·6 years (range, 0·3-19·7 years) and the median follow-up after was 5·4 years (range, 0·6-15·1 years). Objective response to 2CDA was observed in 25 patients (56·8%), while six patients (13·6%) had stable disease and 13 patients (29·5%) exhibited progressive disease. Among patients without progression, only two experienced disease reactivation after 2CDA discontinuation. The five-year cumulative incidence of disease progression or reactivation after 2CDA therapy initiation was 34·3%. The lymphopenia reported in all cases [72% below absolute lymphocyte count (ALC) of 0·5 G/l], was addressed with appropriate prophylactic measures. Other toxicities above grade 2 were uncommon, and no second malignant neoplasm or neuropathy was reported. The five-year overall survival was 97·7%. In conclusion, we could confirm that 2CDA monotherapy was a beneficial long-term therapy for treating patients with RO- LCH. Appropriate management of induced immune deficiency is mandatory., (© 2020 British Society for Haematology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Childhood chronic immune thrombocytopenic purpura (cITP) is a rare disease. In severe cases, there is no evidence for the optimal therapeutic strategy. Our aim was to describe the real-life management of non-selected children with cITP at diagnosis. Since 2004, patients less than 18 years old with cITP have been enrolled in the national prospective cohort, OBS'CEREVANCE. From 1990 to 2014, in 29 centres, 392 children were diagnosed with cITP. With a median follow-up of six years (2·0-25), 45% did not need second-line therapy, and 55% (n = 217) received one or more second lines, mainly splenectomy (n = 108), hydroxychloroquine (n = 61), rituximab (n = 61) or azathioprine (n = 40). The overall five-year further second-line treatment-free survival was 56% [95% CI 49·5-64.1]. The use of splenectomy significantly decreased over time. Hydroxychloroquine was administered to children with positive antinuclear antibodies, more frequently older and girls, and reached 55% efficacy. None of the patients died. Ten years after the initial diagnosis, 55% of the 56 followed children had achieved complete remission. Children with cITP do not need second-line treatments in 45% of cases. Basing the treatment decision on the pathophysiological pathways is challenging, as illustrated by ITP patients with positive antinuclear antibodies treated with hydroxychloroquine., (© 2020 British Society for Haematology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Neurodegenerative (ND) complications in Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) are a late-onset but dramatic sequelae for which incidence and risk factors are not well defined. Based on a national prospective registry of paediatric LCH patients, we determined the incidence rate of clinical ND LCH (cND-LCH) and analysed risk factors, taking into account disease extent and molecular characteristics. Among 1897 LCH patients, 36 (1·9%) were diagnosed with a cND-LCH. The 10-year cumulative incidence of cND-LCH was 4·1%. cND-LCH typically affected patients previously treated for a multisystem, risk organ-negative LCH, represented in 69·4% of cND-LCH cases. Pituitary gland, skin and base skull/orbit bone lesions were more frequent (P < 0·001) in cND-LCH patients compared to those without cND-LCH (respectively 86·1% vs. 12·2%, 75·0% vs. 34·2%, and 63·9% vs. 28·4%). The 'cND susceptible patients' (n = 671) i.e., children who had experienced LCH disease with pituitary or skull base or orbit bone involvement, had a 10-year cND risk of 7·8% vs. 0% for patients who did not meet these criteria. Finally, BRAF V 600E status added important information among these cND susceptible patients, with the 10-year cND risk of 33·1% if a BRAF V 600E mutation was present compared to 2·9% if it was absent (P = 0·002)., (© 2018 British Society for Haematology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The BRAF V600E mutation is reported in half of patients with Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH). This study investigated the detection of the BRAF V600E allele in circulating cell-free (ccf) DNA in a paediatric LCH cohort. Children with BRAF V600E -mutated LCH were investigated to detect ccf BRAF V600E at diagnosis (n = 48) and during follow-up (n = 17) using a picolitre-droplet digital PCR assay. At diagnosis, ccf BRAF V600E was positive in 15/15 (100%) patients with risk-organ positive multisystem (RO+ MS) LCH, 5/12 (42%) of patients with RO- MS LCH and 3/21 (14%) patients with single-system (SS) LCH (P < 0·001, Fisher's exact test). The positive BRAF V600E load was higher for RO+ patients (mean, 2·90%; range, 0·04-11·4%) than for RO- patients (mean, 0·16%; range, 0·01-0·39) (P = 0·003, Mann-Whitney U test). After first-line vinblastine-steroid induction therapy, 7/7 (100%) of the non-responders remained positive for ccf BRAF V600E compared to 2/4 (50%) of the partial-responders and 0/4 of the complete responders (P = 0·002, Fisher's exact test). Six children treated with vemurafenib showed a clinical response that was associated with a decrease in the ccf BRAF V600E load at day 15. Thus, ccf BRAF V600E is a promising biomarker for monitoring the response to therapy for children with RO+ MS LCH or RO- LCH resistant to first-line chemotherapy., (© 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Childhood autoimmune haemolytic anaemia (AIHA) requires second-line immunosuppressive therapy in 30-50% of cases. It appears that rituximab is indicated in such circumstances. This prospective national study reports the practice, efficacy and tolerance of rituximab in children with isolated AIHA and AIHA in the setting of Evans syndrome (ES). Sixty-one children were given rituximab between 2000 and 2014. The median interval from diagnosis to rituximab was 9·9 [interquartile range (IQR) 1·6-28·5] months. Forty-six patients responded (75%) and the 6-year relapse-free survival (RFS) was 48%. Twenty patients relapsed at a median interval of 10·8 (IQR 3·9-18·7) months, rituximab allowed steroid withdrawal in 44/61 (72%) of children. In isolated AIHA, complete response and 6-year RFS were significantly higher than in ES (P < 0·05). Ten out of 61 patients were infants, seven of who responded with a 6-year RFS of 71%. Among patients without immunoglobulin substitution before rituximab, 4 are still receiving substitutions. Five patients died, including one potentially attributable to rituximab. This large observational series of childhood AIHA established the rituximab benefit-risk ratio, allowing steroid withdrawal, with 37% of long-term responders, mainly in isolated AIHA. All subgroups of patients drew benefit. Our long-term results indicate the baseline to be challenged by new treatment approaches., (© 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Advanced stage nodular lymphocyte predominant Hodgkin lymphoma (nLPHL) is extremely rare in children and as a consequence, optimal treatment for this group of patients has not been established. Here we retrospectively evaluated the treatments and treatment outcomes of 41 of our patients from the UK and France with advanced stage nLPHL. Most patients received chemotherapy, some with the addition of the anti CD20 antibody rituximab or radiotherapy. Chemotherapy regimens were diverse and followed either classical Hodgkin lymphoma or B non-Hodgkin lymphoma protocols. All 41 patients achieved a complete remission with first line treatment and 40 patients are alive and well in remission. Eight patients subsequently relapsed and 1 patient died of secondary cancer (9 progression-free survival events). The median time to progression for those who progressed was 21 months (5·9-73·8). The median time since last diagnosis is 87·3 months (8·44-179·20). Thirty-six (90%), 30 (75%) and 27 (68%) patients have been in remission for more than 12, 24 and 36 months, respectively. Overall, the use of rituximab combined with multi-agent chemotherapy as first line treatment seems to be a reasonable therapeutic option., (© 2017 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The French national cohort of children with Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) has included 1478 patients since it was established in 1983. LCH therapeutic strategies substantially changed in 1998, so we have divided the cohort into two 15-year periods. Starting in 1998, therapy duration increased from 6 to 12 months, repeated induction therapy was performed in cases showing a poor response to the first induction with vinblastine and steroids, and refractory disease in a risk organ (RO+) was treated with cladribine and cytarabine. A total of 483 (33%) patients were enrolled before 1998, and 995 (67%) after 1998. Five-year survival was 96·6% (95% confidence interval: 95·4-97·5%) overall, improving from 92% pre-1998 to 99% post-1998 (P < 0·001 adjusted to disease extent). This change was supported by an increase in 5-year survival from 60% to 92% in the RO+ group. Survival was particularly associated with cladribine and cytarabine among refractory RO+ patients. Disease reactivation was slightly less frequent after 1998, due to better enrolment of single-system patients, extended therapy duration, and more efficient second-line therapy. The crude rates of endocrine and neurological sequelae (the most frequent sequelae) appeared to improve over time, but this difference was not observed when the analysis was stratified by disease extent., (© 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

A minority of children with chronic immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) require therapeutic intervention to prevent haemorrhagic risk. This retrospective national study evaluated romiplostim in childhood non-responsive or refractory chronic ITP. Between 2009 and 2012, 10 patients whose Buchanan score was 3-4 were treated with romiplostim. The median duration of thrombocytopenia was 1·9 years (0·8-15). The median duration of romiplostim treatment was 9 months (3-36). A response was observed in 5/10 patients (one complete, four partial). No serious adverse effect was noticed. The long-term benefit/risk balance of this innovative treatment is currently recorded by Centre de Référence National des Cytopénies Auto-immunes de l'Enfant., (© 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)