Serum-Soluble CD163 Levels as a Prognostic Biomarker in Patients with Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma Treated with Chemoimmunotherapy.

The majority of patients with Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma (DLBCL) will respond to first-line treatment and be cured. However, the disease is heterogeneous, and biomarkers able to discriminate patients with suboptimal prognosis are needed. M2 CD163-positive tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) were shown to be implicated in DLBCL disease activity regulation. Serum-soluble CD163 (sCD163) functions as a scavenger receptor for haptoglobin-hemoglobin complexes and is mostly expressed by monocytes and macrophages. Its levels are used to determine macrophage activation. We aimed to determine serum sCD163 in a sample of DLBCL patients and study eventual correlations with parameters of disease activity or survival. Serum sCD163 levels were measured in 40 frozen sera from patients diagnosed with DLBCL and 30 healthy individuals (HIs) using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 28. The results showed that patients who achieved complete response after standard-of-care immunochemotherapy and were alive and disease-free after 12 months of follow-up but had elevated sCD163 levels (above median) at diagnosis presented a significantly worse overall survival compared to those with initial serum sCD163 levels below the median (p = 0.03). Consequently, serum sCD163 levels in patients with DLBCL may constitute a marker of long-term response to chemoimmunotherapy.

Safety and efficacy analysis of long-term follow up real-world data with ibrutinib monotherapy in 58 patients with CLL treated in a single-center in Greece.

Ibrutinib (IB) revealed high efficacy and safety profile in phase 2/3 chronic lymphocytic clinical trials. Emerging real-world-data shows similar response and survival, but higher discontinuation rates due to adverse events (AEs). We present retrospective real-world data from 58 chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients (August 2014-January 2019) treated with IB monotherapy, according to standard instructions, in a Greek single-center, focusing on safety and efficacy. Eleven untreated first line (1st L) and 47 relapsed/refractory(R/R) CLL patients received IB for 6.6(0.7-46.8) and 16.3(0.4-53.7) months, respectively. Nine percent of 1stL and 10.6% of R/R patients discontinued IB due to AEs. Atrial fibrillation (AF) was the most common discontinuation AE cause (3.5% of patients). Thirteen patients (24.5%) discontinued due to disease progression: 6 Richter transformation (RT) cases, after 10.6 months (1-35.9) and 7 CLL-progression cases, after 30.3 months (5.4-43.4) of IB initiation. IB had minimal impact on immunoglobulin G (IgG)-levels, CLL-related autoimmunity, and second primary malignancies (SPM). Our real-world data show that CLL patients present similar to clinical trials' outcomes if treated homogenously according to standard guidelines, resulting in fewer unneeded discontinuations and shrinkage of treatment armamentarium.

Efficacy-safety of Facilitated Subcutaneous Immunoglobulin in Immunodeficiency Due to Hematological Malignancies. A Single-Center Retrospective Analysis.

BACKGROUND/AIM: Hematological malignancies are frequently complicated by secondary immunodeficiency (SID). Immunoglobulin replacement with intravenous gamma globulins (IVIg) reduces infection incidence, antibiotics' need and hospitalization days in these patients. Facilitated subcutaneous immunoglobulin replacement (fSCIg) has been studied in primary immunodeficiency patients and is equally efficacious with several advantages (self-administration, same bioavailability, long infusion intervals, fewer adverse drug reactions). fSCIg has been less extensively studied in SID. We present our retrospective single-center data of fSCIg administration to hematological patients with SID, focusing on efficacy and safety issues. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Overall, 33 hematological patients with hypogammaglobulinemia were treated with fSCIg according to ESMO 2015 guidelines, between mid-October 2015 and mid-January 2018 in our Department. RESULTS: The infection rate was very low (18.1%). Shorter infusion intervals further reduced it. ADRs were rare (9%) and mild (grade 1). fSCIg managed to reduce the everyday nursery/hospital burden of our tertiary hospital. CONCLUSION: fSCIg compares favorably to IVIg replacement in SID patients.