Blood Podcast

In this week’s episode, we’ll review a detailed safety profile of acalabrutinib versus ibrutinib in patients with previously treated chronic lymphocytic leukemia, discuss a report that leukocyte inflammation contributes to trauma-induced coagulopathy by oxidation and degradation of fibrinogen, and finally, discuss a pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic analysis that shows higher abatacept exposure decreases occurrence of acute graft versus host disease (GVHD) after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) from an unrelated donor. 

In this week’s episode, we’ll discuss pembrolizumab after autologous stem cell transplantation in patients with peripheral T-cell lymphoma. Newly reported phase 2 study results show that blocking PD-1 with pembrolizumab had a favorable safety profile and demonstrated promising activity, supporting further confirmatory studies in this setting; germline genetic predisposition to myeloid neoplasms in patients with hypoplastic bone marrow. Researchers report mutations that are significantly associated with cytopenias in adulthood in these patients. And pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants were linked to severe cytopenias and advanced myeloid malignancies; and finally, if monocytes and their descendants are less plastic than previously thought. Investigators have identified four functionally specialized monocyte subsets that derive from specific myeloid progenitor lineages. They show that the fate of these monocyte subsets is epigenetically scripted, with little flexibility after differentiation begins, even under conditions of stress.

In this week’s bonus episode of Blood Podcast, Associate Editor, Dr. John Crispino discusses the Review Series on Hematopoietic Stem Cells with authors, Dr. David Kent and Dr. Jennifer Trowbridge.    Review Series on Hematopoietic Stem Cells

In this week's episode, we’ll learn more about what whole genome sequencing reveals about genetic subtypes of follicular lymphoma and risk of transformation, discuss the role of the lipid mediator, resolvin D4, in infectious neutrophil deployment and emergency granulopoiesis, and learn more about Hodgkin lymphoma-directed therapy and the role of PET in early-stage nodular lymphocyte-predominant Hodgkin lymphoma. 

In this week's episode, we'll learn more about ventricular arrhythmias in sickle cell anemia, discuss the molecular heterogeneity of pediatric monomorphic post–solid organ transplant lymphoproliferative disorders, and uncover the role of the bone marrow microenvironment as a driver of myeloid disorders.

In this week’s episode, we discuss the impact of silent cerebral infarction in patients with immune mediated thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (or iTTP) in clinical remission, how the survival of leukemia stem cells is highly dependent on oxidative phosphorylation in the mitochondria, and targeting iron import as a potential therapeutic approach in aggressive natural killer cell leukemia (or ANKL).

In this week's episode, we’ll learn more about poverty and relapse risk in children with ALL, discuss eligibility criteria and enrollment of diverse racial and ethnic populations in multiple myeloma clinical trials, and learn more about clonal hematopoiesis in VEXAS syndrome.

In this week's episode, we'll discuss if some patients with relapsed or refractory primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma can be cured by checkpoint blockade alone. Next, autologous CAR T cells are highly effective, yet not always feasible in children with relapsed or refractory B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Lastly, we'll discuss ironing out beta-thalassemia during pregnancy.

In this week's episode, we’ll discuss the findings from a study attempting gene therapy for WHIM syndrome for the first time, learn more about the fate of hematopoietic stem cells after transplantation, and discuss the role of C-terminal FGF23 peptides in iron conservation.

In this week's episode, we'll discuss new evidence on the critical role of hepcidin, the master regulator of iron metabolism, in the pathogenesis of polycythemia vera. Next, costimulatory molecules regulate mechanisms of CAR T cell dysfunction. Finally, we'll discuss how TREM2 is a novel receptor for IL-34, promoting differentiation of normal and leukemic myeloid cells.