Thromboembolism and bleeding in systemic amyloidosis: a review

The assessment of both thromboembolic and haemorrhagic risks and their management in systemic amyloidosis have been poorly emphasized so far. This narrative review summarizes main evidence from literature with clinical perspective. The rate of thromboembolic events is as high as 5–10% amyloidosis patients, at least in patients with cardiac involvement, with deleterious impact on prognosis. The most known pro-thrombotic factors are heart failure, atrial fibrillation, and atrial myopathy. Atrial fibrillation could occur in 20% to 75% of systemic amyloidosis patients. Cardiac thrombi are frequently observed in patients, particularly in immunoglobulin light chains (AL) amyloidosis, up to 30%, and it is advised to look for them systematically before cardioversion. In AL amyloidosis, nephrotic syndrome and the use of immunomodulatory drugs also favour thrombosis. On the other hand, the bleeding risk increases because of frequent amyloid digestive involvement as well as factor X deficiency, renal failure, and increased risk of dysautonomia-related fall

International Council for Standardization in Haematology Recommendations for Hemostasis Critical Values, Tests, and Reporting

This guidance document was prepared on behalf of the International Council for Standardization in Haematology (ICSH), the aim of which is to provide hemostasis-related guidance documents for clinical laboratories. The current ICSH document was developed by an ad hoc committee, comprising an international collection of both clinical and laboratory experts. The purpose of this ICSH document is to provide laboratory guidance for (1) identifying hemostasis (coagulation) tests that have potential patient risk based on analysis, test result, and patient presentations, (2) critical result thresholds, (3) acceptable reporting and documenting mechanisms, and (4) developing laboratory policies. The basis for these recommendations was derived from published data, expert opinion, and good laboratory practice. The committee realizes that regional and local regulations, institutional stakeholders (e.g., physicians, laboratory personnel, hospital managers), and patient types (e.g., adults, pediatric, surgical) will be additional confounders for a given laboratory in generating a critical test list, critical value thresholds, and policy. Nevertheless, we expect this guidance document will be helpful as a framework for local practice. © 2020 BMJ Publishing Group. All rights reserved

2021 Update of the International Council for Standardization in Haematology Recommendations for Laboratory Measurement of Direct Oral Anticoagulants

International audienceIn 2018, the International Council for Standardization in Haematology (ICSH) published a consensus document providing guidance for laboratories on measuring direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs). Since that publication, several significant changes related to DOACs have occurred, including the approval of a new DOAC by the Food and Drug Administration, betrixaban, and a specific DOAC reversal agent intended for use when the reversal of anticoagulation with apixaban or rivaroxaban is needed due to life-threatening or uncontrolled bleeding, andexanet alfa. In addition, this ICSH Working Party recognized areas where additional information was warranted, including patient population considerations and updates in point-of-care testing. The information in this manuscript supplements our previous ICSH DOAC laboratory guidance document. The recommendations provided are based on (1) information from peer-reviewed publications about laboratory measurement of DOACs, (2) contributing author's personal experience/expert opinion and (3) good laboratory practice

Rare predicted loss-of-function variants of type I IFN immunity genes are associated with life-threatening COVID-19

Background: We previously reported that impaired type I IFN activity, due to inborn errors of TLR3- and TLR7-dependent type I interferon (IFN) immunity or to autoantibodies against type I IFN, account for 15–20% of cases of life-threatening COVID-19 in unvaccinated patients. Therefore, the determinants of life-threatening COVID-19 remain to be identified in ~ 80% of cases. Methods: We report here a genome-wide rare variant burden association analysis in 3269 unvaccinated patients with life-threatening COVID-19, and 1373 unvaccinated SARS-CoV-2-infected individuals without pneumonia. Among the 928 patients tested for autoantibodies against type I IFN, a quarter (234) were positive and were excluded. Results: No gene reached genome-wide significance. Under a recessive model, the most significant gene with at-risk variants was TLR7, with an OR of 27.68 (95%CI 1.5–528.7, P = 1.1 × 10−4) for biochemically loss-of-function (bLOF) variants. We replicated the enrichment in rare predicted LOF (pLOF) variants at 13 influenza susceptibility loci involved in TLR3-dependent type I IFN immunity (OR = 3.70[95%CI 1.3–8.2], P = 2.1 × 10−4). This enrichment was further strengthened by (1) adding the recently reported TYK2 and TLR7 COVID-19 loci, particularly under a recessive model (OR = 19.65[95%CI 2.1–2635.4], P = 3.4 × 10−3), and (2) considering as pLOF branchpoint variants with potentially strong impacts on splicing among the 15 loci (OR = 4.40[9%CI 2.3–8.4], P = 7.7 × 10−8). Finally, the patients with pLOF/bLOF variants at these 15 loci were significantly younger (mean age [SD] = 43.3 [20.3] years) than the other patients (56.0 [17.3] years; P = 1.68 × 10−5). Conclusions: Rare variants of TLR3- and TLR7-dependent type I IFN immunity genes can underlie life-threatening COVID-19, particularly with recessive inheritance, in patients under 60 years old

A systematic review on the accumulation of prophylactic dosages of low-molecular-weight heparins (LMWHs) in patients with renal insufficiency

PURPOSE: Although therapeutic dosages of most low-molecular-weight heparins (LMWHs) are known to accumulate in patients with renal insufficiency, for the lower prophylactic dosages this has not been clearly proven. Nevertheless, dose reduction is often recommended. We conducted a systematic review to investigate whether prophylactic dosages of LMWH accumulate in renal insufficient patients. METHODS: A comprehensive search was conducted on 17 February 2015 using Embase, Medline, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane, PubMed publisher, and Google scholar. The syntax emphasized for LMWHs, impaired renal function, and pharmacokinetics. The search yielded 674 publications. After exclusion by reading the titles, abstracts, and if necessary the full paper, 11 publications remained. RESULTS: For dalteparin and tinzaparin, no accumulation was observed. Enoxaparin, on the other hand, did lead to accumulation in patients with renal insufficiency, although not in patients undergoing renal replacement therapy. Bemiparin and certoparin also did show accumulation. No data were available for nadroparin. CONCLUSIONS: In this systematic review, we show that prophylactic dosages of tinzaparin and dalteparin are likely to be safe in patients with renal insufficiency and do not need dose reduction based on the absence of accumulation. However, prophylactic dosages of enoxaparin, bemiparin, and certoparin did show accumulation in patients with a creatinine clearance (CrCl) below 30 ml/min, and therefore, dose reduction is required. The differences in occurrence of accumulation seem to depend on the mean molecular weight of LMWHs. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00228-015-1880-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Genetic Engineering by DNA Recombineering

Recombineering inserts PCR products into DNA using homologous recombination. A pair of short homology arms (50 base pairs) on the ends of a PCR cassette target the cassette to its intended location. These homology arms can be easily introduced as 5' primer overhangs during the PCR reaction. The flexibility to choose almost any pair of homology arms enables the precise modification of virtually any DNA for purposes of sequence deletion, replacement, insertion, or point mutation. Recombineering often offers significant advantages relative to previous homologous recombination methods that require the construction of cassettes with large homology arms, and relative to traditional cloning methods that become intractable for large plasmids or DNA sequences. However, the tremendous number of variables, options, and pitfalls that can be encountered when designing and performing a recombineering protocol for the first time introduce barriers that can make recombineering a challenging technique for new users to adopt. This article focuses on three recombineering protocols we have found to be particularly robust, providing a detailed guide for choosing the simplest recombineering method for a given application and for performing and troubleshooting experiments.NIH Director’s New Innovator Award (Grant 1DP2GM119162)NIAMS (Grant R01AR071443)National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships (Grant No. 1122374