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This article summarises the main highlights of the abstracts presented at the annual meeting of American Society of Transplantation and Cellular Therapy (ASTCT). The highlights of ASTCT meeting were organised by iNDUS BMT group in Chennai, India. The purpose of the highlight meeting was to educate the students about the latest research in the field of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and its applicability for the developing country perspective.

To confirm the safety and efficacy of an indigenous equine antithymocyte globulin (eATG) along with cyclosporine in Indian subjects with acquired aplastic anaemia. Subjects >2 years old with acquired aplastic anaemia were enrolled at six hospitals between April 2011 and February 2013, after approval from respective Ethics Committees. Equine ATG at a dose of 40 mg/kg/day was infused for 4 days. Efficacy analysis defined a priori, was in subjects, who had completed eATG treatment and followed-up on day 90 and/or 180. Complete response (CR) was defined as—transfusion independent, haemoglobin ≥11 g/dL, absolute neutrophil count (ANC) >1.5 109/L and platelet ≥150 109/L; partial response (PR) was transfusion independent, haemoglobin ≥8 g/dL, ANC >0.5 109/L and platelet ≥20 109/L; non responders were transfusion dependent. Lymphocyte subsets (CD 2, 3, 4 and 8) in the blood were tested on days 0 (pre eATG infusion), 3, 5, 7, 14 and 21 after eATG. Of the 30 subjects (two children

Acquired haemophilia is a very rare condition, occurring in less than 2 per million populations. This condition is caused commonly by acquired antibodies against factor VIII and rarely by antibodies against factor IX. Here we describe an extremely rare presentation of idiopathic acquired haemophilia in an otherwise healthy male patient, caused by simultaneous occurrence of circulating antibodies against both factor VIII and IX.

Granulocytic sarcoma in a patient with acute promyelocytic leukemia (APML) has been described often in the relapse setting, however primary presentation of APML as granulocytic sarcoma is rare. We present a case of a 29 year old male who was evaluated for thrombocytopenia with haematochezia and a diagnosis of acute promyelocytic leukemia was established after the colonic biopsy was reported as a granulocytic sarcoma.