Genetic mutations and leukapheresis in acute myeloid leukemia: is there a link?

Acute myeloid leukemia is the most common acute leukemia in adults and up to 20% of patients present with hyperleukocytosis at the onset of the disease. The therapeutic approach involves medical support, cytoreductive treatment, and/or leukapheresis. Despite WBC count greater than 100.000/μL, not all patients develop symptoms. To clarify the role of leukapheresis in the setting of hyperleukocytotic AML, we aimed to find associations between AML morphologic subtypes and molecular alterations on presence or absence of leukostasis symptoms (and hence therapeutic vs prophylactic leukapheresis) and clinical outcomes in the cohort of 41 patients at our single center who underwent leukapheresis for hyperleukocytotic AML. There was a trend for increased WBC count, 30-day mortality, M4-M5 AML subtypes, and number of leukapheresis procedures performed in symptomatic hyperleukocytotic pts. No molecular marker was significantly associated with presence or absence of leukostasis symptoms due to small sample size, though there was a trend for increased NPM1-mutated and NPM1 + FLT3-mutated AML in asymptomatic patients and a greater proportion of symptomatic patients who were negative for all assessed molecular alterations. In conclusion, leukapheresis combined with cytoreductive treatment represents a synergic and efficient approach in the management of hyperleukocytosis especially in symptomatic patients considering the higher mortality independently from the presence of specific clonal markers whose distribution among the two groups may result more considerable with a higher number of patients.

Peripheral Blood Allogeneic Stem Cell Mobilization: Can We Predict a Suboptimal Mobilization?

Allogeneic peripheral blood stem cells mobilization is now the basis of most stem cell transplants. In a very limited number of cases, mobilization is suboptimal leading to further collection procedures, to suboptimal cell doses infusion with delayed engraftment time, increased risks of transplant procedure and of related costs. To date we have no recognized and shared criteria for early estimating the probability of poor mobilization in healthy donors. We then analyzed allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell donations performed at the Fondazione Policlinico Universitario A.Gemelli IRCCS Hospital from January 2013 to December 2021 in order to identify premobilization factors associated with successful mobilization. The following data were collected: age, gender, weight, complete blood cell count at baseline, G-CSF dose, number of collection procedures, CD34+ cell count in peripheral blood on the first day of collection, CD34+ cell dose per kg body weight of recipient. Mobilization efficacy was defined according to the number of CD34+ cells in peripheral blood on day +5 of G-CSF administration. We classified donors as sub-optimal mobilizers or good mobilizers according to the achievement of the 50 CD34+ cell/μL threshold. We observed 30 suboptimal mobilizations in 158 allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell donations. Age and baseline white blood cell count were factors significantly associated with negative or positive impact on mobilization, respectively. We did not find significant differences in mobilization based on gender or G-CSF dose. Using cut-off values of 43 years and 5.5×10⁹/L WBC count, we built a suboptimal mobilization score: donors who reach 2, 1 or 0 points have a 46%, 16% or 4% probability of suboptimal mobilization, respectively. Our model explains 26% of the variability of mobilization confirming that most of the mobilization magnitude depends on genetically determined factors; however, suboptimal mobilization score is a simple tool providing an early assessment of mobilization efficacy before G-CSF administration begins in order to support allogeneic stem cells selection, mobilization and collection. Through a systematic review, we looked for confirmation of our findings. According to the published articles, all the variables we included in our model are confirmed to be strongly related to the success of mobilization. We believe that score system approach could be applied in clinical practice to assess the risk of mobilization failure at baseline allowing for a priori intervention.

Successful stem cell collection for atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor in an extremely low-body weight child: A case report

The use of peripheral blood hematopoietic stem cells for bone marrow reconstitution after myeloablative therapy is well established in children with malignant disorders. However, the peripheral blood hematopoietic stem cells collection in very low-body weight (≤10 kg) children remains a significant challenge because of technical and clinical issues. A male newborn affected by atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor, diagnosed prenatally, received two cycles of chemotherapy following surgical resection. After an interdisciplinary discussion, it was decided to intensify the treatment with high-dose chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell transplantation. After 7 days of G-CSF administration the patient underwent hematopoietic progenitor cells-apheresis collection. The procedure was performed in the pediatric intensive care unit, using two central venous catheters and Spectra Optia device. The cell collection procedure was completed in 200 min, during which time 3.9 total blood volumes were processed. During apheresis we did not observe electrolyte alterations. No adverse events were recorded during or immediately following the cell collection procedure. Our report describes the feasibility of performing large volume leukapheresis without complications in an extremely low-body weight patient weighing 4.5 kg using the Spectra Optia apheresis device. No catheter-related problems occurred, and apheresis was completed without any adverse event. In conclusion, we believe that very low-body weight pediatric patients need a multidisciplinary approach to manage central venous access, hemodynamic monitoring, cell collection, prevention of metabolic complications to improve safety, feasibility, and efficiency of stem cell collection procedures.

Successful "on-demand" plerixafor for autologous peripheral blood stem-cells transplantation for relapsed/refractory germ cell tumors

Background

Germ cell tumors represent, among solid cancers, a potentially curable disease even if up to 20% to 30% of patients (pts) relapse after first‐line treatment especially considering intermediate and poor prognosis groups. In this scenario, patients are candidates for high‐dose chemotherapy and autologous stem‐cells transplantation as second‐line treatment even though stem‐cells mobilization potential can be affected by several cycles and regimens of chemotherapy. To date, plerixafor is authorized in poor mobilizer adult pts diagnosed with lymphoma or multiple myeloma and in pediatric solid tumors or lymphoma. Therefore, the use of plerixafor in adult pts with relapsing/refractory GCT is still off label.

Materials and methods

In our study, we describe mobilization and collection of peripheral blood stem cells for 10 pts with germ cell tumors. Six patients underwent plerixafor administration since classified as poor mobilizers based on WBC count (>5.000/μL) and CD34+ cell count (<15/μL) the day before apheresis procedure.

Results

On the first day of apheresis, plerixafor administration in poor mobilizers made possible a remarkable boost of CD34+ cells in such a way to overlap that of good mobilizers' (32/μL vs 35/μL, respectively, P > .05).

Conclusion

Therefore, in our experience, plerixafor made a good fraction of poor mobilizer patients eligible for mobilization and collection and able to undergo the predicted autologous stem‐cells transplantation; thus, the lack of access to the use of plerixafor in this setting of patients risks jeopardizing an effective treatment, especially in case of poor prognosis.

Inline and offline extracorporeal photopheresis: Device performance, cell yields and clinical response

BACKGROUND

Extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) is an effective treatment for graft-vs-host-disease (GvHD). Photopheresis can be performed in offline or inline method. The first uses a conventional cell separator for collection of mononuclear-cells that are photoactivated by a separate device and manually reinfused; the second one involves a dedicated device performing the entire procedure (collection, photoactivation and reinfusion).

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS

The objective was to compare the two methods and cell product features to highlight key process, devices performance, and to evaluate ECP clinical response. Patients developing steroid-resistant GvHD underwent ECP as second-line treatment using either inline (Therakos CellEx) or offline system (Terumo BCT Spectra or Optia and UVA PIT system). Data about patients' features, pre-apheresis blood-count, cell product characteristics and clinical response were collected for analysis.

RESULTS

We evaluated 494 procedures performed on 28 patients from April 2018 to March 2019. The offline procedure allows to achieve greater cell yield, it is characterized by larger processed blood volume, longer runtime, and higher ACD consumption. The inline procedure shows shorter runtime, high mononuclear-cells percentage and low percentage of granulocytes in cell product. We observed a significant difference in cell yields between inline and offline system; furthermore we did not find a significant relationship between cell dose and clinical response.

CONCLUSION

Inline ECP is fast, highly automated and productive, making it particularly suitable for ECP treatments. Offline ECP collects high cell yields implying longer procedure and greater operator intervention. Our study did not find a significant relationship between cell dose and GVHD response.

Inline extracorporeal photopheresis: evaluation of cell collection efficiency

BACKGROUND

Extracorporeal photopheresis (ECP) therapy has proved to be an effective and safe treatment for graft-versus-host-disease (GvHD), an important complication after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. In 2016, we acquired Therakos CellEx, a dedicated inline ECP device to accomplish a significant increase in ECP activity. In literature, we found few data reporting CellEx performance evaluated in terms of collection efficiency to qualify the device. Hence, we decided to collect and analyze our data in order to build a reference in terms of expected results of the procedure. Here we report our data of ECP performed using CellEx in a 12-month period focusing on collection efficiency assessment, as well as procedural and apheretic product characteristics.

STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS

We collected data of patients undergoing ECP from April 2018 to March 2019 using CellEx in order to evaluate collection efficiency.

RESULTS

Between April 2018 and March 2019 we treated 28 adult patients affected by GvHD performing 319 ECP using CellEx. CellEx mononuclear cell product was characterized by high mononuclear cell percentage and low percentage of granulocytes, resulting particularly suitable for ECP treatments. Median collection efficiency for total nucleated cells and for mononuclear cells was 31.2% and 62.3%, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Collection efficiency of CellEx was comparable to that usually obtained by cell separators designed for cell collection and was comparable to that of offline systems. Our results provide a detailed performance evaluation for inline ECP system users.

Red Cell Alloantibody Screening: Comparative Analysis of Three Different Technologies

Background

The detection of irregular antibody is a critical issue in the management of red blood cell transfusion according to the Type & Screen (T&S) practice. In order to implement the T&S procedure at our blood bank, we compared three different automated analyzers based on column agglutination technique (CAT) or solid phase red cell adherence assay (SPACA) methods.

Methods

Pre-transfusion antibody screening was performed in 986 patients candidate to elective surgery at low risk for red blood cell transfusion. We tested the following kits: the three-cell panel micro-CAT system ID-DiaCell I-II-III (DiaMed), the four-cell panel solid-phase system Capture-R Ready Screen-4 (Immucor), and the four-cell panel micro-CAT system Serascan Diana-4 (Grifols). Positive results were further investigated using corresponding identification panels, and discrepant results were investigated with all the antibody identification systems.

Results

Among 986 samples, we observed 967 concordant negative results (98.1%), 8 concordant positive results (0.8% of cases), and 11 discrepant results (1.1%). Among discrepant samples, an alloantibody could been identified in two patents (anti-M, detected by Serascan Diana-4 and ID-DiaCell I, II, III; anti-Kp^a, detected by Capture-R Ready Screen-4 and Serascan Diana-4).

Conclusion

Among the evaluated technologies, the four-cell panel micro-CAT system displayed the highest sensitivity and specificity with an optimal negative predictive value. These features might be relevant to the routine implementation of the T&S transfusion strategy.

Anemia in diffuse large B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma: the role of interleukin-6, hepcidin and erythropoietin

Anemia is a frequent sign in patients with diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) at diagnosis. We determined erythropoietin, hepcidin and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in plasma samples of 53 patients with DLBCL. The majority of patients (40/53, 75%) showed defective endogenous erythropoietin production, in particular when anemia was present (p = 0.01). Hepcidin plasma levels were significantly higher in patients compared to controls (p = 0.006), particularly in those with characteristics associated with a more active disease, including elevated lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (p = 0.0004), B-symptoms (p = 0.07) and an age-adjusted international prognostic index (IPI) score > 1 (p = 0.01). Hepcidin levels correlated strongly to ferritin (r = 0.77, p < 0.0001) and weakly to IL-6 concentrations (r = 0.30, p = 0.03), but not to hemoglobin values. IL-6 inversely correlated to hemoglobin values in both univariate and multivariate analysis (p = 0.04), including hepcidin and erythropoietin as variables. Our findings suggest that elevated hepcidin levels and inadequate erythropoietin response are frequent in DLBCL, but elevated IL-6 plays the major role for the development of anemia.

Interleukin-6 plasma levels are modulated by a polymorphism in the NF-κB1 gene and are associated with outcome following rituximab-combined chemotherapy in diffuse large B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma

Peripheral blood cytokines are known prognostic parameters in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) treated with chemotherapy, but their role after the introduction of rituximab is unknown. Seven polymorphisms in the promoter regions of IL-6, IL-10 and NF-κB1 genes were assessed in 167 patients with DLBCL and 99 controls and correlated with interleukin-6 (IL-6) and IL-10 plasma levels. Outcome was analyzed in 137 patients treated with rituximab-based chemotherapy. The NF-κB1 - 94ATTG deletion was associated with increased IL-6 and IL-10 in DLBCL. High IL-6 concentration correlated with unfavorable prognostic factors included in the international prognostic index (IPI) and predicted for inferior progression-free (p = 0.007) and overall survival (p = 0.02). IL-6 levels remained a significant outcome predictor also including IPI as a covariate (p = 0.006 for progression-free survival). Our data suggest that the NF-κB1 genetic background influences IL-6 production in DLBCL, and that high IL-6 concentration is an independent prognostic factor also in the "rituximab era."

The viral load of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA in peripheral blood predicts for biological and clinical characteristics in Hodgkin lymphoma

PURPOSE

The Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) is present in the malignant Hodgkin/Reed-Sternberg (HRS) cells of 20% to 40% cases of Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) in Western countries. We were interested in the detection and quantification of cell-free plasma EBV-DNA as an indicator of biological and clinical characteristics in EBV-associated HL.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

EBV was detected in peripheral blood compartments (whole blood, plasma, and mononuclear cells) at diagnosis by real-time PCR for the EBNA (EB nuclear antigen) region (n = 93) and in HRS cells by in situ hybridization for EBV-encoded small RNAs (EBER; n = 63). These data were correlated to histological and clinical characteristics, EBV serology, circulating cell-free DNA, and interleukin (IL)-6 levels.

RESULTS

Detection of EBV-DNA in plasma had a high specificity (90%), but a relatively low sensitivity (65%) to predict for EBV association. The viral load was higher in patients with advanced stage disease, older age in the presence of B-symptoms, and international prognostic score more than 2. The presence of EBV in HRS cells and higher plasma EBV-DNA copy numbers correlated to an increased frequency of tumor-infiltrating CD68+ macrophages in lymph node biopsies. Plasma EBV-DNA load correlated to circulating cell-free DNA and IL-6 levels, and inversely correlated to lymphocyte counts and EBNA1 antibody titers.

CONCLUSION

Although the presence of EBV-DNA in peripheral blood cannot be regarded as a surrogate marker for EBER, the plasma EBV-DNA load at HL diagnosis is an indicator of disease activity and biological characteristics associated with negative prognosis. Moreover, the inverse correlation to EBNA1 antibody titers and lymphocyte counts may indicate a reduction in immunosurveillance, favoring the expansion of EBV-HRS cells in HL.

Anemia in Hodgkin's lymphoma: the role of interleukin-6 and hepcidin

PURPOSE

Cytokines play a pivotal role in Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL). Because interleukin-6 (IL-6) induces expression of hepcidin, one of the principal regulators of iron metabolism, we studied the contribution of hepcidin in anemia in HL at diagnosis.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Plasma samples from 65 patients with HL were analyzed for hepcidin levels using a combination of weak cation exchange chromatography and time-of-flight mass spectrometry; cytokine levels were analyzed using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays and parameters of iron metabolism and acute-phase reaction.

RESULTS

Hepcidin plasma levels were significantly higher in HL patients when compared with controls, independent of the presence of anemia (P = .001). In the subset of patients with anemia, hepcidin levels inversely correlated with hemoglobin levels (P = .01). Analyzing parameters of iron metabolism, hepcidin levels showed a positive correlation with ferritin (P < .001) and an inverse correlation to iron and iron-binding capacity. Hepcidin strongly correlated to IL-6 levels (P < .001) but not to IL-10 or thymus and activation-regulated cytokine (TARC)/chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 17 (CCL17) levels. In a multivariate regression analysis, IL-6 and fibrinogen levels were independently associated with hepcidin. Higher hepcidin levels were observed in patients with more aggressive disease characteristics: stage IV disease (P = .01), presence of B symptoms (P = .03), and International Prognostic Score > 2 (P = .005).

CONCLUSION

Our findings suggest that in HL, hepcidin is upregulated by IL-6. Elevated hepcidin levels result in iron restriction and signs of anemia of chronic inflammation, although hepcidin-independent mechanisms contribute to development of anemia in HL.

Glutathione-S-transferase genotypes influence prognosis in follicular non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma

Polymorphisms in detoxification enzymes of the glutathione S-transferase (GST) family have been associated with risk and prognosis of several cancer types. We studied deletions of GSTM1 and GSTT1, and the GSTP1 Ile(105)Val polymorphism in 89 patients with follicular lymphoma (FL). Patients with a GSTM1 or GSTT1 deletion had a significantly worse event-free survival, when compared with patients with undeleted genotype (p = 0.03 and p = 0.03, respectively). Outcome was even worse in patients with a double negative genotype, in comparison with patients with only one GST deletion or normal genotype (p = 0.01). In the multivariate analysis, the GSTM1/GSTT1 genotype tended to have a prognostic significance independent from the Follicular Lymphoma International Prognostic Index (FLIPI) score. In particular, GSTM1/T1 deletions identified patients with negative prognosis in the low (<3) FLIPI score group (p = 0.01). Larger prospective studies including homogeneously treated patients will be needed to confirm these results.

Cell-free circulating DNA in Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas

BACKGROUND

Levels of cell-free circulating DNA have been correlated to clinical characteristics and prognosis in patients with cancers of epithelial origin, while there are no data on patients with B-lymphoproliferative diseases.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Cell-free DNA levels in the plasma samples of 142 patients with lymphomas [45 with Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL), 63 with diffuse large B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (DLBCL), 24 with follicular, and 10 with mantle cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL)] at diagnosis and of 41 healthy individuals were determined using a quantitative PCR for the beta-globin gene.

RESULTS

Levels of circulating DNA in patients with HL, DLBCL, and mantle cell NHL were significantly higher than in controls (P < 0.01 for all). Increased levels of plasma DNA were associated with advanced stage disease, presence of B-symptoms, elevated lactate dehydrogenase levels, and age >60 years (P = 0.009; <0.0001; <0.0001; 0.04, respectively). In HL, histological signs of necrosis and grade 2 type of nodular sclerosis were associated with increased plasma DNA. Elevated plasma DNA levels were associated with an inferior failure-free survival in patients with HL (P = 0.01) and DLBCL (P = 0.03).

CONCLUSION

Quantification of circulating DNA by real-time PCR at diagnosis can identify patients with elevated levels that are associated with disease characteristics indicating aggressive disease and poor prognosis.

Phosphorylated STAT5 represents a new possible prognostic marker in Hodgkin lymphoma

An important pathogenetic mechanism in Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is the interaction between the neoplastic and reactive cells mediated by a complex network of cytokines with activation of cytokine signal transduction (STAT) pathways. We studied the prognostic impact of the phosphorylation status of STAT5 in HL. By using immunohistochemical analysis, we found phosphorylated STAT5 (pSTAT5) in 35 (38%) of 93 lymph node biopsy specimens of patients with HL. The detection of pSTAT5 in Hodgkin and Reed-Sternberg (HRS) cells in classical HL (cHL) was not associated with any clinical and biologic features evaluated, including Epstein-Barr virus status. The primary end point for analysis of clinical outcome was freedom from treatment failure (FFTF). At a median follow-up of 5 years, pSTAT5+ patients with cHL had a better FFTF than pSTAT5-patients (77% vs 56%; P = .03), which translated into a reduced risk for failure for pSTAT5+ patients with a hazard ratio of 0.2 (95% confidence interval, 0.06-0.73; P = .015). Our data suggest that the phosphorylation status of STAT5 of HRS cells in cHL could be a prognostic marker in HL.

Polymorphism in cytokine genes as prognostic markers in Hodgkin's lymphoma

BACKGROUND

In Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL), the production of cytokines by Reed-Sternberg cells and the surrounding tissue is thought to contribute to the biology of the disease. Cytokine expression can be altered by common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the 5'-promoter regions.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

We studied polymorphic allele variants of the cytokine genes interleukin (IL)-10 (T-3575A, G-2849A, C-2763A, A-1082G and C-592A), IL-6 (G-174C) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (C-863A and G-308A) in 184 patients with HL, and analyzed for associations with treatment outcome.

RESULTS

Carriers of the IL-10-592AA and the IL-6-174GG genotypes had a significantly lower probability of freedom from treatment failure (FFTF) with adjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for failure of 2.92 [95% CI (confidence interval) 1.58-5.41, P = 0.001] and of 1.75 (95% CI 1.04-2.92, P = 0.03), respectively. Reconstructing haplotypes from the five SNPs in the IL-10 promoter revealed that homozygous carriers of the IL-10.4 haplotype (T-G-C-A-A) had a worse FFTF (HR, 2.35; 95% CI 1.2-4.6, P = 0.01). In the Cox multivariate analysis, the IL-10-592AA, the IL-6-174GG genotypes and stage were independent prognostic factors.

CONCLUSIONS

Our study indicates that cytokine genotypes predict clinical outcome in patients with HL and points to the importance of the genetic background of the host for treatment response.

DAP-kinase hypermethylation in the bone marrow of patients with follicular lymphoma

We studied whether DAP-kinase hypermethylation plays a role as a prognostic marker in patients with follicular lymphoma (FL). We found that DAP-kinase was frequently hypermethylated in bone marrow (BM) samples of 52 FL patients at diagnosis (71%) and identified patients with worse progression-free survival (p=0.06). In particular, patients with histologically proven BM infiltration and DAP-kinase hypermethylation had a poorer outcome (p=0.037). In a total of 170 BM samples obtained at diagnosis or during follow-up, DAP-kinase hypermethylation and the bcl2/IgH rearrangement gave concordant results in 67% of samples (48% both positive, 19% both negative). Both mrakers were independent predictors of the disease status (p<0.001).

Glutathione S-transferase P1 genotype and prognosis in Hodgkin's lymphoma

PURPOSE

Glutathione S-transferase P1 (GSTP1) is a member of the GST enzyme superfamily that is important for the detoxification of several cytotoxic drugs and their by-products. A single nucleotide polymorphism results in the substitution of isoleucine (Ile) to valine (Val) at codon 105, causing a metabolically less active variant of the enzyme. We assessed the impact of the GSTP1 codon 105 genotype on treatment outcome in patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma.

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

The Ile(105)Val polymorphism in the GSTP1 gene was analyzed using a PCR-RFLP technique. Ninety-seven patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma were included and associations with patient characteristics and treatment outcome were analyzed.

RESULTS

The GSTP1 Ile(105)Val polymorphism was associated in a dose-dependent fashion with an improved failure-free survival in patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma (P = 0.02). The probability of 5-year survival for patients homozygous for the (105)Val/(105)Val GSTP1 genotype was 100%, for heterozygous patients 74% (95% confidence interval, 56-85), and for patients homozygous for the (105)Ile/(105)Ile genotype 43% (95% confidence interval, 23-61). The Cox multivariate analysis showed that GSTP1 codon 105 genotype was an independent prognostic factor.

CONCLUSIONS

The GSTP1 genotype predicts clinical outcome in patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Polymorphisms of CYP1A1 and glutathione S-transferase and susceptibility to adult acute myeloid leukemia

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

The origin of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) may be explained by a combination of genetic susceptibility factors and environmental exposure. We studied the polymorphisms of cytochrome P450 CYP1A1 and glutathione S-transferase (GST), enzymes involved in the metabolism of carcinogens and anti-cancer drugs, as risk factors for adult AML.

DESIGN AND METHODS

The prevalence of CYP1A1*2A, *2B and *4 alleles and of GSTM1 and GSTT1 homozygous deletions was examined in 193 patients with AML and 273 normal individuals using polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-based methods.

RESULTS

A higher prevalence of the CYP1A1*4 allele was found in AML patients than in controls (19.1% vs 9.9%, OR =2.2, 95% C.I. 1.3-3.7, p=0.006). GSTT1 homozygous deletions were also more frequent in AML patients (29% vs 19%, OR = 1.7, 95% CI 1.1-2.7, p=0.02). The combination of GSTT1 null genotype and CYP1A1 *2B and *4 alleles further increased the risk of AML (OR =10.2, 95% CI 1.2-83.9, p=0.01, and OR =7.0, 95% CI 2.0-24.8, p=0.001, respectively).

INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSIONS

Polymorphic variants in xenobiotic-metabolism genes, including CYP1A1 and GSTT1, may increase the risk of adult AML, particularly when present together.

Association between glutathione S-transferase genotypes and Hodgkin's lymphoma risk and prognosis

PURPOSE

The interplay between genetic susceptibility and exposure to carcinogens has been shown to be involved in the etiology of many solid tumors. We studied the frequency and clinical correlates of polymorphisms resulting in deletions of two genes involved in the detoxification of potentially carcinogenic agents, glutathione S-transferase (GST)-M1 and GSTT1 in patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL).

EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN

The prevalence of gene deletions in 90 patients with HL was compared with a case-matched cohort of 176 normal blood donors. GST gene polymorphisms were studied using a multiplex PCR method, including the BCL2 gene as an internal control.

RESULTS

Deletions of the GSTT1 gene were more frequent in cases compared with controls (28.9 versus 17.6%, P = 0.04), resulting in an increased risk for HL in individuals with the GSTT1-null genotype (odds risk, 1.9; 95% confidence interval 1.04-3.46). The GSTT1-null genotype particularly increased the HL risk in females aged <45 years (odds risk 6.1, 95% confidence interval 1.6-23, P = 0.008). Correlating patient characteristics to genotype, we found an association between the GSTT1-null genotype and a limited stage of disease (I/IIA versus IIB-IV, 40.6 versus 19.6%, P = 0.047) and an erythrocyte sedimentation rate of <50 mm/h (P = 0.02). Patients with at least one GST deletion (GSTM1- or GSTT1-) had a significant better disease-free survival when compared with those with undeleted GST genes (GSTM1+/GSTT1+; P = 0.012).

CONCLUSIONS

The GSTT1-null genotype may increase the risk for HL and is associated with favorable prognostic factors, and the presence of at least one GST deletion indicates an improved disease-free survival.

Use of a constraint satisfaction network model for the evaluation of the methadone treatments of drug addicts

Constraint Satisfaction Networks were used by Semeion, a Research Center of Science of Communication, in order to analyze drug-addict patient data files, provided by the Jerusalem Methadone Treatment Center. The short and partial analysis carried out in this article is presented to show how this high technology can be a support for treatment staff in order to improve the quality and the timeliness of the necessary intervention with patients. One of the problems for which the networks could offer support is, for example, the individuation or "matching" of the most suitable therapy for the patient during the treatment planning phase. In this field the networks need to analyze data files of patients in therapy at different centers, with the results collected after many years of observation. What follows, obviously, only has demonstrative values.