Fungal infection frequency in newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukaemia patients treated with venetoclax plus azacitidine with or without antifungal prophylaxis.

Our observational study analysed fungal infection frequency within cohorts with versus without antifungal prophylaxis (AFP) among newly diagnosed first-line venetoclax and azacitidine (VEN + AZA)-treated acute myeloid leukaemias in Czech, Austrian and Slovak haematology centres. Among 186 patients, 85 (46%) received antifungal prophylaxis, while 101 (54%) received no prophylaxis. Fungal infections occurred in 1/85 patients with prophylaxis (1%) and 5/101 patients without prophylaxis (5%) (p = 0.222). No significant difference was recorded between cohorts with and without AFP in terms of death rate (p = 0.296) and overall survival (p = 0.844). In conclusion, most infections were not severe, developing during the first treatment-cycle and did not affect patients' overall outcome.

Breakthrough COVID-19 in vaccinated patients with hematologic malignancies: results from the EPICOVIDEHA survey.

Limited data are available on breakthrough COVID-19 in patients with hematologic malignancy (HM) after anti-severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) vaccination. Adult patients with HM, ≥1 dose of anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, and breakthrough COVID-19 between January 2021 and March 2022 were analyzed. A total of 1548 cases were included, mainly lymphoid malignancies (1181 cases, 76%). After viral sequencing in 753 cases (49%), the Omicron variant was prevalent (517, 68.7%). Most of the patients received ≤2 vaccine doses before COVID-19 (1419, 91%), mostly mRNA-based (1377, 89%). Overall, 906 patients (59%) received COVID-19-specific treatment. After 30-day follow-up from COVID-19 diagnosis, 143 patients (9%) died. The mortality rate in patients with the Omicron variant was 7.9%, comparable to other variants, with a significantly lower 30-day mortality rate than in the prevaccine era (31%). In the univariable analysis, older age (P < .001), active HM (P < .001), and severe and critical COVID-19 (P = .007 and P < .001, respectively) were associated with mortality. Conversely, patients receiving monoclonal antibodies, even for severe or critical COVID-19, had a lower mortality rate (P < .001). In the multivariable model, older age, active disease, critical COVID-19, and 2-3 comorbidities were correlated with a higher mortality, whereas monoclonal antibody administration, alone (P < .001) or combined with antivirals (P = .009), was protective. Although mortality is significantly lower than in the prevaccination era, breakthrough COVID-19 in HM is still associated with considerable mortality. Death rate was lower in patients who received monoclonal antibodies, alone or in combination with antivirals.

Survival in multiple myeloma and SARS-COV-2 infection through the COVID-19 pandemic: Results from the EPICOVIDEHA registry.

Patients affected by multiple myeloma (MM) have an increased risk of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and subsequent coronavirus (20)19 disease (COVID-19)-related death. The changing epidemiological and therapeutic scenarios suggest that there has been an improvement in severity and survival of COVID-19 during the different waves of the pandemic in the general population, but this has not been investigated yet in MM patients. Here we analyzed a large cohort of 1221 patients with MM and confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection observed between February 2020, and August 2022, in the EPICOVIDEHA registry from 132 centers around the world. Median follow-up was 52 days for the entire cohort and 83 days for survivors. Three-hundred and three patients died (24%) and COVID-19 was the primary reason for death of around 89% of them. Overall survival (OS) was significantly higher in vaccinated patients with both stable and active MM versus unvaccinated, while only a trend favoring vaccinated patients was observed in subjects with responsive MM. Vaccinated patients with at least 2 doses showed a better OS than those with one or no vaccine dose. Overall, according to pandemic waves, mortality rate decreased over time from 34% to 10%. In multivariable analysis, age, renal failure, active disease, hospital, and intensive care unit admission, were independently associated with a higher number of deaths, while a neutrophil count above 0.5 × 109 /L was found to be protective. This data suggests that MM patients remain at risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection even in the vaccination era, but their clinical outcome, in terms of OS, has progressively improved throughout the different viral phases of the pandemic.

COVID-19 in adult acute myeloid leukemia patients: a long-term follow-up study from the European Hematology Association survey (EPICOVIDEHA).

Patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are at high risk of dying from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). The optimal management of AML patients with COVID-19 has not been established. Our multicenter study included 388 adult AML patients diagnosed with COVID-19 between February 2020 and October 2021. The vast majority were receiving or had received AML treatment in the preceding 3 months. COVID-19 was severe in 41.2% and critical in 21.1% of cases. The chemotherapeutic schedule was modified in 174 patients (44.8%), delayed in 68 and permanently discontinued in 106. After a median follow-up of 325 days, 180 patients (46.4%) had died; death was attributed to COVID-19 (43.3%), AML (26.1%) or to a combination of both (26.7%), whereas in 3.9% of cases the reason was unknown. Active disease, older age, and treatment discontinuation were associated with death, whereas AML treatment delay was protective. Seventy-nine patients had a simultaneous AML and COVID-19 diagnosis, with better survival when AML treatment could be delayed (80%; P<0.001). Overall survival in patients with a diagnosis of COVID-19 between January 2020 and August 2020 was significantly lower than that in patients diagnosed between September 2020 and February 2021 and between March 2021 and September 2021 (39.8% vs. 60% vs. 61.9%, respectively; P=0.006). COVID-19 in AML patients was associated with a high mortality rate and modifications of therapeutic algorithms. The best approach to improve survival was to delay AML treatment, whenever possible.

Low incidence of severe acute and chronic graft-versus-host disease in a long-term retrospective study with ATG Grafalon routine use.

Since 2006, combined graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis with ATG Grafalon has been our department's base of peri-transplant supportive care. This recent retrospective study included 398 patients who underwent their first allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation after receiving a defined dose of ATG Grafalon. Our observations recorded reduced incidence of severe acute and chronic GVHD without negative impact on overall survival in a nonselected group with standard and uniform GVHD prophylaxis.

Clinical features and prognostic factors of Magnusiomyces (Saprochaete) infections in haematology. A multicentre study of SEIFEM/Fungiscope.

BACKGROUND: Our multicentre study aims to identify baseline factors and provide guidance for therapeutic decisions regarding Magnusiomyces-associated infections, an emerging threat in patients with haematological malignancies. METHODS: HM patients with proven (Magnusiomyces capitatus) M. capitatus or (Magnusiomyces clavatus) M. clavatus (formerly Saprochaete capitata and Saprochaete clavata) infection diagnosed between January 2010 and December 2020 were recorded from the SEIFEM (Sorveglianza Epidemiologica Infezioni nelle Emopatie) group and FungiScope (Global Emerging Fungal Infection Registry). Cases of Magnusiomyces fungemia were compared with candidemia. RESULTS: Among 90 Magnusiomyces cases (60 [66%] M. capitatus and 30 (34%) M. clavatus), median age was 50 years (range 2-78), 46 patients (51%) were female and 67 (74%) had acute leukaemia. Thirty-six (40%) of Magnusiomyces-associated infections occurred during antifungal prophylaxis, mainly with posaconazole (n = 13, 36%) and echinocandins (n = 12, 34%). Instead, the candidemia rarely occurred during prophylaxis (p < .0001). First-line antifungal therapy with azoles, alone or in combination, was associated with improved response compared to other antifungals (p = .001). Overall day-30 mortality rate was 43%. Factors associated with higher mortality rates were septic shock (HR 2.696, 95% CI 1.396-5.204, p = .003), corticosteroid treatment longer than 14 days (HR 2.245, 95% CI 1.151-4.376, p = .018) and lack of neutrophil recovery (HR 3.997, 95% CI 2.102-7.601, p < .001). The latter was independently associated with poor outcome (HR 2.495, 95% CI 1.192-5.222, p = .015). CONCLUSIONS: Magnusiomyces-associated infections are often breakthrough infections. Effective treatment regimens of these infections remain to be determined, but neutrophil recovery appears to play an important role in the favourable outcome.

Successful early use of anti-SARS-CoV-2 monoclonal neutralizing antibodies in SARS-CoV-2 infected hematological patients - A Czech multicenter experience.

COVID-19 significantly impairs survival rates among hematological patients when compared to the general population. Our prospective multicentre project analyzed early administration of anti-SARS-CoV-2 spike protein neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (NmAbs) - bamlanivimab (72%) and casirivimab/imdevimab (28%) - efficacy among hematological patients with early-stage COVID-19. Mortality rate was compared to a control cohort of 575 SARS-CoV-2 positive hematological patients untreated with any specific anti-COVID-19 therapy. 88 hematological patients with lymphomas, acute leukemias, and myeloma as their most frequent underlying diagnoses (72%) were evaluated with a 97 days median follow-up after NmAb administration. One third of patients (32%) were treated with an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody before COVID-19 diagnosis. Median time between first COVID-19 symptom and NmAb administration was 2 days. When administering NmAb, 29%, 57%, 11%, 2%, and 1% of our patients had asymptomatic, mild, moderate, severe, and critical degrees of COVID-19, respectively. 80% of baseline asymptomatic patients remained asymptomatic following NmAb administration. Median duration of COVID-19 symptoms after NmAb administration was 2.5 days. Progression to severe/critical COVID-19 occurred among a total of 17% (15/88) of our cases and numerically higher with bamlanivimab versus casirivimab/imdevimab (21% vs. 8%; p = 0.215), and myelomas (29%), lymphomas (17%) and acute leukemias (18%), respectively. During final follow-up, nine deaths (10%) were recorded - all after bamlanivimab (p = 0.056) with 8% attributed to COVID-19. Regarding "remdesivir/convalescent plasma naïve" patients, COVID-19 mortality rates were significantly lower in our NmAbs treated cohort compared to the control cohort of untreated SARS-CoV-2 positive hematological patients (6% vs. 16%, p = 0.020), respectively. Our study validated the safety and efficacy of NmAbs early use among hematological patients with newly diagnosed early-stage COVID-19 in terms of alleviating infection course and decreasing mortality. Results confirmed a more positive effect of a casirivimab/imdevimab combination versus bamlanivimab monotherapy.

Effective NPM1 plasmid standards selection for minimal/measurable residual disease monitoring in acute myeloid leukemia.

BACKGROUND: NPM1 plasmid standards are required for absolute quantification of minimal residual disease in acute myeloid leukemia patients. The standards are usually obtained, next to commercially constructed gene fragments, from transgenic bacteria colonies. However, this procedure is laborious and very time consuming. METHODS AND RESULTS: We have developed a PCR method that speeds up, simplifies, and streamlines the process of preparing NPM1 plasmid standards. The method is based on a combination of three primers, two surrounding the usual NPM1 mutation position and one over the mutation site. With this method, we were able to clearly distinguish plasmids with at least 15 different NPM1 mutations from the wild-type NPM1 plasmid. CONCLUSIONS: With the new approach, preparing NPM1 plasmid standards is easier, identifying NPM1-positive colonies is possible in less than a day and moreover, for a lower price than commercially constructed gene fragments.

How to select older patients with acute myeloid leukemia fit for intensive treatment?

Outcomes of the treatment of older patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are unsatisfactory due to a higher incidence of negative patient- and disease-related risk factors connected with aging. Prediction of poor tolerance to aggressive treatment and low response to standard intensive chemotherapy are the main root causes why the treatment decision is challenging. For a long time, negative prognostic factors for treatment outcomes, overall survival, and early death such as the age itself, low-performance status, high-comorbidity burden, adverse cytogenetics, and secondary AML have been known, and they are routinely taken into account during therapeutic balance. In consideration of the risk factors and specific laboratory results, prognostic models have been created. Despite the abovementioned facts, the survival of older patients with AML remains very poor, that holds true even for the intensive therapy. For that reason, there is an increased effort to find a better approach how to select patients who would benefit from intensive treatment without decreasing their quality of life through severe complications with risk of high treatment-related mortality. Based on the results of clinical studies, the geriatric assessment could be the missing step which would help select older patients who are really fit for intensive treatment and who will benefit from it the most. This review focuses on the risk factors that should be taken under advisement when the decision about the treatment is made. With reference to the published information, we propose an algorithm how to identify fit, vulnerable, and frail patients.

Early and late stage MPN patients show distinct gene expression profiles in CD34+ cells.

Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN), comprising essential thrombocythemia (ET), polycythemia vera (PV), and primary myelofibrosis (PMF), are hematological disorders of the myeloid lineage characterized by hyperproliferation of mature blood cells. The prediction of the clinical course and progression remains difficult and new therapeutic modalities are required. We conducted a CD34+ gene expression study to identify signatures and potential biomarkers in the different MPN subtypes with the aim to improve treatment and prevent the transformation from the rather benign chronic state to a more malignant aggressive state. We report here on a systematic gene expression analysis (GEA) of CD34+ peripheral blood or bone marrow cells derived from 30 patients with MPN including all subtypes (ET (n = 6), PV (n = 11), PMF (n = 9), secondary MF (SMF; post-ET-/post-PV-MF; n = 4)) and six healthy donors. GEA revealed a variety of differentially regulated genes in the different MPN subtypes vs. controls, with a higher number in PMF/SMF (200/272 genes) than in ET/PV (132/121). PROGENγ analysis revealed significant induction of TNFα/NF-κB signaling (particularly in SMF) and reduction of estrogen signaling (PMF and SMF). Consistently, inflammatory GO terms were enriched in PMF/SMF, whereas RNA splicing-associated biological processes were downregulated in PMF. Differentially regulated genes that might be utilized as diagnostic/prognostic markers were identified, such as AREG, CYBB, DNTT, TIMD4, VCAM1, and S100 family members (S100A4/8/9/10/12). Additionally, 98 genes (including CLEC1B, CMTM5, CXCL8, DACH1, and RADX) were deregulated solely in SMF and may be used to predict progression from early to late stage MPN.

Proven Invasive Pulmonary Aspergillosis in Stem Cell Transplant Recipient Due to Aspergillus sublatus, a Cryptic Species of A. nidulans.

Invasive fungal disease represents one of the severe complications in haematopoietic stem cell transplant recipients. We describe a case of a patient treated for relapse of chronic lymphoblastic leukaemia 6 years after HSCT. The patient was treated for invasive pulmonary aspergillosis but died 3 months later from multiple organ failures consisting of haemorrhagic necrotizing fungal pneumonia, refractory chronic hepatic graft versus host disease and cytomegalovirus hepatitis. Autopsy samples revealed histopathological evidence of fungal hyphae and an unusual Aspergillus nidulans-like species was isolated in pure culture. More precise identification was achieved by using scanning electron microscopy of ascospores and sequencing of calmodulin gene, and the isolate was subsequently re-identified as A. sublatus (section Nidulantes) and showed good in vitro susceptibility against all classes of antifungals. Commonly used ITS rDNA region and ß-tubulin gene fail to discriminate A. sublatus from related pathogenic species, especially A. quadrilineatus and A. nidulans. Although this is the first case of proven IPA attributed to A. sublatus, we demonstrated that at least some previously reported infections due to A. quadrilineatus were probably caused by this cryptic species.

Rapid detection of fungal pathogens in bronchoalveolar lavage samples using panfungal PCR combined with high resolution melting analysis.

Despite advances in the treatment of invasive fungal diseases (IFD), mortality rates remain high. Moreover, due to the expanding spectrum of causative agents, fast and accurate pathogen identification is necessary. We designed a panfungal polymerase chain reaction (PCR), which targets the highly variable ITS2 region of rDNA genes and uses high resolution melting analysis (HRM) for subsequent species identification. The sensitivity and specificity of this method was tested on a broad spectrum of the most clinically important fungal pathogens including Aspergillus spp., Candida spp. and mucormycetes. Despite the fact that fluid from bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) is one of the most frequently tested materials there is a lack of literature sources aimed at panfungal PCR as an IFD diagnostic tool from BAL samples. The applicability of this method in routine practice was evaluated on 104 BAL samples from immunocompromised patients. Due to high ITS region variability, we obtained divergent melting peaks for different fungal species. Thirteen out of 18 patients with proven or probable IFD were positive. Therefore, the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of our method were 67%, 100%, 100%, and 94%, respectively. In our assay, fungal pathogens identification is based on HRM, therefore omitting the expensive and time consuming sequencing step. With the high specificity, positive and negative predictive values, short time needed to obtain a result, and low price, the presented assay is intended to be used as a quick screening method for patients at risk of IFD.