Utility of nerve ultrasound in the management of primary neurolymphomatosis: Case report and review of the literature.

Introduction: Primary neurolymphomatosis (NL) is a critical differential diagnosis of asymmetric multiple mononeuropathy and radiculoplexopathy. Its diagnosis is often challenging due to the lack of typical clinical signs of systemic lymphoma. We report a case of primary NL where nerve ultrasound (NUS) played an important role in the diagnosis and follow-up of the disease. Case presentation: A 52-year-old man developed asymmetric painful multiple mononeuropathy in the right upper limb with cranial nerve involvement. After being referred to our department, the patient underwent NUS, which revealed marked enlargement and increased vascularity in the right upper limb nerves, brachial plexus, and cervical nerve roots. Furthermore, an epineural hypoechoic mass, a characteristic finding of NL, was seen in the right median nerve. These NUS findings prompted us to perform 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography and a subsequent biopsy on the right axillary lymph node, confirming NL. Notably, the NUS abnormalities dramatically subsided, demonstrating the effectiveness of chemotherapy. Discussion: The diagnostic utility of NUS for NL has been documented by many recent reports. Additionally, NUS can work as a quick follow-up tool for NL, as seen in our case.

Serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol level has a significant prognostic impact on outcomes of follicular lymphoma patients.

We investigated the potential of nutritional and inflammatory parameters as prognostic factors for follicular lymphoma (FL), and also examined the predictive value of the early progression of disease within 24 months of first-line chemo-immunotherapy (POD24). We retrospectively analyzed 46 patients with FL admitted to Teikyo University Hospital and treated with chemo-immunotherapy between May 2009 and July 2019. Physical characteristics, blood parameters, and markers or scores for consumptive/inflammatory and nutritional conditions were used as variables. Nine parameters correlated with poor overall survival (OS) in univariate analysis: An Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) scale performance status (PS) ≥2, five or more involved nodal sites, positive bone marrow (BM) involvement, a serum albumin level <3.5 g/dL, CRP >0.5 mg/dL, lactate dehydrogenase (LD) higher than the upper normal limit (UNL), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) <40 mg/dL, modified Glasgow prognostic score of 1-2, and the geriatric nutritional risk index <82. In multivariate analysis, ECOG PS ≥2, positive BM involvement, and a serum HDL-C level <40 mg/dL remained significant for poor progression-free survival. One-year OS rate after receiving salvage chemotherapy was lower in the POD24 group (50%) and POD24 correlated with ECOG PS ≥2, positive BM involvement, a serum lactate dehydrogenase >UNL, and HDL-C <40 mg/dL by Fisher's exact test. These results indicate that low serum HDL-C levels appear to be important for predicting the risk of POD24 and the worse prognosis of FL.

The FLT3 internal tandem duplication mutation at disease diagnosis is a negative prognostic factor in myelodysplastic syndrome patients.

The role of the FMS-like tyrosine kinase 3 (FLT3) gene in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has been well documented and the FLT3-internal tandem duplication (FLT3-ITD) mutation has been identified as a prognostic factor in AML. Due to its low incidence, the role of the FLT3 mutation remains unclear in myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) patients. To investigate the impact of the FLT3-ITD status on the prognosis of MDS at diagnosis, we retrospectively analyzed 72 MDS patients admitted to Teikyo University Hospital. FLT3-ITD was examined by a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction using complementary DNA synthesized from mRNA extracted from bone marrow mononuclear cells at the diagnosis of MDS. Fifteen patients (20.8 %) were positive for FLT3-ITD and had significantly worse overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) than patients who were negative (P < 0.001 and P < 0.001, respectively) in a multivariate analysis. We also investigated whether the Wilms' tumor gene-1 (WT-1) copy number was associated with the FLT3-ITD mutational status using data available on WT-1 from 57 patients. A WT-1 transcript copy number ≥50/µg total mRNA in peripheral blood was detected in 35 patients (61.4 %). All FLT3-ITD-positive patients showed WT-1 ≥50. The FLT3-ITD-positive group showed significantly higher WT-1 transcription levels than the negative group. These results indicate that the FLT3-ITD mutation has a prognostic impact at the diagnosis of MDS and is associated with a high level of WT-1.

Second allogeneic transplantation using umbilical cord blood for a patient with relapsed ALK+ anaplastic large cell lymphoma after allogeneic bone marrow transplantation in the era of ALK inhibitors: A case report.

RATIONALE: Anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) + anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) is considered as a good prognosis lymphoma. However, in an extremely rare subset of patients, ALK+ ALCL with leukemic presentations is known to be chemotherapy-resistant. Although several novel therapies have been tested, the standard therapy for relapsed/refractory ALK+ ALCL has not been established yet. PATIENT CONCERNS: An 18-year-old female patient who had conventional chemotherapy- and Brentuximab Vedotin (BV)-resistant ALK+ ALCL with leukemic presentation. She was successfully treated with an ALK inhibitor, crizotinib. Crizotinib induced complete remission (CR) and bridged to allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT). DIAGNOSIS: However, her ALCL relapsed on day 60 after BMT and she developed high grade fever and lymphadenopathy. INTERVENTION: Although crizotinib was given to the patient immediately after relapse, she developed grade 3 nausea and could not continue to take it. Then, we gave alectinib to the patient, which promptly induced sustained CR without any further chemotherapy. The patient received second stem cell transplantation using umbilical cord blood with myeloablative regimen in 2nd CR. OUTCOMES: The patient has been in CR under maintenance therapy of alectinib for more than 16 months. LESSONS: Both ALK inhibitors demonstrated drastic efficacy for our patient who had chemotherapy- and BV-resistant ALK+ ALCL with leukemic presentation. Alectinib showed less gastro-intestinal toxicity than crizotinib and the patient was able to take it even at the relatively early phase of stem cell transplantation.

Functional expression cloning of molecules inducing CD34 expression in bone marrow-derived stromal myofibroblasts.

We have previously shown a fraction of stromal fibroblasts/myofibroblasts (Fibs) from leukemic bone marrow cells expresses leukemia-specific transcripts along with hematopoietic and Fib-related markers. Normal bone marrow-derived Fibs (nFibs) do not express CD34 or CD45; however, nFibs may express hematopoietic markers with some specific stimulations. CD34 expression was detected in nFib cultures following the addition of a culture supernatant of blood mononuclear cells stimulated with phytohemagglutinin (PHA)-P. To identify the molecules responsible for inducing CD34 expression in nFibs, cDNA clones were isolated using functional expression cloning with a library constructed from PHA-P-stimulated human blood mononuclear cells. Positive clones inducing CD34 transcription in nFibs were selected. We confirmed that an isolated positive cDNA clone encoded human interleukin (IL)-1 beta (ß). CD34 expression was observed in the nFib cultures with recombinant human (rh) IL-1ß protein. And CD34 transcription was suppressed when a rhIL-1ß neutralizing antibody was added to the IL-1ß-stimulated nFib cultures. nFibs expressed gp130 and IL-6 receptors, and CD45 expression was detected in nFibs cultured with rhIL-1ß and rhIL-6. Chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) cells reportedly respond well to IL-1ß. When CML-derived Fibs were cultured with rhIL-1ß and rhIL-6, CD45-positive cells increased in number. Cell fate may be influenced by an external specific stimulation without gene introduction.

Gemtuzumab ozogamicin monotherapy prior to stem cell infusion induces sustained remission in a relapsed acute myeloid leukemia patient after allogeneic stem cell transplantation: A case report.

RATIONALE: Patients with relapsed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) have poor prognosis. Many patients are not eligible for 2nd HSCT due to organ dysfunction or other complications that prevent them from tolerating conditioning chemotherapy. In those ineligible patients for 2nd HSCT with myeloablative conditioning regimen, reduced intensity conditioning (RIC) are often used. RIC regimens are less toxic but has a less direct anti-tumor efficacy so that RIC regimens are not suitable for the patients with high tumor burden. To overcome this dilemma, Gemtuzumab Ozogamicin (GO) has been used as a part of RIC regimens to add anti-tumor efficacy. We report here a relapsed AML patient who was treated with GO monotherapy followed by stem cell infusion. PATIENT CONCERNS: A 25-year-old male with AML experienced relapse 9 months after allo-HSCT. DIAGNOSIS: Since he had mild renal and cardiac dysfunction and his AML did not progress rapidly, we decided not to give him an intensive chemotherapy. However, after azacitidine (AZA) and donor lymphocyte infusion therapy, his leukemic blasts did not decrease. INTERVENTIONS: Originally, we had planned to proceed with a 2nd allo-HSCT with RIC regimen that consisted of fludarabine, melphalan and fractionated GO (3 mg/m/dose) on day -21, -18, and -15. However, the patient developed appendicitis after the last dose of GO when his neutrophil was 0 cells/µl. Based on his medical acuity, we terminated the rest of the patients conditioning regimen and the patient did not receive any further chemotherapeutics. The patient was still infused with peripheral blood stem cells from the donor on day 0. OUTCOMES: His appendicitis was resolved by antibiotics without surgery. His AML has been in CR more than 18 months under AZA maintenance therapy. LESSONS: GO monotherapy could be a conditioning regimen of 2nd allo HSCT from the same donor as the first HSCT for relapsed AML patients.

Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia Cells Contribute to the Stromal Myofibroblasts in Leukemic NOD/SCID Mouse In Vivo.

We recently reported that chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) cells converted into myofibroblasts to create a microenvironment for proliferation of CML cells in vitro. To analyze a biological contribution of CML-derived myofibroblasts in vivo, we observed the characters of leukemic nonobese diabetes/severe combined immunodeficiency (NOD/SCID) mouse. Bone marrow nonadherent mononuclear cells as well as human CD45-positive cells obtained from CML patients were injected to the irradiated NOD/SCID mice. When the chimeric BCR-ABL transcript was demonstrated in blood, human CML cells were detected in NOD/SCID murine bone marrow. And CML-derived myofibroblasts composed with the bone marrow-stroma, which produced significant amounts of human vascular endothelial growth factor A. When the parental CML cells were cultured with myofibroblasts separated from CML cell-engrafted NOD/SCID murine bone marrow, CML cells proliferated significantly. These observations indicate that CML cells make an adequate microenvironment for their own proliferation in vivo.