CD90/Thy-1 is preferentially expressed on blast cells of high risk acute myeloid leukaemias

Different transformation mechanisms have been proposed for elderly acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) and secondary AML (sAML) when compared with de novo AML or AML of younger patients. However, little is known regarding differences in the immunophenotypic profile of blast cells in these diseases. We systematically analysed, by flow cytometry, 148 patients affected by de novo (100 cases) or sAML (48 cases). By defining a cut-off level of 20% of CD34+ cells co-expressing CD90, the frequency of CD90+ cases was higher in sAML (40%) versus de novo AML (6%, P < 0.001), elderly AML (>60 years) (24%) versus AML of younger patients (10%, P = 0.010) and poor- versus good-risk karyotypes (according to the Medical Research Council classification, P < 0.001). The correlation between CD90 expression, sAML and unfavourable karyotypes was confirmed by analysing the subset of CD34+ AML cases alone (91/148). Consistently, univariate analysis showed that expression of CD90 was statistically relevant in predicting a shorter survival in CD90+ AML patients (P = 0.042). Our results, demonstrating CD90 expression in AML with unfavourable clinical and biological features, suggest an origin of these diseases from a CD90-expressing haemopoietic progenitor and indicate the use of CD90 as an additional marker of prognostic value in AML

&#947;-Herpesvirus load as surrogate marker of early death in HIV-1 lymphoma patients submitted to high dose chemotherapy and autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation

Autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) is a feasible procedure for human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) lymphoma patients, whose underlying disease and intrinsic HIV-1-and ASCT-associated immunodeficiency might increase the risk for \u3b3-herpesvirus load persistence and/or reactivation. We evaluated this hypothesis by investigating the levels of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)- and Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV)-DNA levels in the peripheral blood of 22 HIV-1-associated lymphoma patients during ASCT, highlighting their relationship with \u3b3-herpesvirus lymphoma status, immunological parameters, and clinical events. EBV-DNA was detected in the pre-treatment plasma and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of 12 (median 12135 copies/mL) and 18 patients (median 417 copies/106 PBMCs), respectively; the values in the two compartments were correlated (r = 0.77, p = 0.0001). Only EBV-positive lymphomas showed detectable levels of plasma EBV-DNA. After debulking chemotherapy, plasma EBV-DNA was associated with lymphoma chemosensitivity (p = 0.03) and a significant higher mortality risk by multivariate Cox analysis adjusted for EBV-lymphoma status (HR, 10.46, 95% CI, 1.11-98.32, p = 0.04). After infusion, EBV-DNA was detectable in five EBV-positive lymphoma patients who died within six months. KSHV-DNA load was positive in only one patient, who died from primary effusion lymphoma. Fluctuations in levels of KSHV-DNA reflected the patient's therapy and evolution of his underlying lymphoma. Other \u3b3-herpesvirus-associated malignancies, such as multicentric Castleman disease and Kaposi sarcoma, or end-organ complications after salvage treatment were not found. Overall, these findings suggest a prognostic and predictive value of EBV-DNA and KSHV-DNA, the monitoring of which could be a simple, complementary tool for the management of \u3b3-herpesvirus-positive lymphomas in HIV-1 patients submitted to ASCT

Thyroid cancer in children and adolescents.

AIMS AND BACKGROUND: It was the aim of this paper to report clinical and pathologic characteristics and outcome of treatment in terms of relapse-free and overall survival in 36 patients under 20 years of age and treated for thyroid cancer at Padua University Hospital from January 1968 to December 1988 and followed until December 1992. METHODS: The median follow-up was 112 months (range 3 to 228 months). Age at diagnosis ranged from 4 to 20 years with a mean age of 15 years and a male/female ratio of 1:2.9. A thyroid nodule or a laterocervical mass was the most frequent sign of presentation. The routine diagnosis schedule included thyroid scintigram, neck echotomography and in the last decade fine needle aspiration biopsy. RESULTS: Sixteen (28%) patients had a family history of thyroid disease. Histology revealed that papillary carcinoma was present in 43 patients (76.8%), follicular carcinoma in 9 (16%), medullary carcinoma in 2 (3.6%) and lymphoma in 2 (3.6%). Fifty-four patients were treated with total thyroidectomy, of these 34 had bilateral neck dissection and 20 unilateral nodal dissection; 2 patients underwent simple lobectomy with unilateral dissection. Nodal involvement was present in 41 (73%) cases, and synchronous visceral metastases were detected with scan and/or chest X-ray in 10 (18%) cases. In the case of differentiated thyroid carcinoma, patients with residual disease or thyroid remnants were treated with 131I metabolic therapy. All patients were put on suppressive hormone therapy. At this writing, 52 (93%) patients were in complete remission and 4 (7%) had persistent disease. Recurrences developed in 2 (3.5%) patients: one presented lung metachronus metastases and one local recurrence; no deaths have occurred. CONCLUSIONS: From this experience, total thyroidectomy appears to be the appropriate approach for differentiated tumors in children and adolescents because the disease is often diffuse, secondary deposits may be easily detected, and the value of thyroglobulin measurement can be improved. Following this strategy, overall recurrence risk was low and 131I therapy was curative in patients with nodal and lung metastases

Observed and Modeled Global Ocean Turbulence Regimes as Deduced from Surface Trajectory Data

A large-scale tool for systematic analyses of the dispersal and turbulent properties of ocean currents and the subsequent separation of dynamical regimes according to the prevailing trajectories taxonomy in a certain area was proposed by Rupolo. In the present study, this methodology has been extended to the analysis of model trajectories obtained by analytical computations of the particle advection equation using the Lagrangian open-source software package Tracing the Water Masses of the North Atlantic and the Mediterranean (TRACMASS), and intercomparisons have been made between the surface velocity fields from three different configurations of the global Nucleus for European Modelling of the Ocean (NEMO) ocean/sea ice general circulation model. Lagrangian time scales of the observed and synthetic trajectory datasets have been calculated by means of inverse Lagrangian stochastic modeling, and the influence of the model field spatial and temporal resolution on the analyses has been investigated. In global-scale ocean modeling, compromises are frequently made in terms of grid resolution and time averaging of the output fields because high-resolution data require considerable amounts of storage space. Here, the implications of such approximations on the modeled velocity fields and, consequently, on the particle dispersion, have been assessed through validation against observed drifter tracks. This study aims, moreover, to shed some light on the relatively unknown turbulent properties of near-surface ocean dynamics and their representation in numerical models globally and in a number of key regions. These results could be of interest for other studies within the field of turbulent eddy diffusion parameterization in ocean models or ocean circulation studies involving long-term coarse-grid model experiments