The European Hematology Association Roadmap for European Hematology Research. A Consensus Document

Abstract The European Hematology Association (EHA) Roadmap for European Hematology Research highlights major achievements in diagnosis and treatment of blood disorders and identifies the greatest unmet clinical and scientific needs in those areas to enable better funded, more focused European hematology research. Initiated by the EHA, around 300 experts contributed to the consensus document, which will help European policy makers, research funders, research organizations, researchers, and patient groups make better informed decisions on hematology research. It also aims to raise public awareness of the burden of blood disorders on European society, which purely in economic terms is estimated at Euro 23 billion per year, a level of cost that is not matched in current European hematology research funding. In recent decades, hematology research has improved our fundamental understanding of the biology of blood disorders, and has improved diagnostics and treatments, sometimes in revolutionary ways. This progress highlights the potential of focused basic research programs such as this EHA Roadmap. The EHA Roadmap identifies nine sections in hematology: normal hematopoiesis, malignant lymphoid and myeloid diseases, anemias and related diseases, platelet disorders, blood coagulation and hemostatic disorders, transfusion medicine, infections in hematology, and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. These sections span 60 smaller groups of diseases or disorders. The EHA Roadmap identifies priorities and needs across the field of hematology, including those to develop targeted therapies based on genomic profiling and chemical biology, to eradicate minimal residual malignant disease, and to develop cellular immunotherapies, combination treatments, gene therapies, hematopoietic stem cell treatments, and treatments that are better tolerated by elderly patients. Received December 15, 2015. Accepted January 27, 2016. Copyright © 2016, Ferrata Storti Foundatio

A comprehensive overview of radioguided surgery using gamma detection probe technology

The concept of radioguided surgery, which was first developed some 60 years ago, involves the use of a radiation detection probe system for the intraoperative detection of radionuclides. The use of gamma detection probe technology in radioguided surgery has tremendously expanded and has evolved into what is now considered an established discipline within the practice of surgery, revolutionizing the surgical management of many malignancies, including breast cancer, melanoma, and colorectal cancer, as well as the surgical management of parathyroid disease. The impact of radioguided surgery on the surgical management of cancer patients includes providing vital and real-time information to the surgeon regarding the location and extent of disease, as well as regarding the assessment of surgical resection margins. Additionally, it has allowed the surgeon to minimize the surgical invasiveness of many diagnostic and therapeutic procedures, while still maintaining maximum benefit to the cancer patient. In the current review, we have attempted to comprehensively evaluate the history, technical aspects, and clinical applications of radioguided surgery using gamma detection probe technology

DNA vaccination favours memory rather than effector B cell responses

Following priming and boosting of mice with a DNA vector pEE6ΔS-hCGß expressing sequences encoding a transmembrane version of the β-chain of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCGβ), we failed to detect appreciable levels of specific antibody. However, subsequent challenge with hCG protein in Ribi adjuvant elicited a strong and rapid secondary immune response. This response was of comparable magnitude to that produced following priming, boosting and challenge with protein in adjuvant. Thus, DNA vaccination with this vector is as efficient in generating B cell memory as is conventional immunization, but the memory generation occurs in the absence of an overt effector response. Despite an overall similar level of specific antibody, the DNA-vaccinated mice produced hCG-specific antibodies biased towards IgG2a and IgG2b isotypes, whereas the protein-vaccinated mice produced higher levels of IgG1 antibodies. Both Th1 and Th2 cytokines (interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) and IL-4) were lower in the spleens of the DNA-immunized animals compared with the protein-Ribi-immunized animals, possibly suggesting a different level of helper T cell response to the two different modes of immunization