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Little is known about the incidence, clinical characteristics and prognostic factors in HIV associated lymphoma as these are less common than HIV‐negative lymphoma in China. Currently, there are no standard guidelines for treatment of these patients. Therefore, we performed a study to analyse the clinical characteristics and outcomes of newly diagnosed HIV‐associated aggressive B‐cell non‐Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) patients in Chongqing University Cancer Hospital (CUCH). Totally 86 newly diagnosed HIV‐associated aggressive B‐cell NHL patients in CUCH, southwest China, from July 2008 to August 2021, were analysed. In the entire cohort, median age was 48 years (range, 23–87 years), and more patients were male (87.2%). Most patients had elevated lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) (82.6%), advanced ann arbor stage (80.2%) and high IPI score (IPI score, 3–5) (62.7%) at diagnosis. Median CD4+ T‐cell count at diagnosis was 191/μl (range, 4–1022), 84 patients (97.7%) were on combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) at lymphoma diagnosis. In DLBCL patients, cox multivariate analysis showed that age ≥ 60 (HR = 2.251, 95%CI 1.122–4.516; p = 0.012), elevated LDH (HR = 4.452, 95%CI 1.027–19.297; p = 0.041) and received less than two cycles of chemotherapy (HR = 0.629, 95%CI 0.589–1.071; p = 0.012) were independent risk factors for adverse prognosis based on PFS. Age ≥ 60 (HR = 3.162, 95%CI 1.500–6.665; p = 0.002) and received less than two cycles of chemotherapy (HR = 0.524, 95%CI 0.347–0.791; p = 0.002) were also independent risk factor for adverse prognosis based on OS. In BL patients, cox multivariate analysis showed that elevated LDH and received less than two cycles of chemotherapy were independent risk factors for adverse prognosis. In the DLBCL group, median PFS times in the received rituximab and no received rituximab groups were not reached and 12 months, respectively (p = 0.006). Median OS times were not reached and 36 months, respectively (p = 0.021). In the BL group, median PFS times in the received rituximab and no received rituximab groups were not reached and 4.8 months, respectively (p = 0.046). Median OS times were not reached and 10.1 months, respectively (p = 0.035). Overall, these data indicated that standardized anti‐lymphoma therapy and rituximab administration were significantly associated with improved outcomes in patients with HIV‐associated DLBCL and BL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Little is known about antibody responses to natural Omicron infection and the risk factors for poor responders in patients with hematological malignancies (HM). We conducted a multicenter, prospective cohort study during the latest Omicron wave in Chongqing, China, aiming to compare the antibody responses, as assessed by IgG levels of anti-receptor binding domain of spike protein (anti-S-RBD), to Omicron infection in the HM cohort (HMC) with healthy control cohort (HCC), and solid cancer cohort (SCC). In addition, we intend to explore the risk factors for poor responders in the HMC. Among the 466 HM patients in this cohort, the seroconversion rate was 92.7%, no statistically difference compared with HCC (98.2%, p = 0.0513) or SCC (100%, p = 0.1363). The median anti-S-RBD IgG titer was 29.9 ng/mL, significantly lower than that of HCC (46.9 ng/mL, p < 0.0001) or SCC (46.2 ng/mL, p < 0.0001). Risk factors associated with nonseroconversion included no COVID-19 vaccination history (odds ratio [OR] = 4.58, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.75-12.00, p = 0.002), clinical course of COVID-19 ≤ 7 days (OR = 2.86, 95% CI: 1.31-6.25, p = 0.008) and severe B-cell reduction (0-10/μL) (OR = 3.22, 95% CI: 1.32-7.88, p = 0.010). Risk factors associated with low anti-S-RBD IgG titer were clinical course of COVID-19 ≤ 7 days (OR = 2.58, 95% CI: 1.59-4.18, p < 0.001) and severe B-cell reduction (0-10/μL) (OR = 2.87, 95% CI: 1.57-5.24, p < 0.001). This study reveals a poor antibody responses to Omicron (BA.5.2.48) infection in HM patients and identified risk factors for poor responders. Highlights that HM patients, especially those with these risk factors, may be susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 reinfection, and the postinfection vaccination strategies for these patients should be tailored. Clinical trial: ChiCTR2300071830., (© 2023 The Authors. Journal of Medical Virology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been used to treat various diseases including Alzheimer's disease and cancer. In particular, the immunomodulatory function of MSCs plays a major role in cancer therapy using stem cells. However, MSCs exert promotive and inhibitory effects on cancer. The immunomodulatory effects of MSCs in the tumor microenvironment (TME) are ambiguous, which is the primary reason for the different outcomes of MSCs therapies for tumors. This review discusses the use of MSCs in cancer immunotherapy and their immunomodulatory mechanisms in cancers., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Zhang, Xiang, Zhang, Liu and Hu.)