Donor-derived stem cell infusion for sustained pancytopenia after CD19 CAR-T therapy for relapsed patients post allogeneic stem cell transplantation.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the effectiveness of donor-derived chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR-T) cells in the treatment of relapsed cases after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT), and whether donor-derived peripheral blood stem cells (PBSCs) have a therapeutic effect on pancytopenia after CAR-T cell therapy. METHODS: We analyzed data from five adults with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) who had relapse after allo-HSCT and received donor-derived CAR-T cell therapy and donor-derived PBSCs to promote hematopoietic recovery. RESULTS: All patients had negative minimal residual disease after CAR-T therapy, grade 1-2 cytokine release syndrome, and developed grade 4 hematologic toxicity. During the pancytopenia stage after CAR-T cell therapy, donor-derived PBSCs were transfused without graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis. Four patients had grade I-II acute GVHD (aGVHD). After corticosteroid treatment, aGVHD resolved and hematopoiesis was restored. Although steroids in combination with etanercept and ruxolitinib relieved symptoms in one patient with grade IV aGVHD, complete hematopoietic recovery was not achieved, and the patient died due to severe infection. CONCLUSIONS: Donor-derived CAR-T cell therapy is safe and effective in patients with relapsed/refractory ALL after allo-HSCT. Donor-derived PBSCs infusion could achieve hematopoietic recovery with controllable aGVHD in patients with persistent pancytopenia.

A new study on the growth behavior of austenite grains during heating processes.

In this paper, the effects of the heating temperature and holding time on the austenite grain growth of SCM435 steel were studied and analyzed in terms of the average, macro-axis and minor-axis size of the grains. The results indicated that the classical Sellars model was highly consistent for describing the growth stage of the new austenite but poorly described the initial nucleation-growth stage and stability stage of the austenite. A new model that expresses the average austenite grain growth of SCM435 steel was developed, and the values calculated based on this model were highly consistent with the actual measured values. The standard deviation and expected grain-size expressions increased as the heating temperature and holding time increased. The macro-axis and minor-axis size of the grains were linearly correlated with the average size, and the ratio of the macro-axis to the minor-axis size remained generally constant during grain growth. Furthermore, this paper provides a new way of thinking about heredity in materials science from the perspective of mathematical characteristics.

Tens of micron-sized unilamellar nanosheets of Y/Eu layered rare-earth hydroxide: efficient exfoliation via fast anion exchange and their self-assembly into oriented oxide film with enhanced photoluminescence.

Layered rare-earth hydroxide (LRH) crystals of (Y0.95Eu0.05)2(OH)5NO3·nH2O with a lateral size of ∼ 300 µm and a thickness of ∼ 9 µm have been synthesized via a hydrothermal reaction of mixed nitrate solutions in the presence of mineralizer NH4NO3 at 200 °C for 24 h. LRH exhibits the ability to undergo intercalation and anion exchange with DS- (C12H25OSO3-) via hydrothermal treatment. Compared with traditional anion exchange at room temperature, hydrothermal processing not only shortens the anion exchange time from 720 to 24 h but also increases the basal spacing. The arrangements of DS- in the interlayer of LRH are significantly affected by the DS- concentration and reaction temperature, and the basal spacing of the LRH-DS sample in the crystal edge is assumed to be larger than that in the crystal center. A higher DS- concentration and reaction temperature both induce more intercalation of DS- anions into the interlayer gallery, thus yielding a larger basal spacing. Unilamellar nanosheets with a lateral size of ≽60 µm and a thickness of ∼ 1.6 nm can be obtained by delaminating LRH-DS in formamide. The resultant unilamellar nanosheets are single crystalline. Transparent (Y0.95Eu0.05)2O3 phosphor films with a uniform [111] orientation and a layer thickness of ∼ 90 nm were constructed with the nanosheets as building blocks via spin-coating, followed by proper annealing. The oriented oxide film exhibits a strong red emission at 614 nm (the 5D0-7F2 transition of Eu3+), whose intensity is ∼ 2 times that of the powder form owing to the significant exposure of the (222) facets.

[Hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia resulted from a nonsense mutation Arg479 Stop in the ALK-1 gene].

OBJECTIVE: To identify the gene mutations in a pedigree with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia. METHODS: Genomic DNA was extracted from the peripheral blood of the propositus. All of the exons, intron/exon boundaries and the 5' untranslation regions (UTR) of the ALK-1 and endoglin gene were amplified by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The PCR products were screened by direct sequencing. RESULTS: The mutation is a C1437T substitution in exon 10 of the ALK-1 gene, resulting in Arg 479 Stop. CONCLUSION: The hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia propositus is caused by a heterozygous Arg 479 Stop mutation in the ALK-1 gene which has not been identified previously.