Therapeutic leukocytapheresis in infants and children with leukemia and hyperleukocytosis: A single institution experience.

BACKGROUND: Hyperleukocytosis, defined as white blood cell (WBC) count above 100 × 109 /L, has high early morbidity and mortality from leukostasis-related complications, namely intracranial hemorrhage and pulmonary distress. Initiating chemotherapy without prior leukocytoreduction may lead to tumor lysis syndrome (TLS). Therapeutic leukocytapheresis (TL) is used as one leukocytoreductive intervention; however, its safety and efficacy in pediatric leukemia has not been established. The purpose of this study is to evaluate safety of TL in pediatric patients and assess the efficacy of TL in reducing WBC count in pediatric leukemia. METHODS: Retrospective chart review was conducted on 14 patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and 5 with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who underwent TL during the period 2000-2014 at a single institution. RESULTS: Mean WBC count of 19 patients who received TL was 483.2 × 109 /L (547.1 in ALL, 304.3 in AML); a portion of patients presented with central nervous system symptoms (15%), respiratory symptoms (10%), or both (10%). TL reduced WBC count (mean 50.7% reduction after a single TL procedure; additional 17.1% reduction after a second TL procedure in 6 patients). Short-term survival immediately following TL was 100% without any major procedural complication. Mean survival time in patients with AML was 1.5 years and with ALL was 6.5 years. CONCLUSIONS: TL significantly reduces WBC number in pediatric leukemia patients as young as 22 days old. In our retrospective study, TL was not associated with any significant complications and suggests that TL is a safe initial procedure in pediatric leukemia.

PLAYERS' PERCEPTIONS OF HOME ADVANTAGE IN THE AUSTRALIAN RUGBY LEAGUE COMPETITION.

This study was designed to pilot a survey to explore players' perception of home advantage in a rugby league. Twenty-seven players from one team with an identified home advantage believed a home advantage existed as a result of their home crowd (52%), family and friends' support (41%), normal travel (45%) and sleeping arrangements (37%), home weather conditions (48%), and familiarity with playing amenities (37%). However, the players were less definite about influences while playing away from home. The current sample of players identified differing influences, highlighting individual variations in perceived determinants. Individual interviews or focus groups will be required for further exploration.

Pre-Clinical Evaluation of rHDL Encapsulated Retinoids for the Treatment of Neuroblastoma.

Despite major advances in pediatric cancer research, there has been only modest progress in the survival of children with high risk neuroblastoma (NB) (HRNB). The long term survival rates of HRNB in the United States are still only 30-50%. Due to resistance that often develops during therapy, development of new effective strategies is essential to improve the survival and overcome the tendency of HRNB patients to relapse subsequent to initial treatment. Current chemotherapy regimens also have a serious limitation due to off target toxicity. In the present work, we evaluated the potential application of reconstituted high density lipoprotein (rHDL) containing fenretinide (FR) nanoparticles as a novel approach to current NB therapeutics. The characterization and stability studies of rHDL-FR nanoparticles showed small size (<40 nm) and high encapsulation efficiency. The cytotoxicity studies of free FR vs. rHDL/FR toward the NB cell lines SK-N-SH and SMS-KCNR showed 2.8- and 2-fold lower IC50 values for the rHDL encapsulated FR vs. free FR. More importantly, the IC50 value for retinal pigment epithelial cells (ARPE-19), a recipient of off target toxicity during FR therapy, was over 40 times higher for the rHDL/FR as compared to that of free FR. The overall improvement in in vitro selective therapeutic efficiency was thus about 100-fold upon encapsulation of the drug into the rHDL nanoparticles. These studies support the potential value of this novel drug delivery platform for treating pediatric cancers in general, and NB in particular.