Non-invasive minimal residual disease (MRD) analysis in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL)

Introduction: diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a heterogeneous disease with genetic diversity and variable outcomes. It arises from a mature clonal B cell population that exhibits clonal immunoglobulin (IG) gene rearrangements. The current standard for monitoring DLBCL response to therapy relies on the estimation of tumor reduction by CT or PET/CT scan. Clonality analysis using a next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based approach is a powerful tool not only to detect clonal B cells in lymph node tissue but also to track minimal residual disease (MRD). In this context, one major obstacle is the absence of circulating cells. cell-free DNA (cfDNA) might be the best analyte for MRD assessment, as it is easily accessible from peripheral blood (PB). MRD analysis is of great interest since it could help to identify patients at high risk of recurrence and to guide treatment decisions. Aims: to test IG heavy (IGH) and light (IGK) chain rearrangements as target of clonality using NGS on formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) lymph node biopsies and on cfDNA extracted from PB, in newly diagnosed DLBCL patients; to explore if tracking IG clones by NGS on cfDNA samples during/after treatment can be a valid non-invasive way to study MRD; to study the correlation with radiologic assessment of early and final response and with clinical variables. Results and methods: NGS-based clonality testing was performed using the LymphoTrack assay (Invivoscribe Inc, San Diego, CA) in 53 patients provided with DNA from the tumor biopsies and with cfDNA extracted from PB samples. Tumor-specific clonotypes were detected in 88.5% of 52 evaluable FFPE samples and 80.5% of 46 cfDNA samples. Clonality identification rate on cfDNA at diagnosis correlated with disease stage and a trend for association with extra-nodal disease was observed. MRD was performed by tracing the disease-specific clonotypes in plasma samples collected at interim, at the end of treatment (EOT), and at follow-up. MRD at interim was positive in 8 of the 26 evaluated cases and 67% of them subsequently relapsed; it was negative in 18 patients and 12% of them relapsed (p<0.0001). MRD at interim allowed to better categorize the 15 cases with partial response assessed by CT scans: 8 patients were MRD negative and two relapsed, 7 were MRD positive and 5 relapsed (p=0.08). MRD at EOT proved promising for the identification of patients at high risk of relapse, as the best PFS was observed in patients who achieved MRD negativity at this time point (p=0.001). Indeed, MRD was positive in 7 cases and all relapsed; of these 7 patients, only one had a positive PET/CT at EOT. Nine patients were MRD negative and never experienced relapse; 2/9 showed a PET/CT false-positive result. Finally, we showed that cfDNA was detectable in the plasma before clinical progression in most cases. Conclusions: NGS-based assays are suitable for IG-based biomarker identification and MRD analysis in plasma samples of DLBCL patients, since this analysis identifies patients with a high risk of relapse. MRD evaluation both at interim and at EOT allows to better stratify DLBCL patients’ outcome. The role of cfDNA for MRD detection and its impact on prognosis has to be further explored in larger series of DLBCL patients, in order to validate these results and to explore the possibilities of MRD-adapted therapy regimens that can ultimately improve patients’ care

Sialylation regulates migration in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Sialylation is the terminal addition of sialic acid to underlying glycans. It plays a prominent role in cell adhesion and immune regulation. Sialylated structures found on adhesion molecules, such as CD49d, mediate the interactions between cancer cells and the microenvironment, facilitating metastatic seeding in target organs. Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is a clonal B-cell malignancy characterized by the accumulation of CD5-positive B cells in the peripheral blood, bone marrow and lymph nodes. CLL cells proliferate mainly in the lymph node “proliferation centers”, where the microenvironment provides pro-survival signals. Thus, migration and homing into these protective niches play a crucial role in CLL biology. In recent years, therapeutic strategies aimed at inducing the egress of CLL cells from the lymph nodes and bone marrow into the circulation have been highly successful. In this study, the sialylation status of 79 untreated and 24 ibrutinib-treated CLL patients was characterized by flow cytometry. Moreover, the effect of sialic acid removal on migration was tested by a transwell assay. Finally, we examined the sialylation status of CD49d by Western blot analysis. We found that CLL cells are highly sialylated, particularly those characterized by an “activated” immune phenotype. Notably, sialylation regulates CLL migration through the post-translational modification of CD49d. Finally, we showed that therapeutic agents that induce CLL mobilization from their protective niches, such as ibrutinib, modulate sialic acid levels. We propose that sialylation is an important regulator of CLL trafficking and may represent a novel target to further improve CLL therapy

Off-label long acting injectable antipsychotics in real-world clinical practice: a cross-sectional analysis of prescriptive patterns from the STAR Network DEPOT study

Introduction Information on the off-label use of Long-Acting Injectable (LAI) antipsychotics in the real world is lacking. In this study, we aimed to identify the sociodemographic and clinical features of patients treated with on- vs off-label LAIs and predictors of off-label First- or Second-Generation Antipsychotic (FGA vs. SGA) LAI choice in everyday clinical practice. Method In a naturalistic national cohort of 449 patients who initiated LAI treatment in the STAR Network Depot Study, two groups were identified based on off- or on-label prescriptions. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to test several clinically relevant variables and identify those associated with the choice of FGA vs SGA prescription in the off-label group. Results SGA LAIs were more commonly prescribed in everyday practice, without significant differences in their on- and off-label use. Approximately 1 in 4 patients received an off-label prescription. In the off-label group, the most frequent diagnoses were bipolar disorder (67.5%) or any personality disorder (23.7%). FGA vs SGA LAI choice was significantly associated with BPRS thought disorder (OR = 1.22, CI95% 1.04 to 1.43, p = 0.015) and hostility/suspiciousness (OR = 0.83, CI95% 0.71 to 0.97, p = 0.017) dimensions. The likelihood of receiving an SGA LAI grew steadily with the increase of the BPRS thought disturbance score. Conversely, a preference towards prescribing an FGA was observed with higher scores at the BPRS hostility/suspiciousness subscale. Conclusion Our study is the first to identify predictors of FGA vs SGA choice in patients treated with off-label LAI antipsychotics. Demographic characteristics, i.e. age, sex, and substance/alcohol use co-morbidities did not appear to influence the choice towards FGAs or SGAs. Despite a lack of evidence, clinicians tend to favour FGA over SGA LAIs in bipolar or personality disorder patients with relevant hostility. Further research is needed to evaluate treatment adherence and clinical effectiveness of these prescriptive patterns

The Role of Attitudes Toward Medication and Treatment Adherence in the Clinical Response to LAIs: Findings From the STAR Network Depot Study

Background: Long-acting injectable (LAI) antipsychotics are efficacious in managing psychotic symptoms in people affected by severe mental disorders, such as schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. The present study aimed to investigate whether attitude toward treatment and treatment adherence represent predictors of symptoms changes over time. Methods: The STAR Network \u201cDepot Study\u201d was a naturalistic, multicenter, observational, prospective study that enrolled people initiating a LAI without restrictions on diagnosis, clinical severity or setting. Participants from 32 Italian centers were assessed at three time points: baseline, 6-month, and 12-month follow-up. Psychopathological symptoms, attitude toward medication and treatment adherence were measured using the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), the Drug Attitude Inventory (DAI-10) and the Kemp's 7-point scale, respectively. Linear mixed-effects models were used to evaluate whether attitude toward medication and treatment adherence independently predicted symptoms changes over time. Analyses were conducted on the overall sample and then stratified according to the baseline severity (BPRS < 41 or BPRS 65 41). Results: We included 461 participants of which 276 were males. The majority of participants had received a primary diagnosis of a schizophrenia spectrum disorder (71.80%) and initiated a treatment with a second-generation LAI (69.63%). BPRS, DAI-10, and Kemp's scale scores improved over time. Six linear regressions\u2014conducted considering the outcome and predictors at baseline, 6-month, and 12-month follow-up independently\u2014showed that both DAI-10 and Kemp's scale negatively associated with BPRS scores at the three considered time points. Linear mixed-effects models conducted on the overall sample did not show any significant association between attitude toward medication or treatment adherence and changes in psychiatric symptoms over time. However, after stratification according to baseline severity, we found that both DAI-10 and Kemp's scale negatively predicted changes in BPRS scores at 12-month follow-up regardless of baseline severity. The association at 6-month follow-up was confirmed only in the group with moderate or severe symptoms at baseline. Conclusion: Our findings corroborate the importance of improving the quality of relationship between clinicians and patients. Shared decision making and thorough discussions about benefits and side effects may improve the outcome in patients with severe mental disorders

Looking past the appearance: a comprehensive description of the clinical contribution of poor-quality blastocysts to increase live birth rates during cycles with aneuploidy testing

Study question: Which are the clinical benefits and risks of including poor-quality blastocysts (PQBs) in the cohort of biopsied embryos during a cycle with preimplantation genetic testing for aneuploidies (PGT-A)? Summary answer: PQBs show a worse prognosis with respect to sibling non-PQBs, but their clinical use allows an overall 2.6% increase in the number of live births (LBs) achievable after PGT-A. What is known already: PQBs

Biochemical pregnancy loss after frozen embryo transfer seems independent of embryo developmental stage and chromosomal status

Biochemical pregnancy loss (BPL), defined as serum beta-human chorionic gonadotropin levels ≥50 IU/l in at least two pregnancy tests, not associated with any ultrasonographical evidence of pregnancy, is often attributed to chromosomal abnormalities; however, no hard evidence exists to support this hypothesis. Are any IVF cycle parameters associated with the occurrence of a BPL? Retrospective study aimed at evaluating the effect of embryo developmental stage at transfer and chromosomal assessment on the BPL rate in IVF after frozen embryo transfer (FET). Specifically, 641 FET of 1179 cleavage stage untested embryos (Group A), 1021 FET of 1259 untested blastocyst stage embryos (Group B), and 789 blastocyst stage FET of 803 euploid embryos (Group C) were performed in a 6-year period. Only FET were evaluated to avoid a potential effect of ovarian stimulation on endometrial receptivity. The BPL rates were similar (n = 30/217, 13.8% in Group A; n = 37/412, 9.0% in Group B; n = 42/433, 9.7% in Group C). Neither embryo developmental stage at FET nor chromosomal assessment showed a correlation with BPL. Furthermore, logistic regression analyses did not show any association between BPL and patient, cycle and/or transfer characteristics. BPL seems independent of the embryo's developmental stage, the use of trophectoderm biopsy and the chromosomal constitution at FET. Similar BPL rates after transferring euploid blastocysts compared with both untested cleavage and blastocyst stage embryos suggest investigating the role of endometrial and other embryonic factors putatively involved in the process of implantation

Optimizing Molecular Minimal Residual Disease Analysis in Adult Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

Minimal/measurable residual disease (MRD) evaluation has resulted in a fundamental instrument to guide patient management in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). From a methodological standpoint, MRD is defined as any approach aimed at detecting and possibly quantifying residual neoplastic cells beyond the sensitivity level of cytomorphology. The molecular methods to study MRD in ALL are polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification-based approaches and are the most standardized techniques. However, there are some limitations, and emerging technologies, such as digital droplet PCR (ddPCR) and next-generation sequencing (NGS), seem to have advantages that could improve MRD analysis in ALL patients. Furthermore, other blood components, namely cell-free DNA (cfDNA), appear promising and are also being investigated for their potential role in monitoring tumor burden and response to treatment in hematologic malignancies. Based on the review of the literature and on our own data, we hereby discuss how emerging molecular technologies are helping to refine the molecular monitoring of MRD in ALL and may help to overcome some of the limitations of standard approaches, providing a benefit for the care of patients

Diagnostic-driven antifungal approach in neutropenic patients at high risk for chronic disseminated candidiasis: preliminary observations on the role of 1,3-\uce\ub2-D-glucan antigenemia and multiphasic contrast-enhanced computed tomography

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