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Simple Summary The outcome of pediatric AML improved considerably worldwide during the past few decades. Hereby, we summarize the therapeutic results of pediatric AML patients registered between 2012 and 2019 in Hungary. As compared to our previous results, improvement was registered in event-free (EFS) and overall (OS) survival, which can be attributed to the application of contemporary diagnostic and therapeutic guidelines, advanced supportation, and higher efficacy of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Between 2016 and 2019, a statistically significant increment of 2-year EFS was confirmed over the period between 2012 and 2015. The most prominent progress was observed in acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL). Multidimensional flow cytometry made possible the prompt introduction of ATRA in two cases with M3v, who also represent the first pediatric APL patients in Hungary to be treated with arsenic-trioxide. Besides joining multinational pediatric AML treatment groups, our future aims include the introduction of centralized treatment centers and diagnostic facilities. Abstract Outcome measures of pediatric acute myeloid leukemia (AML) improved considerably between 1990 and 2011 in Hungary. Since 2012, efforts of the Hungarian Pediatric Oncology-Hematology Group (HPOG) included the reduction in the number of treatment centers, contemporary diagnostic procedures, vigorous supportation, enhanced access to hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), and to targeted therapies. The major aim of our study was to evaluate AML treatment results of HPOG between 2012 and 2019 with 92 new patients registered (52 males, 40 females, mean age 7.28 years). Two periods were distinguished: 2012–2015 and 2016–2019 (55 and 37 patients, respectively). During these periods, 2 y OS increased from 63.6% to 71.4% (p = 0.057), and the 2 y EFS increased significantly from 56.4% to 68.9% (p = 0.02). HSCT was performed in 37 patients (5 patients received a second HSCT). We demonstrate advances in the diagnosis and treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) in two cases. Early diagnosis and follow-up were achieved by multidimensional flow cytometry and advanced molecular methods. Both patients were successfully treated with all-trans retinoic acid and arsenic-trioxide, in addition to chemotherapy. In order to meet international standards of pediatric AML management, HPOG will further centralize treatment centers and diagnostic facilities and join efforts with international study groups.

Making benefit from the epigenetic effects of environmental factors such as physical activity may result in a considerable improvement in the prevention of chronic civilization diseases. In our chronic swimming rat model, the expression levels of such microRNAs were characterized, that are involved in skeletal muscle differentiation, hypertrophy and fine-tuning of metabolism, which processes are influenced by chronic endurance training, contributing to the metabolic adaptation of skeletal muscle during physical activity. After chronic swimming, the level of miR-128a increased significantly in EDL muscles, which may influence metabolic adaptation and stress response as well. In SOL, the expression level of miR-15b and miR-451 decreased significantly after chronic swimming, which changes are opposite to their previously described increment in insulin resistant skeletal muscle. MiR-451 also targets PGC-1α mRNA, whiches expression level significantly increased in SOL muscles, resulting in enhanced biogenesis and oxidative capacity of mitochondria. In summary, the microRNA expression changes that were observed during our experiments suggest that chronic swim training contributes to a beneficial metabolic profile of skeletal muscle.

Abstract: Although very early onset inflammatory bowel disease that develops in early childhood (before the age of 6 years) has a different etiology from Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, it is also characterized by chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. Basically, very early onset inflammatory bowel disease should be considered as an immunodeficiency with monogenic origin where both gastrointestinal manifestations and symptoms of immunodeficiencies may develop in variable combinations. However, in the future, the evaluation of genetic alterations in the background of the disease will probably be performed by next-generation sequencing technology; one should also consider that the sequence of the DNA stands in continuous interaction with a wide variety of environmental effects, among which nutrition should be emphasized by all means. Epigenetic alterations that are induced by environmental factors, could contribute to the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel diseases that develop during childhood, therefore, they should also be identified during further research. It has a key significance to establish the diagnosis of very early onset inflammatory bowel disease as early as possible, because this could give the opportunity to start the adequate treatment which is bone marrow transplantation in the case of monogenic immunodeficiencies. Orv Hetil. 2018; 159(49): 2050–2056.

In den achtziger und neunziger Jahren wurde bei der Entwicklung und Umsetzung des kommunikativ-interkulturellen Ansatzes im Fremdsprachenunterricht eine totale Umorientierung erforderlich. „In den letzten Jahrzehnten hat das Konzept der sogenannten Kompetenzorientierung im Fremdsprachenunterricht zunehmend an Bedeutung gewonnen“, wie es von Wicke (2017: 5) formuliert wurde. Eine der vielen Kompetenzen ist die Projektkompetenz, der Gegenstand meiner Untersuchungen

Although very early onset inflammatory bowel disease that develops in early childhood (before the age of 6 years) has a different etiology from Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, it is also characterized by chronic inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. Basically, very early onset inflammatory bowel disease should be considered as an immunodeficiency with monogenic origin where both gastrointestinal manifestations and symptoms of immunodeficiencies may develop in variable combinations. However, in the future, the evaluation of genetic alterations in the background of the disease will probably be performed by next-generation sequencing technology; one should also consider that the sequence of the DNA stands in continuous interaction with a wide variety of environmental effects, among which nutrition should be emphasized by all means. Epigenetic alterations that are induced by environmental factors, could contribute to the pathogenesis of inflammatory bowel diseases that develop during childhood, therefore, they should also be identified during further research. It has a key significance to establish the diagnosis of very early onset inflammatory bowel disease as early as possible, because this could give the opportunity to start the adequate treatment which is bone marrow transplantation in the case of monogenic immunodeficiencies. Orv Hetil. 2018; 159(49): 2050-2056.Absztrakt: A 6 éves életkor előtt kialakuló, úgynevezett nagyon korai kezdetű gyulladásos bélbetegség a Crohn-betegségtől és a colitis ulcerosától eltérő etiológiájú, de szintén krónikus bélrendszeri gyulladással járó kórkép. Döntően monogénes eredetű immundefektusnak kell tartanunk, amelyben a bélrendszeri tünetek mellett az immundeficientiákra jellemző tünetek változatos formában jelentkezhetnek. A háttérben álló géndefektusok meghatározásának jövője várhatóan az új generációs szekvenálási technológia, azonban a genetikai meghatározottság mellett szem előtt kell tartanunk azt is, hogy a génállomány a környezeti hatásokkal folyamatos kölcsönhatásban áll. Az utóbbiak közül a táplálkozás feltétlenül kiemelendő. A jövőben a gyermekkorban manifesztálódó gyulladásos bélbetegségekre jellemző, környezeti tényezők által indukált epigenetikai változások azonosítására szintén törekednünk kell. A betegség lehető legkorábbi felismerése kulcsfontosságú, hiszen ez teszi lehetővé az adekvát kezelés megkezdését, monogénes immundefektusban a csontvelő-transzplantáció mielőbbi elvégzését. Orv Hetil. 2018; 159(49): 2050–2056.

Histone deacetylase enzymes, confirmed to have important role in the pathogenesis of leukemia, are promising targets of epigenetic treatment. However, in acute myeloid leukemia, our knowledge on their expression levels is limited, and controversial data have been published about their potential oncogenic or tumorsuppressor properties in solid tumors. In our study, the expression levels of HDAC4 and SIRT6 were evaluated via Western blot analysis in 45 bone marrow samples (2 uninfiltrated and 43 concerned by different kinds of hematological malignancies), including 32 specimens obtained from patients with newly diagnosed AML. Significantly higher HDAC4 level was detected in case of FLT3-ITD mutation compared to the group of patients without carrying this mutation (p

Disruption of epigenetic regulation and characteristic metabolic alterations (known as the Warburg-effect) are well-known hallmarks of cancer. In our study we investigated the expression levels of microRNAs and histone deacetylase enzymes via RT-qPCR in bone marrow specimens of adult patients suffering from hematological malignancies (total cohort n = 40), especially acute myeloid leukemia (n = 27). The levels of the three examined Warburg-effect related microRNAs (miR-378*, miR-23b, miR-26a) positively correlated with each other and the oncogenic miR-155 and miR-125b, while negatively with the level of the tumorsuppressor miR-124. Significant relationships have been confirmed between the levels of SIRT6, HDAC4 and the microRNAs listed above. In NPM1-mutated AML (n = 6), the level of miR-125b was significantly lower than in the group of AML patients not carrying this mutation (n = 13) (p

Myalgia and muscle weakness may appreciably contribute to the poor adherence to statin therapy. Although the pathomechanism of statin-induced myopathy is not completely understood, changes in calcium homeostasis and reduced coenzyme Q10 levels are hypothesized to play important roles. In our experiments, fluvastatin and/or coenzyme Q10 was administered chronically to normocholesterolaemic or hypercholaestherolaemic rats, and the modifications of the calcium homeostasis and the strength of their muscles were investigated. While hypercholesterolaemia did not change the frequency of sparks, fluvastatin increased it on muscles both from normocholesterolaemic and from hypercholesterolaemic rats. This effect, however, was not mediated by a chronic modification of the ryanodine receptor as shown by the unchanged ryanodine binding in the latter group. While coenzyme Q10 supplementation significantly reduced the frequency of the spontaneous calcium release events, it did not affect their amplitude and spatial spread in muscles from fluvastatin-treated rats. This indicates that coenzyme Q10 supplementation prevented the spark frequency increasing effect of fluvastatin without having a major effect on the amount of calcium released during individual sparks. In conclusion, we have found that fluvastatin, independently of the cholesterol level in the blood, consistently and specifically increased the frequency of calcium sparks in skeletal muscle cells, an effect which could be prevented by the addition of coenzyme Q10 to the diet. These results support theories favouring the role of calcium handling in the pathophysiology of statin-induced myopathy and provide a possible pathway for the protective effect of coenzyme Q10 in statin treated patients symptomatic of this condition.

Hairy cell leukemia is a chronic, clonal disease of the hemopoetic stem cell. Although our knowledge on its pathogenesis has increased a lot during the previous years, further details are needed to provide a more personalized, and therefore more successful treatment for patients. New advancements in the growing field of epigenetics may contribute to the finding of novel therapeutic target molecules. Similarly to acute leukemia, hairy cell leukemia also possesses a unique microRNA expression pattern. Decreased levels of tumor suppressor microRNAs lead to the elevation of the expression levels of their oncogenic targets. During our investigations on the level of let-7b and miR-124 in the bone marrow sample of a patient suffering from hairy cell leukemia, decreased expression levels have been found in the case of both microRNAs. These alterations also influence the activity of the MAPK signaling pathway, resulting from the regulation of its members by microRNAs including those mentioned above. Our results support new details about the connection between altered microRNA expression levels and signal transduction pathways in hairy cell leukemia.

The term epigenetics includes regulatory mechanisms that influence gene expression without any changes in the sequence of the DNA, namely DNA methylation, histone modification and small, non-coding RNAs. Methylation of the DNA leads to the repression of gene expression, while histone modification can result in both activation and inhibition of the transcription depending on the type and site of modification. These mechanisms are confirmed to have important pathogenetic role during the process of leukemogenesis. In distinct subtypes of leukemia specific alterations of the DNA methylation profile, histone code and typical changes of the microRNA expression levels have been observed. The importance of them is inhered in their promising potential clinical applications. In order to achieve further improvement in the therapeutic results of leukemia, prognostic classification has to be further improved. With the help of the epigenetic alterations, subgroups could be differentiated within the known prognostic groups. Changes in the DNA methylation pattern, histone code and microRNA expression levels correlate with the success of the treatment in many cases, moreover they could provide help to predict chemoresistance or detect the minimal residual disease following chemotherapy. Enzymes influencing the structure of chromatin form a wide variety of new potential therapeutic targets. Based on preliminary results, sorts of epigenetic therapy may be combined successfully either with each other or with conventional chemotherapeutic drugs in the treatment of leukemia.Az epigenetika a génexpressziót a DNS szekvenciájának megváltozása nélkül szabályozó mechanizmusokkal foglalkozik. Tárgykörébe tartozik a DNS-metiláció, a hisztonmodifikáció és a kis, nem kódoló RNS-ek csoportja. A DNS-metiláció a génexpresszió repressziójához vezet. A hisztonmodifikáció a módosítás típusától és az érintett oldallánctól függõen a transzkripció aktivációját és gátlását egyaránt eredményezheti. E szabályozó mechanizmusok zavarai igazoltan szerepet játszanak a leukémia kialakulásában. A leukémia különbözõ altípusaiban a DNS-metilációs mintázat, a hisztonkód és a mikro-RNS expressziós szintek jellegzetes eltéréseit figyelték meg, melyek jelentõsége lehetséges klinikai alkalmazásukban rejlik. A terápiás eredmények javításához a prognosztikai klasszifikációs rendszer pontosítása szükséges. Az epigenetikai eltérések segítségével egy adott prognosztikai csoporton belül további alcsoportok elkülönítése válhat lehetségessé. A DNS metilációs mintázatában, a hisztonkódban, illetve a mikro-RNS-ek expressziós szintjében bekövetkezõ változások sok esetben korrelálnak az alkalmazott terápia eredményességével, bizonyos esetekben pedig segítséget nyújthatnak a kemorezisztencia elõrejelzésében vagy a kemoterápiát követõen a minimális reziduális betegség felismerésében. A kromatin szerkezetét befolyásoló, az epigenetikai módosításokért felelõs enzimek potenciális terápiás célpontokként szolgálhatnak. Elõzetes eredmények szerint az epigenetikai terápia különbözõ típusai egymással és a konvencionális kemoterápiával egyaránt sikeresen kombinálhatók lehetnek a jövõben a leukémia terápiájában.

MicroRNAs are a class of small non-coding RNAs regulating gene expression at posttranscriptional level. Their target genes include numerous regulators of cell cycle, cell proliferation as well as apoptosis. Therefore, they are implicated in the initiation and progression of cancer, tissue invasion and metastasis formation as well. MicroRNA profiles supply much information about both the origin and the differentiation state of tumours. MicroRNAs also have a key role during haemopoiesis. An altered expression level of those have often been observed in different types of leukemia. There are successful attempts to apply microRNAs in the diagnosis and prognosis of acute lymphoblastic leukemia and acute myeloid leukemia. Measurement of the expression levels may help to predict the success of treatment with different kinds of chemotherapeutic drugs. MicroRNAs are also regarded as promising therapeutic targets, and can contribute to a more personalized therapeutic approach in haemato-oncologic patients.