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A 63-year-old man, previously diagnosed with multiple autoimmune diseases, developed life-threatening bleeding after gastrectomy for stomach cancer. He survived due to treatment with factor XIII (FXIII) concentrates immediately after his FXIII antigen (Ag) level was reported to be < 5% of normal. Detailed examination by the Japanese Collaborative Research Group on autoimmune coagulation factor deficiencies revealed the presence of anti-FXIII-A and anti-FXIII-B subunit autoantibodies on immunoblot analyses, and thus autoimmune FXIII deficiency (AiF13D) was diagnosed based on the Japanese and international diagnostic criteria. Antibody eradication therapy with prednisolone was initiated and cyclophosphamide was added later. While FXIII:Ag levels remained at 40-50% of normal, bleeding did not recur even after stomach polypectomy. Experimental studies on patient specimens collected at the initial bleeding and later asymptomatic stages demonstrated the co-existence of clearance-accelerating and inhibitory anti-FXIII autoantibodies. The former type was predominant in both the bleeding and asymptomatic stages, whereas the latter became distinct in the asymptomatic stage. This is the first AiF13D patient to demonstrate such a change in anti-FXIII autoantibody type during the clinical course. This report discusses the relationship between autoantibody type and bleeding phenotype in detail, but future large studies are needed to confirm these observations., Competing Interests: Declarations. Conflict of interest: No authors declared competing interest., (© 2024. Japanese Society of Hematology.)

Allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) is not a standard therapy for solid cancer because of its high toxicity and insufficient evidence levels. However, the potential graft-versus-solid-tumor (GVT) effect of this therapy has been discussed. Many case reports have also described treatment effects of allo-HSCT in patients with hematologic malignancies and active solid tumors. A 38-year-old woman treated with fulvestrant and abemaciclib for recurrent breast cancer with multiple lung metastases was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) with increased blasts 2. She was classified as adverse risk by the 2017 European LeukemiaNet risk stratification and as very high risk by the Molecular International Prognostic Scoring System. Breast cancer treatment was interrupted and venetoclax and azacitidine therapy was started. Complete hematologic response was achieved after three cycles. However, multiple lung metastases from the breast cancer remained. The patient then underwent umbilical cord blood transplantation. She has maintained complete remission of MDS as of 1 year post-transplantation, without serious complications. Lung metastatic activity on FDG-PET/CT scan also completely disappeared by half a year post-transplantation, and this response has continued as of 1 year post-transplantation. This favorable treatment course suggests the existence of a GVT effect., (© 2024. Japanese Society of Hematology.)