Cytomegalovirus infection in patients undergoing autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation

n/

Subcutaneous bolus injection of deferoxamine in adult patients affected by onco-hematologic diseases and iron overload

Background and Objective. Chelation therapy is often necessary for patients who undergo chronic transfusion therapy for myelodysplastic syndromes. In these patients, deferoxamine, the most widely used chelating agent, has been reported to be effective in reducing the iron burden and the transfusion requirement. Unfortunately, compliance with the drug, that is usually administered by slow subcutaneous infusion via a battery operated pump, is often poor, especially in elderly patients

The use of banked skin in the Burns Centre of Verona

Background. The use of glycerol and subsequent research enabling the conservation of tissues over time have led to the establishment and development of tissue banks, first in the USA and then in Europe. The Verona Tissue Bank was instituted in 2003 as the Regional Centre for the storage of skin and bone, adding to the already existing Italian banks at Turin, Milan, Cesena and Siena. This retrospective study analyses the use of banked skin (autologous and allogeneic grafts) from April 2003 (date of starting activity) to December 2007, in 171 patients with burns and four with necrotising fasciitis at the Burns Centre of Verona. Materials and methods. Homologous skin was used for superficial and deep skin burns to protect the residual structures, thus facilitating healing by spontaneous re-epithelialisation, and for deep burns after eschar removal to clean and prepare the base of the lesion for the definitive autologous graft. The placement of a homologous graft alone led to spontaneous healing of lesions in 65 patients (36 aged >15 years and 29 aged <15 years) with superficial skin burns, while the remaining 106 patients (84 aged >15 years and 22 aged <15 years) with deeper burns underwent surgery. Conclusions. The results obtained confirm the essential role of banked skin in covering superficial burns in order to protect important underlying structures and in deep burns by guaranteeing a good preparation of the base of the lesion for the subsequent definitive autologous graft. \ua9 SIMTI Servizi Srl

Mature CD10+ and immature CD10- neutrophils present in G-CSF-treated donors display opposite effects on T cells

The identification of discrete neutrophil populations, as well as the characterization of their immunoregulatory properties, is an emerging topic under extensive investigation. In such regard, the presence of circulating CD66b+ neutrophil populations, exerting either immunosuppressive or proinflammatory functions, has been described in several acute and chronic inflammatory conditions. However, due to the lack of specific markers, the precise phenotype and maturation status of these neutrophil populations remain unclear. Herein, we report that CD10, also known as common acute lymphoblastic leukemia antigen, neutral endopeptidase, or enkephalinase, can be used as a marker that, within heterogeneous populations of circulating CD66b+ neutrophils present in inflammatory conditions, clearly distinguishes the mature from the immature ones. Accordingly, we observed that the previously described immunosuppressive neutrophil population that appears in the circulation of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF)-treated donors (GDs) consists of mature CD66b+CD10+ neutrophils displaying an activated phenotype. These neutrophils inhibit proliferation and interferon \u3b3 (IFN\u3b3) production by T cells via a CD18-mediated contact-dependent arginase 1 release. By contrast, we found that immature CD66b+CD10- neutrophils, also present in GDs, display an immature morphology, promote T-cell survival, and enhance proliferation and IFN\u3b3 production by T cells. Altogether, our findings uncover that in GDs, circulating mature and immature neutrophils, distinguished by their differential CD10 expression, exert opposite immunoregulatory properties. Therefore, CD10 might be used as a phenotypic marker discriminating mature neutrophils from immature neutrophil populations present in patients with acute or chronic inflammatory conditions, as well as facilitating their isolation, to better define their specific immunoregulatory properties