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Methotrexate (MTX) in combination with a calcineurin inhibitor has been commonly used for prophylaxis of graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) following umbilical cord blood transplantation (UCBT) in Japan. However, the appropriate prophylactic MTX dosage in UCBT has not been established to date. To determine the preferential GVHD prophylaxis in UCBT, this study retrospectively investigated the administration of short-term MTX for 2 days versus 3 days. Of 103 adult patients submitted to UCBT enrolled in the study, 73 received tacrolimus (TAC) with 2 days of MTX given at 10 mg/m2 on day 1 and 7 mg/m2 on day 3 (very short-term [vs] MTX), whereas 30 patients received TAC with 3 days of MTX given at 10 mg/m2 on day 1, 7 mg/m2 on day 3, and 7 mg/m2 on day 6 (short-term [s] MTX). In univariate analysis, neutrophil engraftment was shown to be significantly better (P = .039) in the vsMTX/TAC group. Among high-risk patients, the vsMTX/TAC group also exhibited earlier neutrophil engraftment (P = .042); however, the incidence of acute GVHD was higher in the vsMTX/TAC group (P = .035) on univariate analysis. In multivariate analysis, compared with sMTX/TAC, vsMTX/TAC was associated with lower risk of relapse (hazard ratio, .27; 95% confidence interval, .11 to .64; P = .003) . These results suggest that vsMTX/TAC can be appropriate GVHD prophylaxis after UCBT, especially in higher-risk patients.

The refined disease risk index (R-DRI) is a well-designed prognostic parameter that is based on only the disease type and status and is used for stratifying patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo HSCT) into 4 risk groups. However, the application of the R-DRI for rare diseases has remained unclear.We evaluated 135 patients who underwent allo HSCT for hematological malignancies including rare diseases, such as acute leukemia of ambiguous lineage, acute T-cell leukemia/lymphoma, extranodal natural killer T-cell lymphoma, and lymphoblastic lymphoma, at our institute.According to the R-DRI, overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival at 2 years for patients with the low, intermediate, high, and very high groups were 66.7% and 66.7%, 60.8% and 56.0%, 27.1% and 23.7%, and 5.9% and 5.1%, respectively (P .0001 and P .0001, respectively). OS showed no significant difference between B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (B-NHL) and T-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (T-NHL) (P = .71). Moreover, OS at 1 year was 80%, 14.3%, 60%, and 0% for the intermediate risk group, the very high-risk group of B-NHL, the intermediate risk group, and the high-risk group of T-NHL, respectively (P = .035).We showed the applicability of the R-DRI for hematological malignancies, including rare disorders. However, we suggest that T-NHL patients may be better to be assigned between the nodal group and the extranodal group in the R-DRI.

Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) and other iatrogenic immunodeficiency-associated lymphoproliferative disorders (OIIA-LPD) are iatrogenic lymphoproliferative disorders (LPD) that develop in association with immunosuppressive treatment in the setting of organ transplantation and autoimmune disease, respectively. Each has a spectrum of pathologies ranging from lymphoid hyperplasia to lymphoma. To clarify the characteristics of the diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) subtype in a cohort of 25 patients with PTLD or OIIA-LPD from our institute, we selected 13 with a histological subtype of DLBCL, including 2 cases of PTLD and 11 of OIIA-LPD. The median patient age at diagnosis was 70 years, with a female predominance. Both PTLD cases developed after kidney transplant. Of the patients with OIIA-LPD, 10 had rheumatoid arthritis, 1 had mixed connective tissue disease, and 8 were treated using methotrexate. Both of the PTLD patients and 6 of the OIIA-LPD patients had extranodal manifestations. All patients except for one were classified as having the non-germinal center B-cell (non-GCB) subtype according to the Hans algorithm. Tissue samples from 8 patients were positive for CD30 and 8 were positive for Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-encoded small RNA. Seven patients had MYC-positive tissue samples, but none had MYC translocation. Our study suggests that extranodal manifestations and the non-GCB subtype are common, that EBV is associated with the DLBCL subtype of PTLD and OIIA-LPD, and that anti-CD30 therapy is applicable. In addition, our patients with the DLBCL subtype of PTLD and OIIA-LPD exhibited MYC overexpression without MYC translocation, suggesting an alternative mechanism of MYC upregulation.

Inflammatory cytokines play a role in hematopoiesis and development of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Although increased serum levels of inflammatory cytokines are associated with poor survival in MDS patients, clinical management does not include assessment of inflammation. We investigated the significance of inflammation in MDS using serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels, an indicator of the degree of systemic inflammation that can be used in routine practice. We hypothesized that serum CRP levels can be used to further classify low-risk MDS. We conducted a retrospective analysis of 90 patients with low-risk MDS, defined by the international prognostic scoring system (IPSS). We examined the prognostic relevance of CRP and known prognostic factors at diagnosis. Increased serum CRP (≥ 0.58 mg/dL) was associated with poor survival (hazard ratio [HR]: 17.63, 95% confidence interval [CI] 5.83–53.28, P

Hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) is an uncontrolled hyperinflammatory disorder driven by an overactive immune system that results in high mortality. Post-transplant-associated hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (PT-HLH) is a type of secondary HLH that occurs following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). The clinical features of PT-HLH remain unclear and diagnostic and prognostic tools have not yet been established. Here, we retrospectively evaluated the clinical manifestations and outcomes of PT-HLH in 94 patients who underwent allo-HSCT. According to our PT-HLH criteria (hyperferritinemia and increased macrophage count in bone marrow), PT-HLH occurred in 12 patients (12.8%). The PT-HLH patients showed splenomegaly (P = .001), a higher risk of engraftment failure (P = .013), and an increased percentage of macrophages and hemophagocytes in bone marrow aspirates (P = .0009 and P = .0006, respectively). Moreover, univariate and multivariate analyses revealed that the survival rate was lower in PT-HLH patients than non-PT-HLH patients (P = .0017 and P = .034, respectively). This study defines the clinical features of PT-HLH and PT-HLH criteria that could be useful tools for diagnosing PT-HLH.

Rapid immune recovery following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) is important for clinical outcome prediction. In most studies, immune recovery after allo-HSCT is monitored via peripheral blood. However, few reports regarding the status of absolute lymphocyte subsets in the bone marrow (BM) microenvironment have been undertaken. Therefore, we evaluated the clinical impact of immune recovery in the early period following allo-HSCT using BM samples. We showed that delayed natural killer cell recovery was independently associated with a poor prognosis for overall survival (hazard ratio [HR], 3.07; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.37- 6.89; P = .007), progression-free survival (HR, 3.42; 95% CI, 1.47-7.94; P = .004), and nonrelapse mortality (HR, 6.68; 95% CI, 1.82-25.0; P = .004) by multivariate analysis. In addition, low NK cell counts were associated with the presence of 1 or more bacterial, viral, or fungal infections. Our results indicate that investigating absolute lymphocyte subsets in BM in the early phase following allo-HSCT can be useful for predicting and improving survival outcomes.

Although follicular lymphoma (FL) is a pathological entity characterized by relatively uniform histological and molecular findings, its clinical course is highly variable. Establishment of therapeutic strategies based on a simple and practical prognostic model is important. C-reactive protein (CRP) is an adverse prognostic marker for various tumors and aggressive lymphomas. However, the significance of serum CRP levels as a prognostic index in low-grade lymphomas, such as FL, has not been thoroughly investigated. We retrospectively analyzed the relationship between serum CRP levels at diagnosis and the prognosis in patients with FL (n = 61) undergoing rituximab-containing chemotherapy. Elevated CRP levels showed a significant association with elevated fibrinogen (P = 0.002) in univariate analysis. Patients with higher CRP levels (> 5 mg/L) had a significantly shorter progression-free survival in multivariate analysis (P = 0.044). We concluded that serum CRP levels are important in prognostic stratification of patients with FL.

Studies showed red cell distribution width (RDW) can improve the detection of morphological changes in red blood cells and the understanding of their contribution to dyserythropoiesis in myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). The purpose of the study was to evaluate dyserythropoiesis in MDS by RDW analysis and to explore the utility of RDW in clinical practice. We retrospectively analyzed laboratory and clinical data of 101 patients (59 patients was refractory anemia (RA) according to the French-American-British (FAB) classification). In patients with RA, RDW was showed weak inverse correlation with both hemoglobin concentration (Hb) (rs = −0.37, P = 0.0035) and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration (MCHC) (rs = −0.36, P = 0.0047). On the other hand, RDW was showed weak correlation with the number of ringed sideroblasts in bone marrow (rs = 0.31, P = 0.023). The increased RDW (≥15.0%) was associated with shorter overall survival (OS) (P = 0.0086). In patients with refractory anemia with excess blasts (RAEB) and RAEB in transformation (RAEB-t), effect of RDW on OS was less evident. These results suggested that increased RDW might reflect dyserythropoiesis, associated with deregulated hemoglobin synthesis and iron metabolism in MDS. Furthermore, increased RDW may have potential to be a prognostic significance in RA.

Both clonal hematopoiesis as defined by genomic alteration and morphological cell dysplasia is a hallmark of pathology of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Studies showed that, red cell distribution width (RDW), a quantitative non-subjective index of red cell anisocytosis, has diagnostic significance in anemia associated with MDS. Our recent study showed that increase of RDW has close association with dyserythropoiesis and also shorter overall survival (OS) in refractory anemia (Leuk Res 2018;67:56-59). To explore the clinical significance of RDW in MDS without increased blasts, we examined the details of correlation between RDW and morphological dysplasia which characterize MDS. We retrospectively analyzed 101 MDS patients, including 66 patients without increased blasts (blasts in the bone marrow of less than 5% and the peripheral blood of 1% or less). RDW was calculated using automated blood cell analyzer. Dysplasia was assessed according to the WHO 2008 classification by different two investigators. 100 cells (at least 25 cells) of myeloid and erythroid series were counted. At least 25 cells of megakaryocyte were also counted. Karyotype of bone marrow cells was analyzed by using routine G-band technique and categorized according to MDS cytogenetic scoring system. Correlations of RDW and clinical variables were analyzed. Based on previous study, MDS patients was divided into two groups, RDW-H (RDW was 15% or more, 48 cases) and RDW-L (RDW was lower than 15%, 18 cases). Comparisons of dysplasia or OS between these two groups were analyzed. In MDS without increase of blasts, weak inverse correlation was found between RDW and hemoglobin (rs = −0.31, P = 0.01). RDW was correlated with the presence of ring sideroblasts (RS) in the bone marrow (rs = 0.40, P = 0.001), and also weakly correlated with budding of nucleus of erythroblasts (rs = 0.33, P = 0.007). Dysgranulopoiesis was less observed than either dyserythropoiesis or dysmegakaryopoiesis (P Table showed the subtype of MDS, details of morphological dysplasia. Between two groups, RDW-H showed significantly higher percentages of dyserythropoiesis, dysgranulopoiesis, and dysmegakaryopoiesis. The increased RDW (≥15.0%) was associated with shorter OS (P = 0.02) (hazard ratio, 1.15e + 9 (95% confidence interval = 2.49-2.49)) (Figure). In contrast, there was no association between RDW and OS in MDS patients with increased blasts. Earlier studies showed increase of RDW was evident in refractory anemia with ring sideroblasts (RARS) which showed erythrocyte anisocytosis called dimorphism. Revised WHO classification (2017) defined MDS-RS with single lineage dysplasia (MDS-RS-SLD) which is characterized with specific mutation of splicing factors, such as SF3B1 and with favorable prognosis. This classification also defined MDS-RS with multi lineage dysplasia (MDS-RS-MLD) which has additional dysplasia in myeloid and/or megakaryocyte lineage in addition to RS. Pathology of MDS-RS-MLD is still to be remained. Our findings partly agree the earlier observations, showing close association between red cell anisocytosis evaluated with increase of RDW and the presence of RS. Furthermore, RDW-H group contained MDS with dysplasia of myeloid and/or megakaryocyte lineage not limited to the erythroid dysplasia(s) with RS. RDW could discriminate MDS-MLD with poor prognosis from MDS-SLD with favorable prognosis. To explore the significance of RDW in MDS, it is necessary to study large number of patient combined with genetic analysis. Nevertheless, RDW is potentially simple and useful laboratory parameters in clinical practice in MDS, representing hematopoietic defect (ineffective hematopoiesis), associated with iron metabolism and hemoglobin synthesis in MDS. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.