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The clinical diagnosis of von Willebrand disease (VWD), particularly type 1, can be complex because several genetic and environmental factors affect von Willebrand factor (VWF) plasma levels. An estimated 60% of the phenotypic variation is attributable to hereditary factors, with the ABO blood group locus being the most influential. However, recent studies provide strong evidence that nonsynonymous single nucleotide variants (SNVs) contribute to VWF and factor VIII phenotypic variability in healthy individuals. This study aims to investigate the role of common VWF SNVs on VWD phenotype by analyzing data from 219 unrelated patients included in the “Molecular and Clinical Profile of von Willebrand Disease in Spain project.” To that end, generalized linear mixed-effects regression models were fitted, and additive and epistatic analyses, and haplotype studies were performed, considering five VWD-related measures (bleeding score, VWF:Ag, VWF:RCo, factor VIII:C, and VWF:CB). According to these analyses, homozygotes: for p.Thr789Ala(C) would be expected to show 39% higher VWF:Ag levels; p.Thr1381Ala(C), 27% lower VWF:Ag levels; and p.Gln852Arg(C), 52% lower VWF:RCo levels. Homozygotes for both p.Thr789Ala(C) and p.Gln852Arg(T) were predicted to show 185% higher VWF:CB activity, and carriers of two copies of the p.Thr1381Ala(T)/p.Gln852Arg(T) haplotype would present a 100% increase in VWF:RCo activity. These results indicate a substantial effect of common VWF variation on VWD phenotype. Although additional studies are needed to determine the true magnitude of the effects of SNVs on VWF, these findings provide new evidence regarding the contribution of common variants to VWD, which should be taken into account to enhance the accuracy of the diagnosis and classification of this condition. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02869074.

[Background]: Eltrombopag is useful for immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). However, results of clinical trials may not accurately mirror clinical practice reality. Here we evaluated eltrombopag for primary and secondary ITP in our ≥65‐year‐old population., [Methods]: A total of 106 primary ITP patients (16 with newly diagnosed ITP, 16 with persistent ITP, and 74 with chronic ITP) and 39 secondary ITP patients (20 with ITP secondary to immune disorders, 7 with ITP secondary to infectious diseases, and 12 with ITP secondary to lymphoproliferative disorders [LPD]) were retrospectively evaluated., [Results]: Median age of our cohort was 76 (interquartile range, IQR, 70‐81) years. 75.9% of patients yielded a platelet response including 66.2% complete responders. Median time to platelet response was 14 (IQR, 8‐21) days. Median time on response was 320 (IQR, 147‐526) days. Sixty‐three adverse events (AEs), mainly grade 1‐2, occurred. The most common were hepatobiliary laboratory abnormalities (HBLAs) and headaches. One transient ischemic attack in a newly diagnosed ITP and two self‐limited pulmonary embolisms in secondary ITP were the only thrombotic events observed., [Conclusion]: Eltrombopag showed efficacy and safety in ITP patients aged ≥65 years with primary and secondary ITP. However, efficacy results in LPD‐ITP were poor. A relatively high number of deaths were observed.

[Introduction]: Molecular testing of Inherited bleeding coagulation disorders (IBCDs) not only offers confirmation of diagnosis but also aids in genetic counselling, prenatal diagnosis and in certain cases genotype–phenotype correlations are important for predicting the clinical course of the disease and to allow tailor-made follow-up of individuals. Until recently, genotyping has been mainly performed by Sanger sequencing, a technique known to be time consuming and expensive. Currently, next-generation sequencing (NGS) offers a new potential approach that enables the simultaneous investigation of multiple genes at manageable cost. [Aim]: The aim of this study was to design and to analyse the applicability of a 23-gene NGS panel in the molecular diagnosis of patients with IBCDs. [Methods]: A custom target enrichment library was designed to capture 31 genes known to be associated with IBCDs. Probes were generated for 296 targets to cover 86.3 kb regions (all exons and flanking regions) of these genes. Twenty patients with an IBCDs phenotype were studied using NGS technology. [Results]: In all patients, our NGS approach detected causative mutations. Twenty-one pathogenic variants were found; while most of them were missense (18), three deletions were also identified. Six novel mutations affecting F8, FGA, F11, F10 and VWF genes, and 15 previously reported variants were detected. NGS and Sanger sequencing were 100% concordant. Conclusion: Our results demonstrate that this approach could be an accurate, reproducible and reliable tool in the rapid genetic diagnosis of IBCDs.

Aim The use of musculoskeletal ultrasound (MSK-US) following protocols for haemophilic arthropathy and the Haemophilia Early Arthropathy Detection with Ultrasound (HEAD-US) score can help standardize monitoring in haemophilia. This study evaluated the joint status (elbows, knees and ankles) of patients with haemophilia B (HB) in Spain using MSK-US and the HEAD-US score. Methods Haemophilia B patients ≥14 years old were included in this observational, multicentre, cross-sectional study, regardless of their clinical condition, HB severity and treatment received. Two blinded observers were involved in image acquisition and scoring in each centre. Results Eighty-two patients from 12 centres were enrolled: 27% mild HB, 23% moderate, 50% severe HB. Mean age was 38.9 ± 16.4 years, 60% were treated on demand (OD) and 40% were on prophylaxis. HEAD-US was zero in all joints in 28.6% OD patients and 36.4% on prophylaxis. Mean scores significantly worsened with HB severity, except for the left knee. Patients on primary and secondary prophylaxis had significantly better joint health vs OD patients in all joints, except the right ankle. Among OD patients, those with severe disease presented significantly worse scores in all HEAD-US items related to permanent damage. Conclusion Joint status of HB patients in Spain is influenced by severity and treatment modality, related to the development of arthropathy, which appears prevalent in OD patients with severe HB. Routine assessment with an imaging tool such as ultrasound and HEAD-US system may help to improve joint health by personalizing and adjusting treatment in this population.

Eltrombopag is effective and safe in immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). Some patients may sustain their platelet response when treatment is withdrawn but the frequency of this phenomenon is unknown. We retrospectively evaluated 260 adult primary ITP patients (165 women and 95 men; median age, 62 years) treated with eltrombopag after a median time from diagnosis of 24 months. Among the 201 patients who achieved a complete remission (platelet count >100 × 109/l), eltrombopag was discontinued in 80 patients. Reasons for eltrombopag discontinuation were: persistent response despite a reduction in dose over time (n = 33), platelet count >400 × 109/l (n = 29), patient's request (n = 5), elevated aspartate aminotransferase (n = 3), diarrhea (n = 3), thrombosis (n = 3), and other reasons (n = 4). Of the 49 evaluable patients, 26 patients showed sustained response after discontinuing eltrombopag without additional ITP therapy, with a median follow-up of 9 (range, 6–25) months. These patients were characterized by a median time since ITP diagnosis of 46.5 months, with 4/26 having ITP

Eltrombopag is safe and effective in primary chronic ITP. However, lack of clinical trials avoids a clear demonstration of its utility in newly diagnosed and persistent ITP. Our aim here is to report Spanish results for this type of patients. We retrospectively evaluated 220 adult primary ITP patients. According to standard definition, patients were allocated to newly diagnosed (n = 30), persistent (n = 30), and chronic (n = 160) ITP. Groups were homogenous regarding most relevant parameters. 180 (90%) of 220 patients achieved a platelet response (R) with 167 (75.9%) complete responses (CR) after a 15-month follow-up. No statistical significant differences among groups but a trend towards a greater efficacy in newly diagnosed ITP were observed (93.3% of responses with 86.7% of CR). Efficacy in persistent ITP (83.3% of responses with 80.0% of CR) and chronic ITP (79.4% of responses with 73.1% of CR) was similar. 70 patients (31.8%) experienced adverse events. 15 of them were grade 3–4. Most common adverse effects were headache and hepatobiliary laboratory abnormalities (HBLAs). One persistent ITP had a venous thrombosis and one chronic ITP had grade II myelofibrosis. We consider Eltrombopag use for the early stage ITP as effective and safe as it is in chronic ITP.

Type 1 Gaucher disease (GD1) is caused by the deficiency in the lysosomal enzyme glucocerebrosidase and causes the accumulation of glucocerebroside mainly in macrophages, inducing deterioration of the organs in which it is deposited.The new substrate inhibitor Eliglustat (ELI), approved by EMA in 2015 and available in Spain since January 2017, has proved to be an effective therapy that selectively inhibits the enzyme glucosylceramide synthase, decreasing the accumulation of substrate. It is indicated in GD1 extensive, intermediate or poor metabolizers of the cytochrome CYP2D6. The phase 2 and 3 clinical trials have demonstrated improvement and stabilization of the parameters in the naïve patients and in switched from enzyme replacement therapy. In this work we present the design of a prospective follow-up post-authorization study (GEE-ELI-2017-01) to asure the traceability of eliglustat therapy in Spanish GD1patients (TRAZELGA) is exposed. MethodsThe national multi-center study TRAZELGA, designed as a tool to uniformly evaluate the response to ELI therapy during one year, analyzing clinical parameters, biomarkers, changes in medullary infiltration quantified by MRI and DEXA, compliance and side effects. In addition, a quality of life sub-study is included as well as an exploratory study to analyze immune system activation markers (cytokine profile, ferritin, lipocalin, gamma globulins, oxidative stress markers). All the current recommendations previous ELI therapy have been reinforced, including cardiac, hepatic and renal function assessment and suitability according concomitant medications. An electronic tool has been designed to help physicians to easily registry and update the patient information. All the current rules for data protection were taken in account. Results: 40 GD1 patients have started oral treatment with Eliglustat. In this presentation we provide preliminary results of 32 patients whom fulfilled 6 months of follow-up (median age: 43.8 years (23-75), 47% males), genotype c.1226A>G in homozygosity (29.4%), c.1226A>G/c.1448T>C (41.2% ), other double heterozygotes with c.1226A>G (29.4%); metabolism of CYP2D6 (12% poor metabolizers, 64.5% intermediate and 33.5% extensive), no patient received the treatment in first line and its baseline characteristics (table1), are from patients stabilized with ERT (23 cases) or miglustat (9).Two splenectomized patients, 3 patients with palpable splenomegaly at the time of inclusion, 6 patients with multimorbidities and polymedications and 6 patients complained of fatigue as the main symptom before inclusion in the study. The median follow-up is 6 (6-14) months. Conclusions: The acceptance of the project in the medical community has been excellent with a good inclusion page. At the end of the one year follow-up period we will be available to analyze the influence of Eliglustat on biomarkers, markers of inflammation, bone mineral density also to provide information about adherence and adverse events in every day clinical practice. This work has been partially granted by FEETEG Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Background/Aims: Rituximab-cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone (R-CHOP) every 14 days seems to achieve better outcomes than R-CHOP every 21 days in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) patients. Currently, the standard regimen is R-CHOP every 21 days. Methods: This is a phase II clinical trial of treatment with 6 cycles of R-CHOP-14 with pegfilgrastim support in 2 populations of previously untreated DLBCL patients aged ≥65 years (n = 73) or Results: With a median follow-up of 63.7 months, the 5-year event-free survival rate was 53.8% in patients aged ≥65 years and 71.0% in patients aged Conclusion: In conclusion, the R-CHOP-14 regimen is feasible and very active, though it is more toxic in elderly patients mainly due to an increased incidence of infections. New strategies, such as new monoclonal antibodies or new targeted therapies, are needed to improve the outcomes of DLBCL patients.

The engagement of the receptors for fungal patterns induces the expression of cytokines, the release of arachidonic acid, and the production of PGE2 in human dendritic cells (DC), but few data are available about other lipid mediators that may modulate DC function. The combined antagonism of leukotriene (LT) B4, cysteinyl-LT, and platelet-activating factor (PAF, 1-O-alkyl-2-acetyl-sn-glycero-3-phosphocholine) inhibited IL23A mRNA expression in response to the fungal surrogate zymosan and to a lower extent TNFA (tumor necrosis factor-α) and CSF2 (granulocyte macrophage colony-stimulating factor) mRNA. The combination of lipid mediators and the lipid extract of zymosan-conditioned medium increased the induction of IL23A by LPS (bacterial lipopolysaccharide), thus suggesting that unlike LPS, zymosan elicits the production of mediators at a concentration enough for optimal response. Zymosan induced the release of LTB4, LTE4, 12-hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid (12-HETE), and PAF C16:0. DC showed a high expression and detectable Ser663 phosphorylation of 5-lipoxygenase in response to zymosan, and a high expression and activity of LPCAT1/2 (lysophosphatidylcholine acyltransferase 1 and 2), the enzymes that incorporate acetate from acetyl-CoA into choline-containing lysophospholipids to produce PAF. Pharmacological modulation of the arachidonic acid cascade and the PAF receptor inhibited the binding of P-71Thr-ATF2 (activating transcription factor 2) to the IL23A promoter, thus mirroring their effects on the expression of IL23A mRNA and IL-23 protein. These results indicate that LTB4, cysteinyl-LT, and PAF, acting through their cognate G protein-coupled receptors, contribute to the phosphorylation of ATF2 and play a central role in IL23A promoter trans-activation and the cytokine signature induced by fungal patterns., This work was supported by grants from Plan Nacional de Salud y Farmacia (grant SAF2013-44521-R to MSC), Fundación Ramón Areces, Red Temática de Investigación Cardiovascular, and Gerencia Regional de Salud de Castilla y León (grant GRS 920-A-14 to JGF).

BackgroundEltrombopag is effective and safe in chronic immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). However, clinical trials may not accurately reflect what happens in clinical practice. We evaluated the efficacy and safety of eltrombopag in primary chronic ITP in a real-world setting. MethodsA total of 164 primary patients with chronic ITP from 40 Spanish centers, who had been treated with eltrombopag, were retrospectively evaluated. ResultsThe median age of our cohort (72% women) was 63 yr (interquartile range, IQR, 45-75 yr). The median time with ITP diagnosis was 81 months (IQR, 30-192 months). The median number of therapies prior to eltrombopag was 3 (IQR, 2-4). At the time of eltrombopag start, 45 patients (30%) were receiving concomitant treatment for ITP. Forty-six patients (30%) had bleeding signs/symptoms the month before the treatment started. The median platelet count at eltrombopag initiation was 22 x 10(9)/L (IQR, 8-39 x 10(9)/L). A total of 135 patients (88.8%) achieved a platelet response. The median time to platelet response was 12 d (95% CI, 9-13 d). Maintained platelet response rate during the 15-month period under examination was 75.2%. Twenty-eight patients (18.4%) experienced adverse events, mainly grades 1-2. ConclusionEltrombopag is highly effective and well tolerated in unselected patients with primary chronic ITP.

SummaryThe diagnosis of von Willebrand disease (VWD) remains difficult in a significant proportion of patients. A Spanish multicentre study investigated a cohort of 556 patients from 330 families who were analysed centrally. VWD was confirmed in 480. Next generation sequencing (NGS) of the whole coding VWF was carried out in all recruited patients, compared with the phenotype, and a final diagnosis established. A total of 238 different VWF mutations were found, 154 were not included in the Leiden Open Variation Database (LOVD). Of the patients, 463 were found to have VWF mutation/s. A good phenotypic/ genotypic association was estimated in 96.5 % of the patients. One hundred seventy-four patients had two or more mutations. Occasionally a predominant phenotype masked the presence of a second abnormality. One hundred sixteen patients presented with mutations that had previously been associated with increased von Willebrand factor (VWF) clearance. RIPA unavailability, central phenotypic results disagreement and difficult distinction between severe type 1 and type 3 VWD prevented a clear diagnosis in 70 patients. The NGS study facilitated an appropriate classification in 63 of them. The remaining seven patients presented with a VWF novel mutation pending further investigation. In five patients with a type 3 and two with a type 2A or 2B phenotype with no mutation, an acquired von Willebrand syndrome (AVWS) was suspected/confirmed. These data seem to support NGS as a first line efficient and faster paradigm in VWD diagnosis.Supplementary Material to this article is available online at www.thrombosis-online.com.

Introduccion y objetivos Trabajos experimentales y clinicos sugieren que el tejido necrotico tiene la capacidad de regenerarse. Nuestro grupo ha comenzado un estudio clinico para demostrar que la implantacion intracoronaria de celulas madre es un procedimiento factible y seguro. Presentamos los resultados de nuestros primeros 5 pacientes. Pacientes y metodo Se ha incluido a pacientes con un infarto agudo de miocardio anterior y una lesion unica en la descendente anterior reparada mediante angioplastia primaria o facilitada. A los 10-15 dias del infarto, se procedio a la extraccion de medula osea. El implante celular se hizo por via intracoronaria. El protocolo de seguimiento incluye ecocardiografia con dobutamina, resonancia magnetica y Holter de ECG basal y a los 6 meses. Resultados Ningun paciente ha tenido un evento cardiaco tras 6 meses de seguimiento. En un paciente se observo un accidente isquemico transitorio sin secuelas. No se han demostrado arritmias en ninguno de los pacientes. El volumen telediastolico no vario a los 6 meses (159 ± 25 y 157 ± 16 ml), el volumen telesistolico disminuyo (77 ± 22 y 65 ± 16 ml) y la fraccion de eyeccion aumento (53 ± 7 y 58 ± 8%), aunque no hubo diferencias significativas. En los 3 pacientes en los que la ecocardiografia con dobutamina descarto viabilidad, si hubo una disminucion significativa de los volumenes. Conclusiones El implante intracoronario de celulas madre en pacientes que han tenido un infarto agudo de miocardio parece un metodo seguro y factible, y podria dar lugar a un remodelado favorable.

Immunophenotyping has become an essential tool for diagnosis of hematological malignancies. By contrast, for diagnosis of Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia (WM) immunophenotyping is used only occasionally. From 150 patients with a IgM monoclonal gammopathy we have selected 60 cases with (1) morphological lymphoplasmocytoid bone marrow (BM) infiltration (>20%); (2) IgM paraprotein (>10g/L); and (3) absence of features of other lymphoma types. Immunophenotypic analysis was based on the use of the triple or quadruple monoclonal antibody (MoAb) combinations. To increase the sensitivity of the analysis of antigen expression, selected CD19(+)CD20(+) B cells were targeted. We have also explored the antigenic characteristics of both the plasma cell (PC) and mast cell (MC) compartments present in the BM from 15 WM patients. Clonal WM lymphocytes were characterized by the constant expression of pan-B markers (CD19, CD20, CD22, CD24) together with sIg, predominantly kappa (5:1, kappa:lambda ratio). A high proportion of cases (75%) were positive for FMC7 and CD25, but in contrast to hairy cell leukemia (HCL), these lymphocytes were always negative for CD103 and CD11c. CD10 antigen was also absent in all WM patients and less than one fifth of patients were positive for CD5 and CD23, while CD27, CD45RA, and BCL-2 were present in most malignant cells. In two cases, the coexistence of two different clones of B lymphocytes was identified, and in eight additional cases, intraclonal phenotypic heterogeneity was observed. As far as PCs are concerned, in most patients (85%) the number of PCs was within the normal range (median, 0.36%). The antigenic profile of these PCs differed from that observed in normal and myelomatous PC (CD38(++)CD19(++/-)CD56(-)CD45(++)CD20(+)). In three cases, PCs showed aberrant expression for CD5, CD22, or FMC7. Finally, the number of mast cells was significantly higher (0.058 +/- 0.13) as compared to normal BM (0.019 +/- 0.02) (P

The correct diagnosis and classification of von Willebrand disease (VWD) is difficult because of the variability of its clinical expression and limitations of laboratory methods. However, correctly diagnosing VWD is important for therapy and genetic counselling. A survey related to the referred VWD patients in Spain revealed local diagnostic problems in at least one third of the cases of VWD. Consequently, a Spanish multicenter study was carried out in which a cohort of 556 patients from 330 families was analyzed centrally. VWD was confirmed in 480 patients. Next generation sequencing (NGS) of the whole coding von Willebrand factor gene ( VWF ) was carried out in all recruited patients, compared with the phenotype, and a final diagnosis was established. A total of 238 different VWF mutations were found: 154 were not included in the Leiden Open Variation Database (LOVD). Of the patients, 467 were found to have a VWF mutation/s. A good phenotype/genotype association was estimated in 94.6% of the cases. One hundred and eighty patients had two or more mutations. Occasionally a predominant phenotype masked the presence of a second abnormality. One hundred and sixteen patients presented with mutations that had previously been associated with an increased VWF clearance. Ristocetin induced platelet agglutination (RIPA) unavailability, central phenotypic results disagreement and difficult distinction between severe type 1 and type 3 VWD prevented a clear diagnosis in 74 patients. A local/central disagreement over diagnosis occurred in 42.3% of the whole cohort. The NGS study facilitated an appropriate classification in 60 of them. Based on these results, a proposal for a change in the VWD diagnostic paradigm, suggesting the inclusion of the analysis of VWF at the initial diagnostic process, has been made. An extension of this project to include 400 new VWD patients has begun. A diagnostic strategy has been developed, and a Spanish consensus guideline for optimal treatment of VWD was developed in Spain. Desmopressin (DDAVP) is the treatment of choice in responsive VWD patients. VWF concentrates (VWF/FVIII) are used in individuals unresponsive to DDAVP, when DDAVP is contraindicated, or in VWD types 2B and 3, and for long term management needs (e.g., post major surgery).

Summary The thrombopoietin receptor agonists (THPO-RAs), romiplostim and eltrombopag, are effective and safe in immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). However, the value of their sequential use when no response is achieved or when adverse events occur with one THPO-RA has not been clearly established. Here we retrospectively evaluated 51 primary ITP adult patients treated with romiplostim followed by eltrombopag. The median age of our cohort was 49 (range, 18–83) years. There were 32 women and 19 men. The median duration of romiplostim use before switching to eltrombopag was 12 (interquartile range 5–21) months. The reasons for switching were: lack of efficacy (n = 25), patient preference (n = 16), platelet-count fluctuation (n = 6) and side-effects (n = 4). The response rate to eltrombopag was 80% (41/51), including 67% (n = 35) complete responses. After a median follow-up of 14 months, 31 patients maintained their response. Efficacy was maintained after switching in all patients in the patient preference, platelet-count fluctuation and side-effect groups. 33% of patients experienced one or more adverse events during treatment with eltrombopag. We consider the use of eltrombopag after romiplostim for treating ITP to be effective and safe. Response to eltrombopag was related to the cause of romiplostim discontinuation.

Current views on the control of IL-23 production focus on the regulation of il23a, the gene encoding IL-23 p19, by NF-κB in combination with other transcription factors. C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP), X2-Box-binding protein 1 (XBP1), activator protein 1 (AP1), SMAD, CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein (C/EBPβ), and cAMP-response element-binding protein (CREB) have been involved in response to LPS, but no data are available regarding the mechanism triggered by the fungal mimic and β-glucan-containing stimulus zymosan, which produces IL-23 and to a low extent the related cytokine IL-12 p70. Zymosan induced the mobilization of CHOP from the nuclear fractions to phagocytic vesicles. Hypha-forming Candida also induced the nuclear disappearance of CHOP. Assay of transcription factor binding to the il23a promoter showed an increase of Thr(P)-71-Thr(P)-69-activating transcription factor 2 (ATF2) binding in response to zymosan. PKC and PKA/ mitogen- and stress-activated kinase inhibitors down-regulated Thr(P)-71-ATF2 binding to the il23a promoter and il23a mRNA expression. Consistent with the current concept of complementary phosphorylations on N-terminal Thr-71 and Thr-69 of ATF2 by ERK and p38 MAPK, MEK, and p38 MAPK inhibitors blunted Thr(P)-69-ATF2 binding. Knockdown of atf2 mRNA with siRNA correlated with inhibition of il23a mRNA, but it did not affect the expression of il12/23b and il10 mRNA. These data indicate the following: (i) zymosan decreases nuclear proapoptotic CHOP, most likely by promoting its accumulation in phagocytic vesicles; (ii) zymosan-induced il23a mRNA expression is best explained through coordinated κB- and ATF2-dependent transcription; and (iii) il23a expression relies on complementary phosphorylation of ATF2 on Thr-69 and Thr-71 dependent on PKC and MAPK activities. © 2014 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc., This work was supported by Plan Nacional de Salud y Farmacia Grant SAF2010-15070, Fundación Ramón Areces, Red Temática de Investigación Cardiovascular from Instituto de Salud Carlos III, and Junta de Castilla y León.

One hundred ten patients with multiple myeloma (MM) failing to achieve at least near-complete remission (nCR) after a first autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) were scheduled to receive a second ASCT (85 patients) or a reduced-intensity-conditioning allograft (allo-RIC; 25 patients), depending on the human leukocyte antigen (HLA)–identical sibling donor availability. There was a higher increase in complete remission (CR) rate (40% vs 11%, P = .001) and a trend toward a longer progression-free survival (PFS; median, 31 months vs not reached, P = .08) in favor of allo-RIC. In contrast, it was associated with a trend toward a higher transplantation-related mortality (16% vs 5%, P = .07), a 66% chance of chronic graft-versus-host disease and no statistical difference in event-free survival and overall survival. Although the PFS plateau observed with allo-RIC is very encouraging, this procedure is associated with high morbidity and mortality, and therefore it should still be considered investigational and restricted to well-designed prospective clinical trials. This trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov ID number NCT00560053

Three different assays for fibrin/fibrinogen degradation products (FDP) were evaluated in patients with suspected pulmonary embolism (PE) as rapid screening tests with the aim of evaluating whether th

27 páginas, 3 figuras, 2 tablas.-- et al., Background The aim of this study was to compare the long-term safety and efficacy of oral busulfan 12 mg/kg plus melphalan 140 mg/m2 and melphalan 200 mg/m2 as conditioning regimens for autologous stem cell transplantation in newly diagnosed patients with multiple myeloma in the GEM2000 study. Design and Methods The first 225 patients received oral busulfan 12 mg/kg plus melphalan 140 mg/m2; because of a high frequency of veno-occlusive disease, the protocol was amended and a further 542 patients received melphalan 200 mg/m2. Results Engraftment and hospitalization times were similar in both groups. Oral busulfan 12 mg/kg plus melphalan 140 mg/m2 resulted in higher transplant-related mortality (8.4% versus 3.5%; P=0.002) due to the increased frequency of veno-occlusive disease in this group. Response rates were similar in both arms. With respective median follow-ups of 72 and 47 months, the median progression-free survival was significantly longer with busulfan plus melphalan (41 versus 31 months; P=0.009), although survival was similar to that in the melphalan 200 mg/m2 group. However, access to novel agents as salvage therapy after relapse/progression was significantly lower for patients receiving busulfan plus melphalan (43%) than for those receiving melphalan 200 mg/m2 (58%; P=0.01). Conclusions Conditioning with oral busulfan 12 mg/kg plus melphalan 140 mg/m2 was associated with longer progression-free survival but equivalent survival to that achieved with melphalan 200 mg/m2 but this should be counterbalanced against the higher frequency of veno-occlusive disease-related deaths. This latter fact together with the limited access to novel salvage therapies in patients conditioned with oral busulfan 12 mg/kg plus melphalan 140 mg/m2 may explain the absence of a survival difference. Oral busulfan was used in the present study; use of the intravenous formulation may reduce toxicity and result in greater efficacy, and warrants further investigation in myeloma patients., This research was supported by grant PI051284 from the Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria (FIS), Instituto Carlos III, Ministerio de Sanidad, by the Cooperative Research Thematic Network (G03/136 and RD06/0020/0006), and by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III/Subdirección General de Investigación Sanitaria (PI060339 and 02/0905).

Background We tried to evaluate a putative negative effect on coronary atherosclerosis in patients receiving intracoronary infusion of unfractionated bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMMC) following an acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells or enriched CD133 + BMMC have been associated with accelerated atherosclerosis of the distal segment of the infarct related artery (IRA). Methods Thirty-seven patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction from the TECAM pilot study underwent intracoronary infusion of autologous BMMC 9 ± 3.1 days after onset of symptoms. We compared angiographic changes from baseline to 9 months of follow-up in the distal non-stented segment of the IRA, as well as in the contralateral coronary artery, with a matched control group. A subgroup of 15 treated patients underwent additional IVUS within the distal segment of the IRA. Results No difference between stem cell and control group were found regarding changes in minimum lumen diameter (0.006 ± 0.42 vs 0.06 ± 0.41 mm, P = ns) and the percentage of stenosis (−2.68 ± 12.33% vs −1.78 ± 8.75%, P = ns) at follow-up. Likewise, no differences were seen regarding changes in the contralateral artery (minimum lumen diameter −0.004 ± 0.54 mm vs −0.06 ± 0.35 mm, P = ns). In the intravascular ultrasound substudy, no changes were demonstrated comparing baseline versus follow-up in maximum area stenosis and plaque volume. Conclusions In this pilot study , analysis of a subgroup of patients found that intracoronary injection of unfractionated BMMC in patients with acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction was not associated with accelerated atherosclerosis progression at mid term. Prospective, randomised studies in large cohorts with long-term angiographic and intravascular ultrasound follow-up are necessary to determine the safety of this therapy.

The aims of this study were to assess the safety of drug-eluting stent (DES) use and to compare the incidence of in-stent restenosis (ISR) and neointimal hyperplasia formation according to the type of stent implanted (DES vs bare-metal stents [BMS]) in patients who underwent intracoronary bone marrow mononuclear cell transplantation after acute ST elevation myocardial infarction. Fifty-nine patients with successfully revascularized ST elevation myocardial infarction (37 using BMS and 22 using DES) underwent paired angiographic examinations at baseline and 6 to 9 months after the intracoronary injection of 91 million +/- 56 million autologous bone marrow mononuclear cells. A subgroup of 30 patients also underwent serial intravascular ultrasound examinations. Off-line angiographic assessment showed 4 cases of binary ISR, primarily in BMS (3 cases), and no major adverse cardiac events were associated with stent type (mean follow-up period 41 +/- 10 months). At follow-up, angiographic late luminal loss was significantly lower in patients with DES than in those patients with BMS (0.35 +/- 0.66 vs 0.71 +/- 0.38 mm, p = 0.011). Multivariate analysis identified the use of DES (beta = -0.32, 95% confidence interval [CI] -0.57 to -0.26, p = 0.03) and a smaller baseline reference vessel diameter (beta = 0.29, 95% CI 0.04 to 0.54, p = 0.02) as independent predictors of lower late loss. Moreover, intravascular ultrasound showed a significant reduction of in-stent neointimal hyperplasia formation related to DES use compared with BMS use (Delta neointimal hyperplasia volume 5.4 mm(3) [95% CI 2.7 to 28.1] vs 35.9 mm(3) [95% CI 22.0 to 43.6], p = 0.035). In conclusion, these findings suggest that the use of DES is safe and may prevent ISR and neointimal hyperplasia formation in patients who undergo intracoronary bone marrow mononuclear cell transplantation after a successfully revascularized ST elevation myocardial infarction.

Purpose Complete response (CR) is considered an important goal in most hematologic malignancies. However, in multiple myeloma (MM), there is no consensus regarding whether immunofixation (IF)-negative CR, IF-positive near-CR (nCR), and partial response (PR) are associated with different survivals. We evaluated the prognostic influence on event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) of these responses pre- and post-transplantation in newly diagnosed patients with MM. Patients and Methods We analyzed 632 patients from the prospective Grupo Español de Mieloma 2000 protocol who were uniformly treated with vincristine, carmustine, cyclophosphamide, melphalan, and predisone/vincristine, carmustine, adryamcine, and dexamethasone induction followed by high-dose therapy and autologous stem-cell transplantation. Results Post-transplantation response markedly influenced outcomes. Patients achieving CR had significantly longer EFS (median, 61 v 40 months; P < 10−5) and OS (medians not reached; P = .01) versus patients achieving nCR, who likewise had somewhat better outcomes compared with patients achieving PR (median EFS, 34 months, P = .07 v nCR; median OS, 61 months, P = .04). EFS and OS and influence of response were similar among older (age 65 to 70 years) and younger (age < 65 years) patients. Similar findings were observed with pretransplantation response, with trends toward EFS (P = .1; P = .05) and OS (P = .1; P = .07) benefit in patients achieving CR versus nCR and PR, respectively. Post-transplantation response was markedly influenced by pretransplantation response; improvements in response were associated with prolonged survival. Conclusion Quality of response post-transplantation, notably CR, is significantly associated with EFS and OS prolongation in newly diagnosed patients with MM. There were trends toward similar associations with pretransplantation response status.

Background: Eltrombopag is an oral thrombopoietin receptor agonist (TPO-RA) drug approved in primary chronic ITP. Lack of clinical trials in secondary ITP avoids a clear demonstration of its potential in terms of safety and efficacy on secondary ITP. Aims: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of eltrombopag in secondary ITP patients in daily clinical practice in Spain. Methods: Ninety-eight secondary ITP patients (aged 18 years or more) from 30 Spanish centers, treated with eltrombopag and included in the Spanish Eltrombopag Registry were retrospectively evaluated. Our study was performed in accordance with the standards of the Helsinki declaration and approved by the Hospital Universitario de Burgos Ethics Committee. Results: Our case series included 98 patients we allocated to four categories: immune disorders (n=47), infections (n=23), lymphoproliferative disorders (n=20), and neoplasms (n=8). The median age of the cohort was 62 (IQR, 40-71) years with 38 men and 60 women. At diagnosis, 34 patients had a Charlson Comorbidity Index score of 2 or more. Median time from ITP diagnosis to eltrombopag initiation was 13 (IQR, 2-66) months. Median number of therapies against thrombocytopenia before eltrombopag was 2 (IQR, 1-3), including rituximab (24), splenectomy (18) and romiplostim (13). Median platelet count when treatment started was 15 x 109/L (IQR, 5-43 x 109/L). Meanwhile, 44 patients had bleeding symptoms. Concomitant therapy was administered to 55 ITP (corticoids in 33) (Table I). Whole cohort eltrombopag response rate was 59% of responses (R; platelet count ≥30 x109/L and at least 2-fold increase the baseline count and absence of bleeding) with 52% of complete responses (CR; platelet count >100 x 109/L). Regarding the disease associated to ITP we observed high response rates in immune disorders and infection groups (67% of R, 76 % of R, respectively). Nevertheless, in lymphoproliferative disorders and neoplastic groups efficacy rates were much lower (36 % of R, 37 % of R respectively). The proportion of patients achieving platelet response was quite similar regardless the other studied parameters: age, sex, concomitant treatment, bleeding and platelet count at start of eltrombopag treatment. 30 adverse events were reported with eltrombopag, being 18 of them grade 3-4. 14 deaths were observed but only two were caused by bleeding. The remaining causes of death were: 4 because of bacterial sepsis and another 4 due to progression of basal disease. 2 secondary neoplasms, 1 aspergillosis and one death due to a non-treated severe anemia were also reported (Table II). Conclusion: The use of eltrombopag for treating secondary ITP is effective and safe. To point out, its efficacy in lymphoproliferative disorders and in neoplasm-associated ITP is lower than in benign diseases. Certainly, more studies are needed to confirm usefulness of TPO-RAs in secondary ITP cases. Table 1. Patient characteristics Variable Total(n = 98) Type of disease, n Immune disorders SLE 13 Evans Syndrome 8 Antiphospholipid Syndrome 6 Sjögren Syndrome 5 Rheumatoid Arthritis 3 Immunodeficiencies 3 Autoimmune Hepatitis 2 Primary Biliary Cirrhosis 2 Psoriatic arthritis 1 Evans Syndrome-Immunodeficiencies 1 Evans Syndrome-HCV 1 Graves-Basedow disease 1 Inflammatory Bowel disease 1 Lymphoproliferative disorders Lymphoproliferative diseases 16 HCV-Lymphoma 3 HIV-Lymphoma 1 Infections Hepatitis C Virus 16 HIV 5 HCV-HIV 2 Neoplasms Myeloid Neoplasms 8 Age, years, median [Q1;Q3] 62[40;71] Men/Women n 38/60 Bleeding at start of eltrombopag treatment, n 44 Concomitant treatment, n 55 Corticoids 33 Immunoglobulins 6 Corticoids and Immunoglobulins 7 Table 2. Adverse events with Eltrombopag Variable n Total, n 30 Serious Adverse Events (Grade 3-4), n 18 Progression of basal disease 4 Severe Bacterial Infections 3 Deep venous thrombosis 3 Stroke 2 Medullary fibrosis 2 Severe Bleeding 1 Aspergillosis 1 Pulmonary Embolism 1 Secondary neoplasms 1 Acute Pancreatitis 1 Acute Myocardial Infarction 1 Deaths, n 14 Bacterial Infections 4 Progression of basal disease 4 Secondary neoplasms 2 Severe Bleeding 2 Aspergillosis 1 Severe Anemia due to negative of patient to transfusion 1 Disclosures Off Label Use: We describe the possibility of using eltrombopag, an oral thrombopoietin receptor analog, for secondary ITP patients..

Background: Eltrombopag is a thrombopoietin receptor agonist approved for primary chronic ITP patients. Due to the non-existence of clinical trials using eltrombopag in persistent and newly diagnosed ITP, there are no clear data about its usefulness in this setting. Aims: To evaluate efficacy and safety of eltrombopag in persistent, newly diagnosed and chronic ITP in routine clinical practice in Spain. Methods: Two hundred and twenty adult ITP patients from thirty Spanish centers who had been treated with eltrombopag and included in the Spanish Eltrombopag Registry were retrospectively evaluated. This study was performed in accordance with the standards of the Helsinki declaration and approved by the Hospital Universitario de Burgos Ethics Committee. Results: Here we report efficacy and safety results of primary ITP Spanish Eltrombopag Registry cohort. According to the standard definition, patients were allocated to newly diagnosed (n=30), persistent (n=30) and chronic (n=160) ITP groups. Each group is described separately in Table I. There are no statistical significant differences regarding response and duration of response among ITP groups. There is a trend towards a greater efficacy in newly diagnosed ITP with 93.3% of responses (platelet count ≥30 x109/L and at least two-fold increase the baseline count and absence of bleeding) and 86.7% of complete responses (CR; platelet count >100 x 109/L). Persistent ITP achieved 83.3% of responses and 80.0% of CR. Similarly 79.4% of responses with 73.1 of CR were observed in chronic ITP. Response rates were similar in all groups regardless all other studied parameters. Another trend towards a longer response duration in persistent ITP was found, with a median of 424 (IQR, 288-664) days. Response durations were similar in chronic ITP (median, 370 days; IQR, 174-624) and in newly diagnosed ITP (median, 378 days; IQR, 154-485). In newly diagnosed ITP, eight adverse events (AEs) with only three grade 3-4 AEs were observed. We reported three deaths; Two of them were due to upper respiratory tract infections in previously diagnosed pulmonary patients. A cerebral hemorrhage was the only death directly related to thrombocytopenia. In persistent ITP, four grade 1-2 AEs and two grade 3-4 AEs (one stroke, one cerebral bleeding) were reported. The only observed death was secondary to the mentioned cerebral hemorrhage. Twenty-one grade 1-2 AEs, ten grade 3-4 AEs and eight deaths (only two caused by bleeding) occurred in chronic ITP. Conclusion: Use of eltrombopag for treating persistent and newly diagnosed ITP is effective and safe. However, more studies are needed to confirm usefulness of TPO-RAs in this setting. | Variable | Newly-Diagnosed ITP (n = 30) | Persistent ITP (n=30) | Chronic ITP (n=160) | | | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | | | Age, years, median [Q1;Q3] | 66[46;79] | 66[47;76] | 61[47;75] | | | Men/Women n | 12/18 | 15/15 | 47/113 | | | Charlson comorbidity Index > 1, n (%) | 7(25.9) | 5(17.2) | 25(16.7) | | | Months with ITP, median [Q1;Q3] | 1[1;2] | 6[4;10] | 79[30;193] | | | Past ITP treatments, median [Q1;Q3] Rituximab, n (%) Splenectomy, n (%) Romiplostim, n (%) | 2[1;3] 3(10.7) 2(7.1) 3(10.7) | 2[1;3] 5(17.2) 4(13.8) 4(13.8) | 3[2;4] 43(28.3) 47(30.7) 37(24.3) | | | Platelet count at start of eltrombopag treatment, (x109/L), median [Q1;Q3] Bleeding at start of eltrombopag treatment , n (%) Concomitant treatment, n (%) Corticoids Immunoglobulins Corticoids and Immunoglobulins | 15[7;29] 13(43.3) 10(33.3) 6(60) 0 2(20) | 14[6;26] 10(33.3) 9(30) 7(77.8) 0 2(22.2) | 22 [9;38] 50 (31.3) 46 (28.8) 27 (57.4) 10 (21.3) 8 (17) | | Table 1. Patient characteristics Disclosures Off Label Use: We describe the possibility of using eltrombopag, an oral thrombopoietin receptor analog, for persistent and newly diagnosed ITP patients..

The evaluation of bone disease in multiple myeloma (MM) by conventional radiology has low reproducibility. In the last decade, several serum and urine biochemical parameters, for evaluation of bone turnover, have become available. The present study was designed to explore the value of six bone remodelation markers. It was studied in a series of 176 newly diagnosed patients with monoclonal gammopathies (107 MM and 69 monoclonal gammopathies of unknown significance (MGUS)). As control groups we used 25 patients with benign osteoporosis (BO) and 32 healthy individuals (HI). The bone markers analyzed included: bone resorption markers (BRM) (total pyridinoline, total deoxypyridinoline, free deoxypyridinoline and C-terminal telopeptide of collagen I) and bone formation markers (BFM) (bone alkaline phosphatase (bAP) and osteocalcin (OC)). Serum or urinary levels of BRM were significantly higher in MM patients than in MGUS patients, BO patients or HI (P < 0.001, respectively). BRM were higher in MM patients with lytic lesions. However, only C-terminal telopeptide discriminated MM patients without bone lesions from MGUS patients. BFM did not show significant differences in the aforementioned comparisons, although a trend toward higher values of OC and lower values of bAP in patients with early bone affectation was observed. Ratios BRM/BFM that contained bAP exhibited differences that were most significant between the MM group and other entities, as well as between the different MM subgroups. In fact, the ratios BRM/bAP provided discrimination between the MM subgroup without lyses and MGUS group (P < 0.01). BRM and BFM, especially the ratios, are useful in the evaluation of bone lesions in patients with monoclonal gammopathies.

Bone marrow mononuclear cells (BMCs) from 20 patients with extensive reperfused myocardial infarction (MI) were used to assess their myocardial regenerative capability “in vitro” and their effect on postinfarction left ventricular (LV) remodeling. Human BMCs were labeled, seeded on top of cryoinjured mice heart slices, and cultured. BMCs showed tropism for and ability to graft into the damaged mouse cardiac tissue and, after 1 week, acquired a cardiomyocyte phenotype and expressed cardiac proteins, including connexin43. In the clinical trial, autologous BMCs (78±41×10 6 per patient) were intracoronarily transplanted 13.5±5.5 days after MI. There were no adverse effects on microvascular function or myocardial injury. No major cardiac events occurred up to 11±5 months. At 6 months, magnetic resonance showed a decrease in the end-systolic volume, improvement of regional and global LV function, and increased thickness of the infarcted wall, whereas coronary restenosis was only 15%. No changes were found in a nonrandomized contemporary control group. Thus, BMCs are capable of nesting into the damaged myocardium and acquire a cardiac cell phenotype in vitro as well as safely benefiting ventricular remodeling in vivo. Large-scale randomized trials are needed now to assess the clinical efficacy of this treatment.

Introduction and objectives. Experimental and clinical studies suggest that necrotic myocardium may have the capacity to regenerate. We have started a clinical study to demonstrate that the intracoronary implantation of stem cells is feasible and safe. The results in our first 5 patients are presented here. Patients and method. We included patients with anterior acute myocardial infarction and isolated stenosis of the left anterior descending artery that was successfully repaired by primary or facilitated angioplasty. Patients received an intracoronary infusion of bone marrow-derived cells 10-15 days after the infarction. The follow-up protocol included low-dose dobutamine echocardiography, magnetic resonance studies and ECG Holter monitoring. Results. The procedure was carried out with no complications. No patient had a cardiac event during the first 6 months. One patient had a transient ischemic attack without sequelae. No arrhythmias were found. Left ventricular end-diastolic volume remained the same at 6 months (159 [25] ml, 157 [16] ml), left ventricular end-systolic volume decreased (77 [22] ml, 65 [16] ml), and the ejection fraction increased (53 [7]%, 58 [8]%) although no statistically significant differences were found. In the 3 patients in whom dobutamine echocardiography ruled out viability, we found a significant reduction in both volumes. Conclusions. Intracoronary bone marrow-derived cell transplantation after an acute myocardial infarction seems to be safe and feasible, and might lead to favorable remodeling.

Emphysematous gastritis is a life-threatening disease. It is characterized by the presence of gas within the wall of the stomach. The etiology includes firstly infections with gas-forming organisms; other predisposing causes are the ingestion of corrosive substances and alcohol abuse. Diagnosis is based on radiological techniques, mainly computed tomographic scan (CT). The election treatment is antibiotics and surgery. The evolution is generally fatal. We present the first known case reported, which is associated with aplastic anemia with immunosuppressive therapy, its evolution with medical treatment and a literature review.

Introduction The inherited platelet disorders (IPD) are a heterogeneous group of rare diseases including quantitative and/or qualitative platelet defects. Classically, patients with IPD are first functionally tested to know the possible defect before sequencing a single or a few genes. Phenotipyc diagnostic of IPD often requires light transmission aggregometry, quantitative analysis of receptors by flow cytometry and fluorescence and electron microscopy. This diagnostic strategy is complex, poorly standardised and time consuming. In addition, the phenotype can seldom guide the singles candidates genes for conventional Sanger squencing. Therefore, many patients remain without a accurate diagnosis of their IPD. Next generation sequencing (NGS) enables the simultaneous analysis of large groups of candidate genes in IPD and may be useful for rapid genetic diagnosis. The aim of this study was to design and validate a NGS panel for IPD. Patients & Methods We describe a strategy for rapid genetic diagnosis of IPD with Illumina sequencing of 60 candidates genes previously associated with IPD (table1). The baits were designed to tile 400 kb of gDNA sequence corresponding to the exons and splice sites in all known transcripts of the candidate genes identified. The bait library was tested by enriching the candidate IPD genes from 50 ng DNA obtained and sequencing by Nextera Rapid Custom Enrichment system. Results were analysed by Variant Studio system and Sequencing Analysis Viewer. A total of 21 patients were studied. For the validation process, DNA samples of 9 unrelated patients with IPD and their mutation known were used: two patients with Glanzmann Thrombasthenia (ITGA2B, p.Ala989Thr, p.Val982Met and p.Glu538Stop; ITGB3, p.Leu222Pro and p.Tyr216Cys), one Hermansky-Pudlak Sd. (HPS1, p.Glu204 Stop), another with Bernard-Soulier Sd. (GPIX, p.Phe71Stop), a case of Congenital Amegakaryocytic Thrombocytopenia (MPL, p.Arg102Cys), and 2 patients with Chediak Higashi Sd. (LYST, p.Gly3725Arg and p.Cys258Arg). Once validated, the NGS panel was used for genetic diagnostic of 8 patients with suspected IPD. Results Eleven mutations, previously identified in another center by conventional sequencing, were detected by our panel NGS (100% success in the validation process). We then tested this strategy for patients with suspected of IPD without diagnosis: I. a 13 years old girl with agenesis of the corpus callosum, facial dysmorphia, renal agenesis and thrombocytopenia was diagnosed of Thrombocytopenia FLNA-related and Periventricular Nodular Heterotopia (PNHV)[mutation in the FLNA was detected (p.Thr1232Ile)]. II. A two years old patient with severe thrombocytopenia and recurrent infections was diagnosed of Wiskott-Aldrich Sd (WAS, p.Arg268Gly fs Stop40). III. A patient with deafness, macrothrombocytopenia, and Döhle bodies was diagnosed by MYH9 deletion (MYH9; p.Asp1925Thr fs Stop23). IV. Six members of a family (2 of them with symptoms of mucocutaneous bleeding, and macrothrombocytopenia), in which an insertion in NBAL2 (p.Gly1142Arg fs Stop49) gene was found. Therefore, Gray Platelet Sd was diagnosed. Moreover, one patient with “aspirin-like syndrome” showed a P2RY12 mutation (p.Val279Met). Finally, mother and son with mild Hemophilia A (F8; p.Gln2208Arg) were detected. Conclusions This NGS panel enables a rapid genetic diagnostic of IPD. The use of NGS-based strategy is a feasible tool for the diagnosis of IPD that could be added to the screening of these disorders. Five mutations have not previously been described in the literature. Table 1: Sixty candidates' genes previously associated with IPD: Inherited Platelet Disorders Genes = 60 Cytoskeletal Assembly and Structural Proteins GP1BA, GP1BB, GP5, A2M, GP9, VWF, ITGA2, ITGA2B, ITGB3, ABCA1, ANO6,FERMT3, ACTN1, MASTL Disorders of agonist platelet receptors P2RX1, P2RY1, P2RY12, TBXA2R, TBXAS1, ADRA2A, GP6, CD36 o GP4, DTNBP1 Disorders signal transduction GNAI3, GNAQ, GNAS, PLA2G7, PLCB2PTS, GGCX, DPAGT1, DHCR24 Disorders of platelet granules NBEAL2, GFI1B, PLAU, HPS1, HPS3, HPS4, HPS5, HPS6, LYST, MLPH, BLOC1S3, BLOC1S6, AP3B1, VIPAS39, VPS33B, RAB27A, MYO5A, USF1 Thrombocytopenias and syndromes WAS, MYH9, FLNA, FLI1, STIM1, HOXA11, ANKRD26, MPL, RBM8A RUNX1, GATA1 Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Background: The trombopoietin receptor agonists (TRAs) romiplostim and eltrombopag are effective and safe in the treatment of chronic immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). However, when no response is achieved or when adverse events occur with one TRA the value of the sequential use of romiplostim and eltrombopag has not been clearly established. Here we have evaluated the efficacy and tolerance of using eltrombopag after romiplostim in ITP. Methods: Fifty-one primary ITP patients (aged 18 years or more) who had been sequentially treated first with romiplostim and then with eltrombopag in the Spanish Eltrombopag Registry were retrospectively evaluated. In accordance with the usual standards, complete response was defined as a platelet count of 100x109/L and a response as a platelet count of 30x109/L or a count of at least twice the initial (pre-treatment) value. This study was performed in accordance with the standards of the Helsinki declaration and approved by the Hospital Universitario de Burgos Ethics Committee. Results: The median age of our cohort was 49 [range, 18–83] years. There were 32 women and 19 men. According to the standard definition, patients were allocated to newly diagnosed (n=2), persistent (n=5) and chronic (n=44) ITP groups. The median number of therapies prior to administration of eltrombopag was 4 [range, 2–9], including splenectomy (39%), rituximab (33%) and romiplostim (100%). The median duration of romiplostim use before switching to eltrombopag was 12 (IQR 5–21) months. The reasons for switching from the romiplostim to eltrombopag were: lack of efficacy of romiplostim (n=25), patient's preference (n=16), platelet-count fluctuation (n=6), and side-effects (n=4). The initial response rate to eltrombopag was 41/51 (80.5%), including 67% (n=34) of cases with complete remission. After a median follow-up of 13 months with eltrombopag, 39 patients maintained their response. When eltrombopag was used for patients who were refractory to the maximum romiplostim dose the initial response rate of eltrombopag was 25%. However, 83% of patients who relapsed after their initial response to romiplostim responded to eltrombopag. Sixteen romiplostim responders requested their physicians to switch them to eltrombopag because they preferred an oral drug. The efficacy was maintained after switching in all 16 patients. In the platelet-count fluctuation group, the initial response rate was also 100%. All 4 patients who were switched to eltrombopag because they experienced side-effects of romiplostim achieved complete remission with eltrombopag and their adverse events were resolved. 16 / 51 (33%) patients experienced one or more adverse event during treatment with eltrombopag. The frequency of grade 3–4 adverse events during treatment with eltrombopag was 9.8%. Conclusion: The use of eltrombopag after romiplostim for treating ITP is effective and safe. The reason for discontinuing romiplostim was associated with the response to eltrombopag. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Introduction Temsirolimus (TEM) is an mTOR inhibitor EMA approved for the treatment of patients (pts) with relapsed or refractory (R/R) mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). In a phase III trial TEM 175mg weekly for 3 weeks followed by 75mg weekly significantly improved PFS (4.8 months) and objective response rate (22%) compared with investigator’s choice (1.8 months, 2% respectively). TEM has also been tested in combination with rituximab (RTX) in a phase II trial with encouraging efficacy results (ORR 59%, median time to progression 9.7 months) even in rituximab-refractory pts. However, few data have been reported on the use of TEM in everyday clinical practice. Methods Sixteen Spanish centres participated in this retrospective, observational and multicenter study: Inclusion criteria were as follows: pts ≥18 at the time of treatment, confirmed diagnosis of R/R MCL treated with TEM between January 1st 2010 and December 31st 2012. Endpoints were overall response (ORR), partial response (PR) and complete response (CR) rate, toxicity as CTCAE v3.0 of NCI scale and overall survival (OS) and progression free survival (PFS).This study was approved by the Ethic Committee of all participant sites (PFI-TEM-2010-01). Results A total of 24 patients were included, 15 pts treated with TEM in monotherapy (TEM 175mg weekly for 3 weeks followed by 75mg weekly) and 9 in combination with RTX (TEM 25mg/week plus RTX 375mg/m2 per week during the first cycle and a single dose of RTX every other 28-day cycle). 22 were male and the median age was 71 (range 53 to 84). Regarding histology grade, 17 (74%) pts had classic, 1 (4.3%) blastoid and 5 (21.7%) unknown. According to simplified MIPI prognostic score, 6 (26.1%) pts had low risk, 10 (43.5%) intermediate risk and 7 (30.4%) high risk. Five pts had 10-40% of Ki 67 index, 3 had >40% and 14 pts unknown. Median number of prior therapies in TEM monotherapy cohort was 2 (range 1 to 7) and 4 (range 2 to 8) in the combination cohort. Median duration of therapy was 3.07 months in the TEM monotherapy cohort and 2.03 months in the combination cohort. The overall response rate (ORR) with TEM in monotherapy was 60% (40% CR and 20% PR) and 6.7% of disease stabilization. For those patients treated with TEM plus RTX, the ORR was 78% (56% CR and 22% PR) and 20% of disease stabilization. Median PFS for patients who reached CR in TEM monotherapy cohort was 12.73 months (95%CI, 1.28 to 24.19) and 10.93 months (95%CI, 1.40 to 20.46) in the combination cohort. Overall the median PFS for all patients was 7.30 months (95%CI, 2.36 to 12.24). Two pts underwent allogeneic stem cell transplantation after successful TEM monotherapy treatment. In terms of tolerability, 13 pts of 15 developed at least one adverse event (AE) in the TEM monotherapy cohort and 5 pts of 9 in the combination cohort. Most common AE (all grades) were thrombocitopenia (75%) in both cohorts, rash (37%), diarrhea (12%), hyperglucemia (12%), hyperlipemia (8%), mucositis (8%) and neumonitis (8%). Most common G3/4 adverse event was thrombocytopenia (33%). Conclusions Although this is a small sample size, TEM efficacy in this study seems to be higher compared to previous Phase II and III trials with an acceptable toxicity profile in pts with MCL. The median PFS in the combination therapy cohort was surprisingly lower than in the monotherapy cohort which may be explained by differences in clinical features between both groups. Disclosures: Off Label Use: Use of temsirolimus in combination with rituximab. Morán:Pfizer: Employment. Viqueira:Pfizer: Employment.

Abstract 3827 Background: Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a heterogeneous group of hematological disorders in which diagnosis, risk stratification, and treatment selection are based on morphological and cytogenetic studies in bone marrow (BM) samples. MDS are characterized by several recurrent chromosomal abnormalities, most of them unbalanced, with a widely variable prognosis. The assessment of these genomic defects is essential for a correct risk stratification of these patients. However, conventional cytogenetic (CC) techniques are not sufficient for the study of all MDS patients, because of the high proportion of normal karyotypes (40–50%) and unsuccessful cytogenetics (10%) (defined as the absence of mitosis). Array-based comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) technology allows the screening of copy number changes among the whole genome in one single experiment and offers a higher resolution than conventional cytogenetics. Aims: To assess the potential application of aCGH in the clinical diagnosis of MDS as complementary tool to conventional cytogenetics. Patients and Methods: The study cohort comprises a total of 263 patients: MDS (203) and MDS/MPN (60) patients that have been previously studied by CC and FISH. Among the whole series, 33 (12.5%) patients had no successful cytogenetic results due to the absence of mitosis. In the remaining 230 patients with evaluable metaphases, 42 (16%) had an aberrant, while 188 (71.5%) presented a normal karyotype. Within this last group, 141 had ≥20 good-quality metaphases evaluated, 37 had 10–20 metaphases studied, and 10 patients had ≤10 successful metaphases. Copy number changes were analysed in all patients included in the study using NimbleGen Human CGH 12×135K Whole-Genome Tiling Array (Roche NimbleGen). Sex-matched human commercial DNA samples were used as reference. Data were analysed using the segMNT algorithm in NimbleScanv2.6 Software. Subsequently all genomic abnormalities found by aCGH analysis were confirmed by FISH. Results: Using aCGH methodology, copy number changes (greater than 600 bp) were detected in 54 patients of the global series: 4.3% of the normal karyotype patients, 88.1% of cases with abnormal cytogenetics, and 27.3% of patients with unsuccessful cytogenetics. Overall a high correlation (94.3%) between the cytogenetic changes observed by CC and CGH arrays was observed. Thus aCGH analysis revealed the same genomic abnormalities showed by CC in 88.1% of patients. In the remaining 11.9% genomic results were discordant between aCGH and CC, because of the presence of balanced translocations, not assessable by aCGH, and clonal cell populations below 30%. Furthermore, additional genomic abnormalities (n=36) not detected by CC were found by aCGH. The most frequent aberrations were losses affecting chromosomes 5 (33%), 7/7q (17%), 20q (14%), and Y (14%), as well as gains involving chromosome 8 (14%). Interestingly, other abnormalities, mainly losses, were found in chromosomes 4, 12, and 17. Focusing on the 188 patients with normal karyotype by CC, the aCGH profiling results were concordant with cytogenetics in 98% of those patients with ≥20 metaphases studied and in 92% of those with 10–20 metaphases. However, only 80% of those patients with ≤10 successful metaphases and no changes by CC displayed no copy number changes by aCGH. The most frequent abnormality found by aCGH among these normal karyotype cases was the presence of 5q deletion (2%), while other chromosomes affected were 7, 8, 11, 12 and 20. All these abnormalities were confirmed by FISH. Regarding the patients with unsuccessful cytogenetics, 72.7% of cases displayed a normal aCGH profile, while 27.3% showed at least one genomic imbalance The most frequent genomic aberrations were losses in 4q (6%), 5q (12%) and 7q (9%), and gain of chromosome 8 (6%). In addition, three of these cases showed a complex karyotype, showing more than 5 abnormalities. Conclusion: The use of aCGH karyotyping in the diagnosis of MDS could be used as a complementary technique to conventional karyotyping in the evaluation of MDS patients. Mainly in patients with unsuccessful cytogenetics and those with normal karyotype and Disclosures: Hernández: Celgene: Research Funding.

To achieve CR is an important goal in the treatment of most Hematological malignancies. In Multiple Myeloma (MM) although there is evidence demonstrating an association between CR and long-terms outcomes, some trials have failed to find such a correlation. In addition, it is not clear whether different responses categories, such as CR, near-CR (nCR) o Very Good Partial Response represent different prognostic subgroups or include an homogeneous group of patients with similar outcomes. Therefore, the confirmation of a possible association between different responses categories and long-term outcomes is required. We evaluated the prognostic influence on EFS and OS of pre- and post-transplant responses in newly diagnosed MM patients. Patients and Methods: We analyzed 632 patients who had been included in the prospective GEM2000 trial. All were uniformly treated with VBCMP/VBAD induction followed by high-dose therapy and autologous stem cell transplant and maintenance therapy with interpheron plus prednisone. Disease response was assessed post-induction and post-transplant using EBMT criteria, modified to include nCR. CR required at least 6 weeks of negative immunofixation (IFx) in serum and urine plus less than 5% plasma cells in BM. nCR was defined as electrophoresis-negative but IFx-positive. Partial response (PR) required greater than 50% reduction in M-protein and Stable disease (SD) included patients with minimal response and no change by EBMT criteria. Results: Probability of achieving CR post-transplant was significantly higher among patients achieving nCR versus PR (p= 0.004) versus SD or PD (p= 0.0003) pre-transplant. Patients achieving nCR or PR post-induction had similar outcomes, and both response categories showed a trend to have inferior EFS and OS as compared to patients in CR. After transplant, only borderline differences in EFS were detected upon comparing nCR with PR (nCR: median 40 months; PR median 34 months, p=0.07), by contrast the EFS of CR patients (median 61 months) was significantly longer than that of nCR or PR categories (both comparisons p Conclusions: Our results confirm that the degree of response is highly associated with final survival, with higher benefit for patients achieving CR by IFx, which should not be pooled with the nCR patients. Although the impact in survival is more evident for the responses measures after HDT/SCT it is also evident after induction therapy, moreover, the quality of response post-induction clearly influences response post-transplant. Finally, patients between 65 and 70 years should not be completely discouraged from HDT/SCT.

Introduction: Waldenström’s Macroglobulinemia (WM) is an uncommon lymphoproliferative disorder characterized by bone marrow infiltration of the lymphoplasmocytic cells and IgM monoclonal gammopathy. The normal counterpart of the WM malignant cell is believed to be a post germinal-center B cell. However, the low frequency of WM has hampered investigation into Immunoglobulin Heavy Chain (IgH) rearrangements in large series of patients and whether preferential use of specific genetic segments or non-functional rearrangements exits. Aim: Molecular characterization in a large cohort of WM patients analyzing their functional, complete VDJH, and non-functional, incomplete DJH, IgH rearrangements, the pattern of somatic hypermutation (SHM) and gene segment usage. Patients and methods: 47 patients with unequivocal diagnosis of WM were included in the study. Bone Marrow samples (always with more than 10% of tumor cell) were used for amplification of clonal rearrangements employing the Biomed-2 strategy (Leukemia2003; 17; 2257), followed by direct automated sequencing in ABI 377 DNA sequencer using Big-Dye terminators (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA). Results: All patients showed a monoclonal amplification of at least one VDJH or DJH rearrangement. VDJH monoclonal rearrangements were detected in 42/47 (89.3%) patients while DJH were observed in 20 (42.5%) patients. VH, DH and JH gene segment usage: VH3 gene segment was the most commonly represented family (76,2%) while the other gene segments were scarcely detectable, and VH5 was totally absent. In the complete VDJH rearrangements, DH6 was the family most commonly represented while DH2 (45%) and DH4 (30%) were the most common in the incomplete DJH rearrangement. Regarding JH elements, JH4 (38%) was the most represented in the complete rearrangements and JH5 (46%) in the incomplete rearrangements. Somatic hypermutation: SHM were observed in all except two of the cases (94%, 34 of 36 cases), in which the study could be performed. (median 9,38; range2.9–16.6). In the remaining clonal cases (6 cases, 14.3%) no amplification of FR1 region was obtained, also suggesting the presence of SHM. Conclusions: In this series of patients, we observed the presence of incomplete rearrangements with an incidence similar (44%) to that described in multiple myeloma. The preferential usage for determined families of genetic segments, in VDJH and in DJH, suggests the presence of positive and negative selection processes. Finally, the majority, (94 %) of the cases, presented SHM, although the presence of two patients lacking in SHM suggests a pre-follicular origin for some WM cases.

Waldenström’s Macroglobulinemia (WM) patients are classified in two main subtypes: symptomatic and asymptomatic. In this study we have analyzed the clinical, biological, immunophenotypical and cytogenetic characteristics of 85 WM, including 59 symptomatic WM (SWM) and 26 indolent WM (IWM). Clinical behaviour of SWM, as expected, was clearly different from that of IWM. Characteristics of the first group included: poor performance status (30%), hyperviscosity syndrome (19%), B symptoms (29%) and neurological symptoms (25%). None of these features were present in IWM. Regarding biology, most SWM patients (75%) had hemoglobin levels below 12 g/dl while only 8% of IWM showed this feature (p Immunophenotypic characteristics of B cells in SWM and IWM were almost identical, with only slight, but non significant, differences in some markers. The proportion of patients expressing CD27, strong CD24 and bcl-2 were greater in SWM than in IWM (42% vs 28%, 28% vs 17%, and 73% vs 61%, respectively). It should be noted that the frequency of these three markers was even lower in 15 MGUS patients analyzed (18%, 10% and 45% respectively), pointing out to a progressive decrease in expression from SWM to MGUS. Regarding PC, although their number was significantly higher in SWM than in IWM no differences were observed in their immunophenotypic pattern. Cytogenetic profile was clearly different in SWM as compared to IWM. Thus, 10 out of the 59 SWM (17%) showed chromosomal abnormalities: 8 patients had 6q deletions and 2 patients IgH translocations, while none of the IWM cases displayed 6q deletions. In fact, only 2 out of 26 (8%) IWM showed cytogenetic aberrations: 1 case had IgH translocation and 1 case RB deletion. These results suggest that 6q deletion is associated with a more aggressive course of disease. In summary, our results show that the different clinical and biological picture of SWM and IWM is associated with a different cytogenetic but not immunophenotypic profile.