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Objectives: Translocation (8;21) is a RUNX1-RUNX1T1 fusion transcript, a favorable risk cytogenetic abnormality with a variable clinicopathological profile. However, there is a paucity of data on the outcomes of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with t(8;21) from East India. This report is an analysis of data of AML with t(8;21) at our center. Material and Methods: De novo AML patients with the presence of t(8;21) cytogenetic abnormality from 2015 to 2019 were analyzed for clinical, pathological, and molecular characteristics and were compared with treatment outcomes. Relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) were determined using Kaplan–Meier curves. Results: Twenty-nine patients (10%) with de novo AML had t(8;21) with 18 male patients and a median age of 20 years. Aberrant expression of CD19, CD56, and CD7 expressions was noted in 44.8%, 17.24%, and 10.29% of patients, respectively. Additional cytogenetic abnormality was observed in 31.03%. CD19 had an 80% correlation with the occurrence of C-kit status. High-dose induction therapy had complete remission rates of 100%. The median duration of follow-up was 287.5 days. The presence of myeloid sarcoma (MS) and C-kit positivity had inferior OS and RFS (P < 0.05). The dose of cytosine arabinoside, given in consolidation of 3 g/m2 and 1.5 g/m2, had a median OS of 758 and 479 days (P = 0.661) and median RFS of 348 and 150 days (P = 0.002), respectively. In the group that received intensive therapy, by the end of 3 years, only 15.7% of patients remain in remission. Conclusion: AML with t(8;21) is seen in young patients with a positive correlation between CD 19 with C-kit positivity. The presence of MS and C-kit positivity endowed inferior OS and RFS. Cytosine arabinoside consolidation in a dose of 3 g/m2 offered an advantage in median RFS.

Objectives: Eβ-thalassemia, the most serious form of HbE syndromes, may develop pre-diabetes (PD) and diabetes mellitus (DM), together constituting abnormal glucose homeostasis (AGH) as an endocrinopathy. This study aims to assess AGH prevalence and pathogenesis in this thalassemia subtype. Material and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted at a tertiary care hospital from February 2017 to December 2018 (1.9 years). One hundred and four HbEβ-thalassemia patients were randomly selected aged ≥5 years, irrespective of transfusion requirement. AGH was diagnosed by the American Diabetes Association criteria. The patient’s history, relevant examination details, and parameters related to glucose homeostasis were studied. The homeostasis assessment (HOMA) model of Oxford University was used, and formulae were applied to calculate HOMA-insulin resistance (IR) or HOMA-β (β-cell function). Results: The status of glucose homeostasis was as follows: Normal glucose homeostasis tolerance 83/104(79.8%), PD 20/104(19.2%), and DM one(1%). The patient’s age, age of starting transfusions, and HOMA-IR were significantly related to AGH. AGH was inversely associated with the age of starting chelation, though not significant (P = 0.07). There was no statistical significance of AGH development, with transfusion dependence (P = 0.63), family history of DM (P = 0.42), hepatitis C (P = 0.36), and higher ferritin levels (800/1000/1500/1700 ng/ml) (P > 0.5)/HOMA-β (P > 0.5). Conclusion: HbEβ-thalassemia patients are prone to develop AGH including overt diabetes. It is related to the patient’s age, age of initiation, and duration of transfusion therapy. The likely mechanism of pathogenesis is IR, though pancreatic β-cell destruction may also be contributory.

Hemoglobinopathies are quite common in India, and multiple awareness and screening initiatives exist for detection of thalassemia in the population. One of the most common and successfully used method for thalassemia screening is the high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) test. However, in spite of its excellent usefulness as a screening tool, there are situations where HPLC alone may not be able to make an accurate diagnosis. Here we highlight a fairly common situation where HPLC alone failed to confirm the diagnosis. A detailed family and transfusion history along with clinical examination and investigations, such as a complete hemogram, HPLC, along with molecular studies would have aided in diagnosis. Another cause of concern raised by this case is that the most common mutation in our population, such as IVS-I-5 (GC)

The coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, is now an ongoing pandemic. First detected in December 2019 at Wuhan, China, this disease has now spread to all parts of the world. COVID-19 may affect anyone, without regard for age, sex, or underlying disease condition. Patients with benign or malignant diseases when affected, usually have a more severe outcome than people without comorbidities. Increasing one’s immunity by vaccination against COVID-19 will help to improve the disease outcomes of COVID-19 in patients who already have some underlying disease. The live-attenuated or killed and recombinant viral protein vaccines currently available can elicit both humoral and cellular immunities. However, in immunocompromised patients (either due to the disease pathology or treatment-related immunosuppression), immune response may not be as effective as expected. Depending on the underlying disease pathogenesis, the patient may not be able to mount an adequate immune response post-vaccination. However, in view of the severe risks posed by COVID-19 disease, vaccination is of utmost importance. This review aims at understanding the importance of SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in patients with hematological disorders, and also aims to understand the side effects which arise post-SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. We have tried to ascertain the best way to vaccinate patients with hematological disorders.

Deferiprone (DFP) and deferasirox (DFX) are the most well-known, efficacious and safe chelators to reduce the serum ferritin (SF) level in multi transfused thalassemic children, although there are few reports available for assessing the efficacy between DFP and DFX. We compared the efficacy of DFP vs. DFX as iron chelating drugs in β-thalassemia major (β-TM) patients. Pediatric patients diagnosed to carry β-TM, aged between 2 and 10 years, were recruited. A suitable data collection form and questionnaire were used. Paired and unpaired t-tests were used to compare the safety and efficacy of the chelating drugs DFP and DFX. The mean SF level at the 12th month was found to be 3016.73 ± 670.04 ng/mL (p = 0.002) in the DFX-treated group, which was quite significant in contrast to DFP response, where the value was 3204.06 ± 690.15 ng/mL (p = 0.14). There is no statistically significant (p = 0.15) difference on relative changes of the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), between these two groups. The adverse effects were transient and none of them required stoppage of therapy. Deferasirox is more effective when compared to DFP in reducing chelating drug-related complications and iron overload specially in multiple transfusion dependent β-TM patients.

The 3'-untranslated region (3'-UTR) is well known to be associated with the post-transcriptional regulation, because of the presence of important sequences that influence the fate of mRNA, and thus, in protein synthesis. The present study describes a point mutation on the β-globin 3'-UTR, +1506 (AC) (

Objectives: Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is a group of myeloid neoplasms. The clinical manifestations and treatments vary depending on the subtype and risk stratification of the disease. There is a paucity of data on Indian patients with MDS. This study was undertaken to understand MDS with regard to their clinical presentation, pathological, cytogenetic profiles and also to assess their therapeutic outcomes and prognosis from our center in Eastern India. Materials and Methods: This is a prospective observational study conducted in the department of hematology at a tertiary care teaching hospital from eastern part of India. The diagnosis of MDS was made from the peripheral blood examination, bone marrow aspirate examination, cytogenetics, and Fluorescence in situ hybridization results, according to the WHO guidelines. Patients were risk stratified using Revised International Prognostic Scoring System (R-IPSS) and subsequent therapeutic planning was done, with either supportive therapy in the form of recombinant human erythropoiesis stimulating agents, colony stimulating factors, packed red blood cell support as needed for low risk MDS patients. High risk patients were treated with hypomethylating agents such as Azacytidine, Decitabine, or Lenalidomide. Results: The mean duration of follow-up of patients with MDS from the point of diagnosis was 1.8 years (range 4 months–6 years). The median OS was 1.33 years. The median OS in the analysis of our patient cohort with low, intermediate, high, and very high R-IPSS was 1.67 years, 1.33 years, 1.67 years, and 1.67 years, respectively. No patients of very low risk group were identified in our study. Conclusion: Our findings reflect that MDS-MLD with low or intermediate R-IPSS risk groups is the most common types of MDS. Although supportive therapy was used to treat patients irrespective of other therapy given (depending on the risk group of the patient), it was used alone even in higher risk groups due to logistic reasons in some cases. Those patients who received supportive care alone also had a good survival duration. However, a longer follow-up duration is required to firmly establish this outcome. The median age of patients (55 years) was also lower than established studies with a median overall survival of 1.67 years.

Objectives: To describe the case series of patients with myeloid sarcoma with their clinicopathological characteristics, cytogenetics, molecular markers, prognosis, and outcome. Material and Methods: Retrospective retrieval of data of myeloid sarcoma cases in acute myeloid leukemia was done from the electronic health records of our hospital and this case series includes the data of three years starting from January 2018 and the follow-up information was assimilated until December 2020. Results: We present twelve patients in this case series with myeloid sarcoma and all these patients had bone marrow involvement at presentation. Most of the cases were less than 20 years of age and orbit (66.7%) was the commonest site of presentation in this series. Aberrant CD 19 expression on immunophenotyping was a common associate (66.9%) and t(8;21) was the commonest cytogenetic abnormality reported in our case series. Despite of high dose intensive therapy with daunorubicin and cytarabine followed by high-dose cytarabine (HiDAC) consolidation, patients had a median relapse-free survival and median overall survival of 160 days and 299.5 days respectively. Local radiotherapy for consolidation in two of our patients had no additional benefit. Conclusion: Myeloid sarcoma is extramedullary collection of myeloid blasts with or without bone marrow involvement. They were commonly seen in young patients and t(8;21) being a common cytogenetic abnormality associated with it. The treatment outcome of patients with myeloid sarcoma seems dismal and systemic therapy remains the modality of choice.

Evaluation of bone marrow infiltration in lymphoma is usually done by bone marrow biopsy (BMB). This study analyzed the utility ofTreatment-naïve lymphoma patients underwent bothThe study population consisted of 80 patients and comprised 37 Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL) patients, 30 aggressive non-HL (NHL) and 13 indolent NHL patients. The majority of the aggressive NHLs were diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (20/30) and major indolent lymphoma was follicular lymphoma (5/13). When compared to BMB, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) of focal (±diffuse) marrow FDG uptake on

Introduction Acute leukemia (AL) is among the most common treatable cancers in childhood but many children are forced to abandon therapy. Objective We have explored reasons for treatment abandonment through this study. Materials and Methods Retrospective analysis from an ongoing registry data of childhood AL patients, where all newly diagnosed AL patients of ≤18 years of age (June 2014–November 2017) were included. Patients >18 years of age, having any history of treatment of AL outside our institute, and/or patients with relapsed AL were excluded. The primary outcome of the study was treatment abandonment rate. Results A total of 710 AL patients were included in the study, average distance traversed to reach the hospital being 161.66 km. Most children were aged 1 to 10 years (49.4%, n = 351), followed by >10 to 18 years (46.6%, n = 331), and ≤1 year age (3.9%, n = 28). The commonest symptoms were fever (67.4%), pallor (38.6%), bleeding (11.5%), bone pain (13.8%), neck swellings (14.9%), and, rarely, testicular swellings or Superior vena cava (SVC) syndrome (1.1%). A high abandonment rate was noted prior to leukemia subtyping (35.2%, n = 250) mostly among males 62% (n = 155) and the 1- to 10-year group 55.6% (n = 139). A total of 460 (64.8%) patients were subsequently subcategorized by immunophenotyping. Precursor B-cell (Pre-B) Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) in 307 (43.2%) patients was the commonest subtype, followed by early Pre-B ALL (Pro-B ALL) in 10 (1.4%), T-cell ALL (T-ALL) in 51 (7.1%), Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) in 45 (6.3%), Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APML) in 28 (3.9%), and Mixed Phenotypic Acute Leukemia (MPAL) in 19 (2.6%). Conclusion The most common group of patients was aged 1 to 10 years (median age: 5 years). An abandonment rate of 35.2% was seen prior to complete diagnostic workup. The reason for this high abandonment, despite good disease prognosis, is a relevant social and health issue, and needs further evaluation. The problems discussed in this study are relevant to lower-income families and areas where health care is not easily accessible. The government agencies, nongovernment organizations and society would need to work together to overcome these issues.

Background Haemophilia has been associated with increased prevalence of low bone mineral density (BMD) which in turn may aggravate haemophilic arthropathy. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) is the gold standard for assessing BMD but is not widely available across India. Markers of bone turnover like bone-specific alkaline phosphatase (b-ALP) reflect osteoblastic turnover and may be surrogate to low BMD. Aim To evaluate how bone health in people with haemophilia (PWH) can be assessed by serum vitamin D3 and b-ALP level, correlated with the degree of arthropathy. Methods In this cross-sectional study, people with haemophilia A and B of all severities with arthropathy involving ≥3 joints were included. The number of joints affected by haemophilic arthropathy was recorded. Hemophilia Joint Health Score (HJHS) and Pettersson score were calculated for each patient. Levels of serum calcium, phosphorus, vitamin D3 and b-ALP were assayed in all cases. Results A total of 320 PWH were included; the majority (85%; 272/320) had severe haemophilia, 13.44% (43/320) moderate haemophilia and 1.56% (5/320) mild haemophilia. With increasing age, the number of joints involved increased significantly (r=0.2250, p Conclusion PWH with severe disease and haemophilic arthropathy have higher than normal b-ALP, which in turn reflects increased bone turn over and low BMD. Hence, b-ALP may be a useful marker to help assess bone health in PWH, particularly in settings where access to DEXA scans is constrained.

Imatinib, the first Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor (TKI) used for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML) has revolutionized the management by inhibiting BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase. According to earlier reports there are concerns regarding the adverse effect of imatinib on haemostasis by causing platelet dysfunction. Here we studied platelet function using platelet aggregometry, in 19 CML chronic phase (CML-CP) patients on imatinib therapy, in complete haematologic response (CHR). The median duration of imatinib therapy before performing the test was 154 days. This study reveals that there are large inter-individual variations in platelet functions among imatinib treated patients and different levels of variability have been seen for different agonists. Most common aggregation abnormality (

Pyruvate kinase, liver and RBC (PKLR) gene located on chromosome 1q21 encodes erythrocyte pyruvate kinase enzyme. Pyruvate kinase conveys the concluding tread of the glycolytic pathway, along with production of the 50% red cell total adenosine triphosphate. Pyruvate kinase deficiency (PKD) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder causing congenital non-spherocytic hemolytic anemia (CNSH). Biallelic pathogenic variation in the PKLR gene is responsible for PKD. It is the most common glycolytic defect resulting in CNSH. This case report highlights different pathogenic variants in PKLR gene detected in a patient having severe PKD.

Survivors of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL), though cured of their primary disease may suffer from long-term complications such as bone infarction contributing to a major morbidity. Here, we report a very rare case of bone infarct in bilateral tibia and femur of a patient of acute lymphoblastic leukemia, post completion of maintenance chemotherapy. With this case report, we suggest that appropriate preventive measures are necessary to decrease the risk of this very rare morbidity.

To investigate the effectiveness of low dose secondary/tertiary prophylaxis in severe Hemophilia A children and determine improvements in their daily life. Thirty Hemophilia A children (≤ 12 y) with factor VIII

Although aplastic anemia has been extensively investigated, little is known about their circulating cytokine pattern. The present study was done to evaluate the severity of the disease with the 3 major anti-hematopoietic cytokines interleukin-2 (IL-2), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ). This study is ethically cleared. A total of 102 bone marrow plasma and peripheral blood plasma paired samples were collected from the confirmed acquired aplastic anemia (AAA) patients and 10 control cases after taking written consent and analyzed by the quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The Mann-Whitney U test was used for statistical analysis. Considerably increased levels of IL-2, TNF-α, and IFN-γ were found in the peripheral blood plasma and bone marrow plasma of AAA patients as compared with controls, that is, 45.76±20.61 versus 1.99±1.25, P

Patients with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) exhibit striking heterogeneity in bleeding manifestations even at similar platelet counts. We report the prevalence and impact of thrombophilia marker expression in chronic ITP patients. For the present study, patients with chronic ITP were clinically assessed at regular intervals using the bleeding assessment tool for ITP, and bleeding was compared among patients with and without thrombophilia marker expression (thrombophilia markers analyzed included clot-based assays for protein C, protein S, Pro C Global®, FVIII levels, and lupus anticoagulant assay). Thirty-six patients (25.5%) tested positive for at least one thrombophilia marker, and the remaining 105 patients (74.5%) were negative for all markers. Patients expressing at least one thrombophilia marker had significantly less bleeding than those without. We conclude that a part of heterogeneity in the clinical presentation of chronic ITP can be explained by the presence of thrombophilia.

Fetal hemoglobin (HbF) induction is considered to be a promising therapeutic strategy to ameliorate the clinical severity of β-hemoglobin disorders, and has gained a significant amount of attention in recent times. Despite the enormous efforts towards the pharmacological intervention of HbF reactivation, progress has been stymied due to limited understanding of γ-globin gene regulation. In this study, we intended to investigate the implications of lncRNA-associated competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) interactions in HbF regulation. Probe repurposing strategies for extraction of lncRNA signatures and subsequent in silico analysis on publicly available datasets (GSE13284, GSE71935 and GSE7874) enabled us to identify 46 differentially expressed lncRNAs (DElncRNAs). Further, an optimum set of 11 lncRNAs that could distinguish between high HbF and normal conditions were predicted from these DElncRNAs using supervised machine learning and a stepwise selection model. The candidate lncRNAs were then linked with differentially expressed miRNAs and mRNAs to identify lncRNA-miRNA-mRNA ceRNA networks. The network revealed that 2 lncRNAs (UCA1 and ZEB1-AS1) and 4 miRNAs (hsa-miR-19b-3p,hsa-miR-3646,hsa-miR-937 and hsa-miR-548j) sequentially mediate cross-talk among different signaling pathways which provide novel insights into the lncRNA-mediated regulatory mechanisms, and thus lay the foundation of future studies to identify lncRNA-mediated therapeutic targets for HbF reactivation.

Beta-hemoglobinopathies exhibit a heterogeneous clinical picture with varying degrees of clinical severity. Pertaining to the limited treatment options available, where blood transfusion still remains the commonest mode of treatment, pharmacological induction of fetal hemoglobin (HbF) has been a lucrative therapeutic intervention. Till now more than 70 different HbF inducers have been identified. The practical usage of many pharmacological drugs has been limited due to safety concerns. Natural compounds, like Resveratrol, Ripamycin and Bergaptene, with limited cytotoxicity and high efficacy have started capturing the attention of researchers. In this review, we have summarized pharmacological drugs and bioactive compounds isolated from natural sources that have been shown to increase HbF significantly. It primarily discusses recently identified synthetic and natural compounds, their mechanism of action, and their suitable screening platforms, including high throughput drug screening technology and biosensors. It also delves into the topic of combinatorial therapy and drug repurposing for HbF induction. Overall, we aim to provide insights into where we stand in HbF induction strategies for treating β-hemoglobinopathies.

Introduction Selinexor is a first-in-class, oral, potent selective inhibitor of nuclear export (SINE) which blocks XPO1, forcing the nuclear retention and activation of tumor suppressor proteins, leading to cancer cell apoptosis. Selinexor has demonstrated antimyeloma activity in triple class refractory multiple myeloma (MM) [Chari et al. NEJM 2019]. Selinexor synergizes with proteasome inhibitors (PIs) in PI-sensitive and -resistant cell lines and produces high response rates in patients with PI refractory and non-refractory MM (Bahlis et al. Blood 2018). In the phase 3 BOSTON study, the combination of once weekly (QW) selinexor, QW bortezomib, and dexamethasone (SVd) in patients who had received 1-3 prior therapies led to a significantly longer (47%) median progression-free survival (PFS) of 13.93 vs 9.46 months, with a hazard ratio of 0.70 (P=0.0075) compared to standard twice weekly bortezomib and dexamethasone (Vd). In addition, SVd regimen produced higher response rates and deeper responses (ORR: 76.4% vs 62.3% and ≥CR 16.9% vs 10.2%) compared with Vd. The benefit with SVd was observed across all efficacy endpoints and was associated with lower incidence and severity of bortezomib-induced peripheral neuropathy. Here we analyzed the effect of prior PI therapy (bortezomib, carfilzomib, ixazomib) on the efficacy and safety of SVd compared with Vd. Methods BOSTON is an open-label, randomized phase 3 study in patients with MM comparing SVd (QW oral selinexor 100 mg, QW subcutaneous bortezomib 1.3 mg/m2, and BIW oral dexamethasone 20 mg), versus Vd (BIW bortezomib 1.3 mg/m2 and QIW dexamethasone 20 mg). Patients previously treated with a PI must have had at least a partial response (PR) to the PI and 6 months since the last PI regimen. The study primary end point was PFS. Here we report subgroup analysis of treatment outcomes based on prior PI treatment. Results Subgroups consisted of PI naïve patients (n=95; 24%) and patients with prior PI treatment (n=307; 76%). Both the subgroups and study arms were comparable for baseline patient demographic and disease characteristics. However, those with prior PI treatment more frequently had a previous stem cell transplant (38% vs 24%) or 3 lines of prior anti MM therapy (21% vs 13%). Median PFS was improved with SVd compared with Vd in both the PI naïve group (PFS not reached (NR) vs 9.7 months; HR 0.2585 [95% CI, 0.1116-0.5988]; P=0.0003) and in the PI treated group (11.7 vs 9.4 months; HR 0.7839 [95% CI, 0.5791-1.0612]; P=0.06). Other efficacy endpoints are shown in the table. Peripheral neuropathy ≥grade 2 (a secondary study endpoint) was less frequent in the SVd compared with the Vd arm (PI naïve: 25.5%, Vd 43.8%, P=0.0302; PI treated: SVd 19.6%, Vd 31.4%, P=0.0092). Adverse events of ≥grade 3 occurred in 71% of patients in the PI naïve group (SVd 77%, Vd 65%) and 74% of patients in the PI treated group (SVd 88%, Vd 60%). Thrombocytopenia was more frequent in patients in the SVd arms (PI naïve: SVd 32%, Vd 13%; PI treated: SVd 42%, Vd 19%) as was anemia (PI naïve: SVd 15%, Vd 6%; PI treated: SVd 16%, Vd 12%), and fatigue (PI naïve: SVd 15%, Vd 2%; PI treated: SVd 13%, Vd 1%). Conclusions The once-weekly SVd combination was associated with significant clinical benefit and reduced peripheral neuropathy as compared with standard twice-weekly Vd in patients with MM and 1-3 prior therapies, regardless of prior therapy with a PI. However, the benefits of SVd over Vd were more pronounced in patients who had never been treated with a PI (PFS HR 0.26), suggesting that selinexor could be an optimal partner for combining with weekly bortezomib as the first PI-containing MM regimen. Figure 1 Disclosures Mateos: Roche: Honoraria; Seattle Genetics: Honoraria; EDO Mundipharma: Honoraria; Adaptive Biotechnologies: Honoraria; GlaxoSmithKline: Honoraria; Abbvie: Honoraria; Takeda: Honoraria; Amgen: Honoraria; Bristol-Myers Squibb: Honoraria; Janssen: Honoraria. Gavriatopoulou:Amgen: Consultancy, Honoraria; Karyopharm: Consultancy, Honoraria; Genesis Pharma: Consultancy, Honoraria; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria; Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria. Facon:Celgene, Janssen, Takeda, Amgen, Roche, Karyopharm, Oncopeptides, BMS, Sanofi: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau. Auner:Karyopharm: Consultancy, Honoraria; Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria; Amgen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding. Leleu:AbbVie: Honoraria; GSK: Honoraria; Amgen: Honoraria; Novartis: Honoraria; Carsgen: Honoraria; Incyte: Honoraria; Merck: Honoraria; BMS-celgene: Honoraria; Janssen: Honoraria; Oncopeptide: Honoraria; Sanofi: Honoraria; Karyopharm: Honoraria. Hajek:Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Roche: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Oncopeptides: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Pharma MAR: Consultancy, Honoraria; BMS: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; AbbVie: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Celgene: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Amgen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding. Dimopoulos:Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Personal fees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; BMS: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Personal fees; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Personal fees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Celgene: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Personal fees, Speakers Bureau; Amgen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Personal fees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau. Delimpasi:GENESIS: Consultancy, Honoraria; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria; Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria; Amgen: Consultancy, Honoraria. Spicka:Celgene, Amgen, Janssen-Cilag, Takeda, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis, Sanofi: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau. Kryachok:Janssen, Bayer, Karyopharm, MSD, Acerta, AvbbVie, Debiopharm: Research Funding; Takeda, Janssen: Consultancy; Takeda, MSD, AbbVie, Ro: Other: Travel, accommodations, expenses; Takeda, Janssen, Novartis, Roche, MSD, Bayer: Consultancy, Research Funding. Sinha:Dr Reddys Lab, Intas Pharmaceuticals, Karyopharm Therapeutics: Honoraria. Venner:Celgene, Amgen: Research Funding; Janssen, BMS/Celgene, Sanofi, Takeda, Amgen: Honoraria. Garg:Janssen, Takeda, Celgene, Novartis, Sanofi: Honoraria. Stevens:Amgen, MorphoSys: Consultancy. Quach:GlaxoSmithKline: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Sanofi: Consultancy, Research Funding; Glaxo Kline Smith: Consultancy, Research Funding; Celgene: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Amgen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Janssen Cilag: Consultancy, Honoraria; Karyopharm: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding. Jagannath:BMS, Janssen, Karyopharm, Legend Biotech, Sanofi, Takeda: Consultancy. Moreau:Amgen: Consultancy, Honoraria; Sanofi: Consultancy, Honoraria; Abbvie: Consultancy, Honoraria; Takeda: Honoraria; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria; Celgene/Bristol-Myers Squibb: Consultancy, Honoraria; Novartis: Honoraria. Levy:Karyopharm,Takeda, BMS: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau. Badros:Amgen: Consultancy; University of Maryland: Current Employment. Anderson:Karyopharm: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; BMS: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Amgen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; GSK: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding. Bahlis:Sanofi: Consultancy, Honoraria; Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria; Amgen: Consultancy, Honoraria; BMS/Celgene and Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Travel, Accomodations, Research Funding; AbbVie: Consultancy, Honoraria; Genentech: Consultancy, Honoraria; Karyopharm Therapeutics: Consultancy, Honoraria; GSK: Consultancy, Honoraria. Cavo:Jannsen, BMS, Celgene, Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline, Takeda, Amgen, Oncopeptides, AbbVie, Karyopharm, Adaptive: Consultancy, Honoraria. Chai:Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc: Current Employment. Arazy:Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc.: Current Employment. Shah:Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company. Shacham:Karyopharm: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company, Patents & Royalties: (8999996, 9079865, 9714226, PCT/US12/048319, and I574957) on hydrazide containing nuclear transport modulators and uses, and pending patents PCT/US12/048319, 499/2012, PI20102724, and 2012000928) . Kauffman:Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Richardson:Celgene/BMS, Oncopeptides, Takeda, Karyopharm: Research Funding.

Introduction Selinexor is a first-in-class, oral, potent selective inhibitor of nuclear export (SINE) which blocks XPO1, forcing the nuclear retention and activation of tumor suppressor proteins, leading to cancer cell apoptosis. Selinexor has demonstrated antimyeloma activity in triple class refractory multiple myeloma (MM) [Chari et al. NEJM 2019]. Selinexor synergizes with proteasome inhibitors (PIs) in PI-sensitive and -resistant cell lines and produces high response rates in patients with PI refractory and non-refractory MM. (Bahlis et al. Blood 2018). In the phase 3 BOSTON study, the combination of once weekly (QW) selinexor, QW bortezomib and dexamethasone (SVd) in patients who had received 1-3 prior therapies led to a significantly (47%) longer median progression-free survival (PFS) of 13.93 versus 9.46 months (HR 0.70; P=0.0075) compared to standard twice weekly bortezomib and dexamethasone (Vd). In addition, SVd regimen produced higher response rates and deeper responses (ORR: 76.4% vs 62.3% and ≥CR 16.9% vs 10.2%) compared with Vd. The benefit with SVd was observed across all efficacy endpoints and was associated with lower incidence and severity of bortezomib-induced peripheral neuropathy. Here we present subgroup analyses according to number of prior lines of therapy and prior treatment with lenalidomide (LEN). Methods BOSTON is an open-label, randomized phase 3 study in patients with MM comparing SVd (QW selinexor 100 mg, QW subcutaneous bortezomib 1.3 mg/m2, and 20 mg twice weekly [BIW] dexamethasone), versus Vd (1.3 mg/m2 bortezomib BIW and dexamethasone 20 mg 4 x weekly [QIW]). Patients previously treated with a PI must have had at least a partial response (PR) to the PI and 6 months since the last PI regimen. The study primary end point was PFS. Results Of the 402 patients in the BOSTON study, 198 (49%) had 1 prior line versus 204 (51%) with 2-3 prior lines. In addition, 154 (38%) comprised the LEN treated subgroup, versus 248 (62%) in the LEN naïve subgroup. Of note, 41% patients received prior thalidomide, which is consistent with most of the BOSTON study patients being treated in the EU. Baseline demographic and disease characteristics were well balanced between treatment arms across subgroups. A very good partial response (VGPR) or better to most recent prior line anti-MM therapy was more frequent in patients with 1 prior line of therapy (63% vs 41%) versus those with 2-3 prior lines of therapy. Patients with prior LEN therapy were more likely to have had 2-3 prior therapies (72.1%) compared with LEN naive patients (37.5%). As shown in the table, SVd was associated with longer PFS compared with Vd in all subgroups. Overall response rates (ORR) and times-to-next-treatment (TTNT) were statistically greater with SVd compared with Vd in all subgroups. Rates of very good partial response or better (VGPR) were statistically greater for SVd vs Vd in the LEN-naïve group and 1 prior treatment group. Grade ≥2 peripheral neuropathy (a key secondary endpoint prespecified in the study) occurred less frequently across all SVd subgroups compared with Vd: LEN treated (21% SVd, 37% Vd, P=0.0166); LEN-naïve (21% SVd, 33% Vd, P=0.0252), 1 prior line (21% SVd, 33% Vd, P=0.0501); 2-3 prior lines (21% SVd, 36% Vd, P=0.0107). Adverse events of ≥grade 3 were more commonly reported in the SVd treatment arm than in the Vd arm, LEN treated (83% SVd, 57% Vd), LEN-naïve (76% SVd, 55% Vd), 1 prior line (77% SVd, 56% Vd), 2-3 prior lines (81% SVd, 56% Vd), and were mostly managed with dose modification and/or supportive treatment. Pneumonia occurred at comparable rates between treatment arms. There were no differences between subgroups in grade 3 adverse events. Conclusions In the BOSTON study, once-weekly SVd significantly improved PFS, ORR, TTNT and reduced rates of ≥grade 2 peripheral neuropathy compared with Vd regardless of number of prior treatments or whether patients were previously treated with LEN. Adverse events were managed with dose modification and treatment-related discontinuation rates did not differ between the 2 regimens for any subgroup. The PFS of 16.6 months with SVd after 1 prior therapy, and the HR of 0.63 in patients with prior LEN treatment support the use of once-weekly SVd for the second line treatment of MM following a LEN-containing regimen. Table Disclosures Mateos: Takeda: Honoraria; Abbvie: Honoraria; GlaxoSmithKline: Honoraria; EDO Mundipharma: Honoraria; Seattle Genetics: Honoraria; Roche: Honoraria; Bristol-Myers Squibb: Honoraria; Janssen: Honoraria; Amgen: Honoraria; Adaptive Biotechnologies: Honoraria. Jagannath:Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria; Sanofi: Consultancy, Honoraria; BMS: Consultancy, Honoraria; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria; Karyopharm: Consultancy, Honoraria; Legend Biotech: Consultancy, Honoraria. Delimpasi:GENESIS: Consultancy, Honoraria; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria; Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria; Amgen: Consultancy, Honoraria. Spicka:Celgene, Amgen, Janssen-Cilag, Takeda, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Novartis, Sanofi: Consultancy, Honoraria, Speakers Bureau. Kryachok:Takeda, Janssen, Novartis, Roche, MSD, Bayer: Consultancy, Research Funding; Janssen, Bayer, Karyopharm, MSD, Acerta, AvbbVie, Debiopharm: Research Funding; Takeda, MSD, AbbVie, Ro: Other: Travel, accommodations, expenses; Takeda, Janssen: Consultancy. Gavriatopoulou:Amgen: Consultancy, Honoraria; Karyopharm: Consultancy, Honoraria; Genesis Pharma: Consultancy, Honoraria; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria; Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria. Dimopoulos:Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Personal fees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Amgen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Personal fees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Celgene: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Personal fees, Speakers Bureau; Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Personal fees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; BMS: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Personal fees. Auner:Amgen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Karyopharm: Consultancy, Honoraria; Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria. Leleu:BMS-celgene: Honoraria; Carsgen: Honoraria; Incyte: Honoraria; Merck: Honoraria; AbbVie: Honoraria; Oncopeptide: Honoraria; Janssen: Honoraria; Novartis: Honoraria; Amgen: Honoraria; GSK: Honoraria; Sanofi: Honoraria; Karyopharm: Honoraria. Sinha:Dr Reddys Lab, Intas Pharmaceuticals, Karyopharm Therapeutics: Honoraria. Venner:Celgene, Amgen: Research Funding; Janssen, BMS/Celgene, Sanofi, Takeda, Amgen: Honoraria. Garg:Janssen, Takeda, Celgene, Novartis, Sanofi: Honoraria. Stevens:Amgen, MorphoSys: Consultancy. Quach:Amgen, Celgene, karyopharm, GSK, Janssen Cilag, Sanofi.: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; GlaxoSmithKline, Karyopharm, Amgen, Celgene, Janssen Cilag: Honoraria; GlaxoSmithKline, Karyopharm, Amgen, Celgene, Janssen Cilag: Consultancy; Amgen, sanofi, celgene, Karyopharm, GSK: Research Funding. Moreau:Novartis: Honoraria; Amgen: Consultancy, Honoraria; Celgene/Bristol-Myers Squibb: Consultancy, Honoraria; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria; Takeda: Honoraria; Sanofi: Consultancy, Honoraria; Abbvie: Consultancy, Honoraria. Levy:Sanofi: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Seattle Genetics: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Karyopharm: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Bristol Meyers Squibb: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; AstraZeneca: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Amgen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; AbbVie: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; BeiGene: Consultancy, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Baylor University Med Center: Current Employment; Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding. Badros:Amgen: Consultancy; University of Maryland: Current Employment. Anderson:Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Amgen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; GSK: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; BMS: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Karyopharm: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding. Bahlis:Genentech: Consultancy, Honoraria; Karyopharm Therapeutics: Consultancy, Honoraria; GSK: Consultancy, Honoraria; Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria; Amgen: Consultancy, Honoraria; AbbVie: Consultancy, Honoraria; BMS/Celgene and Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Travel, Accomodations, Research Funding; Sanofi: Consultancy, Honoraria. Facon:Celgene, Janssen, Takeda, Amgen, Roche, Karyopharm, Oncopeptides, BMS, Sanofi: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau. Cavo:Jannsen, BMS, Celgene, Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline, Takeda, Amgen, Oncopeptides, AbbVie, Karyopharm, Adaptive: Consultancy, Honoraria. Chai:Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc: Current Employment. Arazy:Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc.: Current Employment. Shah:Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company. Shacham:Karyopharm: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company, Patents & Royalties: (8999996, 9079865, 9714226, PCT/US12/048319, and I574957) on hydrazide containing nuclear transport modulators and uses, and pending patents PCT/US12/048319, 499/2012, PI20102724, and 2012000928) . Kauffman:Karyopharm Therapeutics Inc: Current Employment, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Richardson:Celgene/BMS, Oncopeptides, Takeda, Karyopharm: Research Funding.

The current study was conducted to assess response to immunosuppressive therapy (IST) in acquired aplastic anaemia (AA). It was a retrospective and prospective observational study. Patients were diagnosed as per standard international guidelines and IST was started as per standard protocol. Patients were followed up at 3 months and 6 months for assessment of response as per published standard guidelines. Total 76 cases were included in the study. The median age of the study population was 36 years with a range of 6-66 years with a male to female ratio of 2.04:1. Most common clinical presentation was pallor followed by bleeding. Commonest type of disease in the study group was severe AA. Among total 76 patients, 32 patients received Atgam and 44 patients received Thymogam. Within 3 months of ATG administration, 4 patients died and 1 patient was lost to follow up. At 3 months, 2 (2.63%) patients were on complete response (CR), 32 (42.10%) patients were in partial response (PR) and 37 (48.68%) patients were on no response (NR). Overall response (OR) at 3 months was 44.73%. At 6 months 5 (6.57%) patients were in CR, 43 (56.57%) patients in PR and 23 (30.26%) patients in NR; the OR was 63.14%. Overall response at 3 months was 44.73% and overall response at 6 months was 63.14%. The study revealed better overall survival for patients with ATGAM treatment than THYMOGAM treatment arm.

Therapeutic regimens for previously treated multiple myeloma (MM) may not provide prolonged disease control and are often complicated by significant adverse events, including peripheral neuropathy. In patients with previously treated MM in the Phase 3 BOSTON study, once weekly selinexor, once weekly bortezomib, and 40 mg dexamethasone (XVd) demonstrated a significantly longer median progression-free survival (PFS), higher response rates, deeper responses, a trend to improved survival, and reduced incidence and severity of bortezomib-induced peripheral neuropathy when compared with standard twice weekly bortezomib and 80 mg dexamethasone (Vd). The pre-specified analyses described here evaluated the influence of the number of prior lines of therapy, prior treatment with lenalidomide, prior proteasome inhibitor (PI) therapy, prior immunomodulatory drug therapy, and prior autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT) on the efficacy and safety of XVd compared with Vd. In this 1:1 randomized study, enrolled patients were assigned to receive once weekly oral selinexor (100 mg) with once weekly subcutaneous bortezomib (1.3 mg/m2) and 40 mg per week dexamethasone (XVd) versus standard twice weekly bortezomib and 80 mg per week dexamethasone (Vd). XVd significantly improved PFS, overall response rate, time-to-next-treatment, and showed reduced all grade and grade ≥ 2 peripheral neuropathy compared with Vd regardless of prior treatments, but the benefits of XVd over Vd were more pronounced in patients treated earlier in their disease course who had either received only one prior therapy, had never been treated with a PI, or had prior ASCT. Treatment with XVd improved outcomes as compared to Vd regardless of prior therapies as well as manageable and generally reversible adverse events. XVd was associated with clinical benefit and reduced peripheral neuropathy compared to standard Vd in previously treated MM. These results suggest that the once weekly XVd regimen may be optimally administered to patients earlier in their course of disease, as their first bortezomib-containing regimen, and in those relapsing after ASCT.Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03110562). Registered 12 April 2017. https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03110562.

Background There is scarcity of data on outcome of COVID-19 in patients with hematological malignancies. Primary objective of study was to analyse the 14-day and 28-day mortality. Secondary objectives were to correlate age, comorbidities and remission status with outcome. Methods Retrospective multicentre observational study conducted in 11 centres across India. Total 130 patients with hematological malignancies and COVID-19 were enrolled. Results Fever and cough were commonest presentation. Eleven percent patients were incidentally detected. Median age of our cohort was 49.5 years. Most of our patients had a lymphoid malignancy (n = 91). One-half patients (52%) had mild infection, while moderate and severe infections contributed to one-fourth each. Sixty seven patients (52%) needed oxygen For treatment of COVID-19 infection, half(n = 66) received antivirals. Median time to RT-PCR COVID-19 negativity was 17 days (7–49 days). Nearly three-fourth (n = 95) of our patients were on anticancer treatment at time of infection, of which nearly two-third (n = 59;64%) had a delay in chemotherapy. Overall, 20% (n = 26) patients succumbed. 14-day survival and 28-day survival for whole cohort was 85.4% and 80%, respectively. One patient succumbed outside the study period on day 39. Importantly, death rate at 1 month was 50% and 60% in relapse/refractory and severe disease cohorts, respectively. Elderly patients(age ≥ 60) (p = 0.009), and severe COVID-19 infection (p = 0.000) had a poor 14-day survival. The 28-day survival was significantly better for patients in remission (p = 0.04), non-severe infection (p = 0.00), and age Conclusions Elderly patients with hematological malignancy and severe covid-19 have worst outcomes specially when disease is not in remission.

The SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic is a worldwide public health emergency with widespread impact on health care delivery. Unforeseen challenges have been noted during administration of usual haematology care in these unusual COVID-19 times. Medical services have been overstretched and frontline health workers have borne the brunt of COVID-19 pandemic. Movement restrictions during lockdown prevented large sections of population from accessing health care, blood banks from holding blood drives, and disrupted delivery of diagnostic hematology services. The disruption in hematology care due to COVID-19 pandemic in India has been disproportionately higher compared to other subspecialities as hematology practice in India remains restricted to major cities. In this review we chronicle the challenges encountered in caring for hematology patients during the COVID-19 pandemic in India and put forth recommendations for minimizing their impact on provision of hematology care with special emphasis on hematology practice in lower and middle income countries (LMICs).

Elderly and frail patients with multiple myeloma (MM) are more vulnerable to the toxicity of combination therapies, often resulting in treatment modifications and suboptimal outcomes. The phase 3 BOSTON study showed that once-weekly selinexor and bortezomib with low-dose dexamethasone (XVd) improved PFS and ORR compared with standard twice-weekly bortezomib and moderate-dose dexamethasone (Vd) in patients with previously treated MM. This is a retrospective subgroup analysis of the multicenter, prospective, randomized BOSTON trial. Post hoc analyses were performed to compare XVd versus Vd safety and efficacy according to age and frailty status (

In the phase 3 BOSTON study, patients with multiple myeloma (MM) after 1–3 prior regimens were randomized to once-weekly selinexor (an oral inhibitor of exportin 1 [XPO1]) plus bortezomib-dexamethasone (XVd) or twice-weekly bortezomib-dexamethasone (Vd). Compared with Vd, XVd was associated with significant improvements in median progression-free survival (PFS), overall response rate (ORR), and lower rates of peripheral neuropathy, with trends in overall survival (OS) favoring XVd. In BOSTON, 141 (35.1%) patients had MM with high-risk (presence of del[17p], t[4;14], t[14;16], or ≥4 copies of amp1q21) cytogenetics (XVd, n=70; Vd, n=71), and 261 (64.9%) exhibited standard-risk cytogenetics (XVd, n=125; Vd, n=136). Among patients with high-risk MM, median PFS was 12.91 months for XVd and 8.61 months for Vd (HR, 0.73 [95% CI, (0.4673, 1.1406)], p=0.082), and ORRs were 78.6% and 57.7%, respectively (OR 2.68; p= 0.004). In the standard-risk subgroup, median PFS was 16.62 months for XVd and 9.46 months for Vd (HR 0.61; p=0.004), and ORRs were 75.2% and 64.7%, respectively (OR 1.65; p=0.033). The safety profiles of XVd and Vd in both subgroups were consistent with the overall population. These data suggest that selinexor can confer benefits to patients with MM regardless of cytogenetic risk. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03110562.