Articles related to LEUKEMIA

In this video, Dr. Talha Munir, a hematology consultant at St. James’s Hospital in Leeds, UK, discusses the treatment options for a 76-year-old gentleman with Binet stage C and Rai stage 3 CLL with unmutated IGHV status and ATM gene deletion. Chemoimmunotherapy is excluded due to the patient’s condition, and the chosen treatment is venetoclax with obinutuzumab as fixed-duration therapy for 12 months. Continuous BTK-inhibitor therapy may also be an option, but the patient preferred fixed-duration therapy. The patient’s history of ischemic heart disease and need for antiplatelet therapy were also considered, with aspirin use indicating acalabrutinib or ibrutinib may be reasonable. Fixed-duration ibrutinib with venetoclax is also an option, though not yet licensed, and targeted drugs can mitigate the negative impact of ATM gene deletion.

This CME program discusses how Bruton’s tyrosine kinase inhibitors (BTKi) have improved treatment for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), and other B-cell malignancies. However, due to adverse events and treatment resistance, many patients discontinue treatment. A new generation of BTKi with a different mechanism of action (MOA) is emerging as a possible alternative. The program presents four modules that discuss the MOAs of covalent and non-covalent BTKi, current practices for using BTKi in treatment of CLL and MCL, the efficacy and safety data for novel BTKi, and the potential role of non-covalent BTKi in future treatment plans.

The authors evaluated the treatment approaches and outcomes of 110 patients with primary plasma cell leukemia (pPCL) in this retrospective study . Higher complete response rates were associated with treatment with bortezomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone (VRd) or daratumumab-based quadruplets (DBQ) and autologous stem-cell transplantation. Patients who received VRd/DBQ had better outcomes than those who received other bortezomib-based combinations or standard chemotherapy.

CLL affects more than 200,000 people in the United States, and it is responsible for approximately 4,410 deaths each year. Approximately two-thirds of patients require treatment at some point. BTK inhibitors such as acalabrutinib, zanubrutinib, ibrutinib, and pirtobrutinib, as well as BCL2 inhibitors such as venetoclax, are examples of highly effective novel targeted agents.

The findings of this randomized clinical trial support the notion that, despite improved DFS, patients 60 years or younger with intermediate-risk AML, as defined by Medical Research Council cytogenetic criteria, do not benefit from allo-HCT during first CR in terms of OS. Early identification of a suitable donor allows for the timely rescue of patients who have relapsed following conventional consolidation chemotherapy. Future research that uses longitudinal monitoring of residual disease dynamics will aid in personalizing the optimal time point for allo-HCT in the majority of patients.

Researchers studying acute myeloid leukemia (AML) have been able to better characterize the disease, improve risk-stratification methods, and create new treatments thanks to the era of genomic medicine. Despite major advancements, AML’s extremely intricate and plastic cellular architecture means that it is still a fatal malignancy. Because it makes it difficult to pinpoint and then eliminate the cells that cause leukemogenesis and therapy failure, this level of heterogeneity continues to be a significant obstacle. Single-cell genomics has made unheard-of advancements in the study of cellular heterogeneity in recent years, and it shows promise for the investigation of AML.