Sixth Åland Island Conference on von Willebrand disease

Introduction The sixth angstrom land Islands Conference on von Willebrand disease (VWD) on the angstrom land Islands, Finland, was held from 20 to 22 September 2018. Aim The meeting brought together experts in the field of VWD from around the world to share the latest advances and knowledge in VWD. Results and discussion The topics covered both clinical aspects of disease management, and biochemical and laboratory insights into the disease. The clinical topics discussed included epidemiology, diagnosis and treatment of VWD in different countries, management of children with VWD, bleeding control during surgery, specific considerations for the management of type 3 VWD and bleeding control in women with VWD. Current approaches to the management of acquired von Willebrand syndrome were also discussed. Despite significant advances in the understanding and therapeutic options for VWD, there remain many challenges to be overcome in order to optimise patient care. In comparison with haemophilia A, there are very few registries of VWD patients, which would be a valuable source of data on the condition and its management. VWD is still underdiagnosed, and many patients suffer recurrent or severe bleeding that could be prevented. Awareness of VWD among healthcare practitioners, including non-haematologists, should be improved to allow timely diagnosis and intervention. Diagnosis remains challenging, and the development of fast, simple assays may help to facilitate accurate and rapid diagnosis of VWD.Peer reviewe

Long-term thermal sensitivity of Earth’s tropical forests

The sensitivity of tropical forest carbon to climate is a key uncertainty in predicting global climate change. Although short-term drying and warming are known to affect forests, it is unknown if such effects translate into long-term responses. Here, we analyze 590 permanent plots measured across the tropics to derive the equilibrium climate controls on forest carbon. Maximum temperature is the most important predictor of aboveground biomass (−9.1 megagrams of carbon per hectare per degree Celsius), primarily by reducing woody productivity, and has a greater impact per °C in the hottest forests (>32.2°C). Our results nevertheless reveal greater thermal resilience than observations of short-term variation imply. To realize the long-term climate adaptation potential of tropical forests requires both protecting them and stabilizing Earth’s climate

The global abundance of tree palms

Aim Palms are an iconic, diverse and often abundant component of tropical ecosystems that provide many ecosystem services. Being monocots, tree palms are evolutionarily, morphologically and physiologically distinct from other trees, and these differences have important consequences for ecosystem services (e.g., carbon sequestration and storage) and in terms of responses to climate change. We quantified global patterns of tree palm relative abundance to help improve understanding of tropical forests and reduce uncertainty about these ecosystems under climate change. Location Tropical and subtropical moist forests. Time period Current. Major taxa studied Palms (Arecaceae). Methods We assembled a pantropical dataset of 2,548 forest plots (covering 1,191 ha) and quantified tree palm (i.e., ≥10 cm diameter at breast height) abundance relative to co‐occurring non‐palm trees. We compared the relative abundance of tree palms across biogeographical realms and tested for associations with palaeoclimate stability, current climate, edaphic conditions and metrics of forest structure. Results On average, the relative abundance of tree palms was more than five times larger between Neotropical locations and other biogeographical realms. Tree palms were absent in most locations outside the Neotropics but present in >80% of Neotropical locations. The relative abundance of tree palms was more strongly associated with local conditions (e.g., higher mean annual precipitation, lower soil fertility, shallower water table and lower plot mean wood density) than metrics of long‐term climate stability. Life‐form diversity also influenced the patterns; palm assemblages outside the Neotropics comprise many non‐tree (e.g., climbing) palms. Finally, we show that tree palms can influence estimates of above‐ground biomass, but the magnitude and direction of the effect require additional work. Conclusions Tree palms are not only quintessentially tropical, but they are also overwhelmingly Neotropical. Future work to understand the contributions of tree palms to biomass estimates and carbon cycling will be particularly crucial in Neotropical forests

31st Annual Meeting and Associated Programs of the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC 2016) : part two

Background The immunological escape of tumors represents one of the main ob- stacles to the treatment of malignancies. The blockade of PD-1 or CTLA-4 receptors represented a milestone in the history of immunotherapy. However, immune checkpoint inhibitors seem to be effective in specific cohorts of patients. It has been proposed that their efficacy relies on the presence of an immunological response. Thus, we hypothesized that disruption of the PD-L1/PD-1 axis would synergize with our oncolytic vaccine platform PeptiCRAd. Methods We used murine B16OVA in vivo tumor models and flow cytometry analysis to investigate the immunological background. Results First, we found that high-burden B16OVA tumors were refractory to combination immunotherapy. However, with a more aggressive schedule, tumors with a lower burden were more susceptible to the combination of PeptiCRAd and PD-L1 blockade. The therapy signifi- cantly increased the median survival of mice (Fig. 7). Interestingly, the reduced growth of contralaterally injected B16F10 cells sug- gested the presence of a long lasting immunological memory also against non-targeted antigens. Concerning the functional state of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs), we found that all the immune therapies would enhance the percentage of activated (PD-1pos TIM- 3neg) T lymphocytes and reduce the amount of exhausted (PD-1pos TIM-3pos) cells compared to placebo. As expected, we found that PeptiCRAd monotherapy could increase the number of antigen spe- cific CD8+ T cells compared to other treatments. However, only the combination with PD-L1 blockade could significantly increase the ra- tio between activated and exhausted pentamer positive cells (p= 0.0058), suggesting that by disrupting the PD-1/PD-L1 axis we could decrease the amount of dysfunctional antigen specific T cells. We ob- served that the anatomical location deeply influenced the state of CD4+ and CD8+ T lymphocytes. In fact, TIM-3 expression was in- creased by 2 fold on TILs compared to splenic and lymphoid T cells. In the CD8+ compartment, the expression of PD-1 on the surface seemed to be restricted to the tumor micro-environment, while CD4 + T cells had a high expression of PD-1 also in lymphoid organs. Interestingly, we found that the levels of PD-1 were significantly higher on CD8+ T cells than on CD4+ T cells into the tumor micro- environment (p < 0.0001). Conclusions In conclusion, we demonstrated that the efficacy of immune check- point inhibitors might be strongly enhanced by their combination with cancer vaccines. PeptiCRAd was able to increase the number of antigen-specific T cells and PD-L1 blockade prevented their exhaus- tion, resulting in long-lasting immunological memory and increased median survival

Matching-Adjusted Indirect Comparison between Personalized Prophylaxis with Simoctocog Alfa Versus Standard Prophylaxis with Emicizumab in Adults with Hemophilia a

Background: Personalized prophylaxis with factor VIII (FVIII) concentrates remains the mainstay therapy for patients with severe hemophilia A. The bispecific monoclonal antibody emicizumab, which mimics FVIII function, is also approved for prophylaxis in hemophilia A patients. Head-to-head comparative studies on the relative efficacy of different therapeutic strategies are not feasible in a rare disease such as hemophilia A. In such situations, the use of indirect comparison methods can help to compare relative efficacies. Matching-adjusted indirect comparison (MAIC) is a well-established statistical method to indirectly compare outcomes from separate clinical studies. It can be used to adjust for differences in patient characteristics between studies, with the goal to reduce bias in the treatment effect estimates which can occur with comparison of efficacy data across clinical trials. Aims: To indirectly compare the efficacy of a pharmacokinetics (PK)-guided personalized prophylaxis regimen with a recombinant, fourth generation, FVIII concentrate, simoctocog alfa (Nuwiq ®), against standard prophylaxis with the bispecific monoclonal antibody emicizumab (Hemlibra ®) in patients with hemophilia A using MAIC methodology. Methods: After matching study populations, accounting for clinically important baseline characteristics,individual patient-level data (IPD) from 65 patients treated with simoctocog alfa from the NuPreviq study were compared against aggregate data for emicizumab administered once weekly (Q1W, N=99), every 2 weeks (Q2W, N=35) or every 4 weeks (Q4W, N=41) from the HAVEN 3 and HAVEN 4 studies. All patients enrolled in all studies were male. Baseline patient variables for matching were chosen based on availability, clinical relevance and distribution overlap. Baseline age and body weight were used to re-weight the simoctocog alfa IPD to match the aggregate data reported for the emicizumab studies. Patients were removed from the NuPreviq study population if they did not meet the eligibility criteria for the comparator studies (but none were excluded from this analysis based on this). Unanchored indirect treatment comparisons were performed for various clinical outcomes using the re-weighted data for simoctocog alfa and the published comparator study data. The endpoints analyzed were total annualized bleeding rates (ABRs) and percentage of patients with zero bleeds. All endpoints considered treated and untreated bleeds. Results: No patients were excluded from the NuPreviq study population due to imposing the body weight or age criteria of the HAVEN 3 and 4 studies. After matching populations, the effective sample size for simoctocog alfa was 33.1, 39.8 and 29.1 participants for the Q1W, Q2W and Q4W comparisons, respectively. The percentage of patients with zero bleeds was significantly higher with simoctocog alfa across all 3 comparisons: simoctocog alfa (74.3%) vs emicizumab Q1W (46.5%); simoctocog alfa (70.3%) vs emicizumab Q2W (40.0%), and simoctocog alfa (81.9%) vs emicizumab Q4W (29.3%; Figure 1, Table 1). The total ABRs were significantly lower with simoctocog alfa versus emicizumab Q1W (1.5 vs 2.9) and emicizumab Q4W (1.4 vs 4.5; Table 1). When comparing simoctocog alfa versus emicizumab Q2W, the difference was not statistically significant (1.3 vs 2.6; Table 1). Conclusion: Indirect comparisons demonstrated that PK-guided, personalized prophylaxis with simoctocog alfa can lead to statistically significantly higher zero bleed rates and decreased ABRs compared with standard emicizumab prophylaxis. This MAIC analysis provides important comparative efficacy and utilization data, which can help guide patients and physicians in making decisions regarding product choice for prophylaxis regimens

Emicizumab-Kxwh for Previously Untreated Patients with Haemophilia: The Conversation Begins

Introduction: With the Federal Drug and Administration approval of the use of emicizumab from birth to adulthood, clinicians will now grapple with when to choose and offer emicizumab for routine prophylaxis, especially in previously untreated patients (PUPs). Given the overall limited real-world reported data and experience using emicizumab in PUPs, we created and administered a survey to medical providers in the United States who care for paediatric patients with haemophilia to investigate real-world practice strategies and treatment selection for PUPs. Methods: After review and endorsement by the Haemostasis and Thrombosis Research Society (HTRS), the survey was electronically distributed by e-mail to all providers included in the HTRS core member list. The survey was also sent to those providers included in a list of Haemophilia Treatment Centre (HTC) physicians (with duplicate emails reconciled). Providers needed to self-identify as ones that treat pediatric patients to be included. The survey was developed as a tiered survey with questions presented to each recipient based on their prior responses. Results: Seventy-seven completed surveys were included and analysed. All participants were active providers at a comprehensive HTC and the majority (93.4%) were practicing at an academically affiliated site. In terms of characteristics of those that answered the survey, forty-eight percent of responders reported that 1-20% of their patients had expressed interest in emicizumab. 46% of participants (34/74) reported that they would personally consider emicizumab as their prophylaxis recommendation for the majority (>50%) of their hemophilia A patients without inhibitors. 57% (44/76) reported that 1-10% of their non-inhibitor hemophilia A patients were already prescribed emicizumab prophylaxis. Each participant was then asked about his or her consideration of emicizumab as prophylaxis therapy for a 2 month old PUP. Just over the majority were unsure or said no to this consideration (51.3%) and their concerns were lack of information on safety and efficacy in this young age group and increased risk for inhibitor development. If the 2 month old PUP had a high risk of inhibitor, the majority of providers who initially were hesitant to start emicizumab prophylaxis would remain so. Of note, those providers went on to be asked if the patient had gone on to complete 50 exposure days without inhibitor development, they would then become more likely to initiate emicizumab prophylaxis therapy. Use of concurrent factor replacement was posed to all participants and there were varied responses. Discussion: Overall, our results reflect a widespread practice variation and a not yet well-standardized or defined approach for the use of emicizumab in PUPs with haemophilia A. In this survey, patient preference and individual bleeding risk were the top reasons for which a provider would consider using switching to emicizumab prophylaxis in both severe and mild/moderate haemophilia A patients. This pattern of practice reflects the current era of individualized medicine. Overall, our findings reinforce the need for more studies to investigate the outcomes of a combined treatment approach with FVIII concentrates and emicizumab focusing in the potential benefit of this approach in decreasing the risk for inhibitor development PUPs. Clinicians also feel the need for further data to help clarifying the safety of emicizumab in this population. Figure Disclosures Gupta: Novartis: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; CSL Behring: Research Funding; Novo Nordisk: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Octapharma: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Takeda-Shire: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau. Davis:Sanofi: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Kedrion: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Novo Nordisk: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; CSL Behring: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Takeda Shire: Consultancy; Spark Therapeutics: Consultancy. Corrales-Medina:Kedrion: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Bayer: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Takeda-Shire: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Octapharma: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees