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Pediatric-inspired chemotherapy is the standard of care for younger adults with Philadelphia chromosome-negative acute lymphoblastic leukemia/lymphoma (Ph- ALL/LL). In LAL1913 trial, the Gruppo Italiano Malattie EMatologiche dell'Adulto added pegaspargase 2000 IU/m2 to courses 1, 2, 5, and 6 of an 8-block protocol for patients aged from 18 to 65 years, with dose reductions in patients aged >55 years. Responders were risk stratified for allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) or maintenance per clinical characteristics and minimal residual disease (MRD). Of 203 study patients (median age, 39.8 years), 91% achieved a complete remission. The 3-year overall survival, event-free, and disease-free survival (DFS) rates were 66.7%, 57.7%, and 63.3%, respectively, fulfilling the primary study end point of a 2-year DFS >55%. Although based on the intention-to-treat, the DFS being 74% and 50% in the chemotherapy (n = 94) and HCT (n = 91) assignment cohorts, respectively, a time-dependent analysis proved the value of HCT in patients who were eligible (DFS HCT 70% vs no HCT 26%; P <.0001). In multivariate analysis, age and MRD were independent factors predicting DFS rates of 86% (age ≤ 40 and MRD-negative), 64%-65% (MRD-positive or age > 40) and 25% (age > 40 and MRD-positive); P < .0001. Grade ≥2 pegaspargase toxicity was mainly observed at course 1, contributing to induction death in 2 patients but was rare thereafter. This program improved outcomes of patients with Ph- ALL/LL aged up to 65 years in a multicenter national setting. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT02067143., (© 2023 by The American Society of Hematology. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), permitting only noncommercial, nonderivative use with attribution. All other rights reserved.)

Phytophthora capsici causes destructive disease in several crop species, including pepper ( Capsicum annuum L.). Resistance in this species is physiologically and genetically complex due to many P. capsici virulence phenotypes and different QTLs and R genes among the identified resistance sources. Several primer pairs were designed to follow an SNP (G/A) within the CA&#95;011264 locus linked to the Pc5.1 locus. All primer pairs were designed on DNA sequences derived from CaDMR1 , a homoserine kinase (HSK), which is a gene candidate responsible for the major QTL on chromosome P5 for resistance to P. capsici . A panel of 69 pepper genotypes from the Southern Seed germplasm collection was used to screen the primer pairs designed. Of these, two primers ( Phyto &#95;for&#95;2 and Phyto &#95;rev&#95;2) surrounding the SNP proved successful in discriminating susceptible and resistant genotypes when combined with a restriction enzyme ( BtgI ). This new marker (called Phyto ) worked as expected in all genotypes tested, proving to be an excellent candidate for marker-assisted selection in breeding programs aimed at introgressing the resistant locus into pure lines.

Introduction: The majority of peppers in the US for fresh market and processing are handpicked, and harvesting can account for 20-50% of production costs. Innovation in mechanical harvesting would increase availability; lower the costs of local, healthy vegetable products; and perhaps improve food safety and expand markets. Most processed peppers require removal of pedicels (stem and calyx) from the fruit, but lack of an efficient mechanical process for this operation has hindered adoption of mechanical harvest. In this paper, we present characterization and advancements in breeding green chile peppers for mechanical harvesting. Specifically, we describe inheritance and expression of an easy-destemming trait derived from the landrace UCD-14 that facilitates machine harvest of green chiles. Methods: A torque gauge was used for measuring bending forces similar to those of a harvester and applied to two biparental populations segregating for destemming force and rate. Genotyping by sequencing was used to generate genetic maps for quantitative trait locus (QTL) analyses. Results: A major destemming QTL was found on chromosome 10 across populations and environments. Eight additional population and/or environment-specific QTL were also identified. Chromosome 10 QTL markers were used to help introgress the destemming trait into jalapeño-type peppers. Low destemming force lines combined with improvements in transplant production enabled mechanical harvest of destemmed fruit at a rate of 41% versus 2% with a commercial jalapeńo hybrid. Staining for the presence of lignin at the pedicel/fruit boundary indicated the presence of an abscission zone and homologs of genes known to affect organ abscission were found under several QTL, suggesting that the easy-destemming trait may be due to the presence and activation of a pedicel/fruit abscission zone. Conclusion: Presented here are tools to measure the easy-destemming trait, its physiological basis, possible molecular pathways, and expression of the trait in various genetic backgrounds. Mechanical harvest of destemmed mature green chile fruits was achieved by combining easy-destemming with transplant management., Competing Interests: Author VC, is currently employed by at Southern Seed Srl, Vittoria (RG), Italy and author BV is currently employed by Rijk Zwaan, BV, Netherlands. The remaining 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 © 2023 Hill, Cassibba, Joukhadar, Tonnessen, Havlik, Ortega, Sripolcharoen, Visser, Stoffel, Thammapichai, Garcia-Llanos, Chen, Hulse-Kemp, Walker and Van Deynze.)

Clinical risk classification is inaccurate in predicting relapse in adult patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, sometimes resulting in patients receiving inappropriate chemotherapy or stem cell transplantation (SCT). We studied minimal residual disease (MRD) as a predictive factor for recurrence and as a decisional tool for postconsolidation maintenance (in MRD(neg)) or SCT (in MRD(pos)). MRD was tested at weeks 10, 16, and 22 using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction with 1 or more sensitive probes. Only patients with t(9;22) or t(4;11) were immediately eligible for allogeneic SCT. Of 280 registered patients (236 in remission), 34 underwent an early SCT, 60 suffered from relapse or severe toxicity, and 142 were evaluable for MRD at the end of consolidation. Of these, 58 were MRD(neg), 54 MRD(pos), and 30 were not assessable. Five-year overall survival/disease-free survival rates were 0.75/0.72 in the MRD(neg) group compared with 0.33/0.14 in MRD(pos) (P = .001), regardless of the clinical risk class. MRD was the most significant risk factor for relapse (hazard ratio, 5.22). MRD results at weeks 16 to 22 correlated strongly with the earlier time point (P = .001) using a level of 10(-4) or higher to define persistent disease. MRD analysis during early postremission therapy improves risk definitions and bolsters risk-oriented strategies. ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00358072.

The long-term results of a therapeutic regimen for adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) have been analysed with the main purpose to evaluate the impact of Daunorubicin (DNM) dosage given during the induction. The files of 86 consecutive adult ALL patients treated in our institution between 1974 and 1988 were reviewed. They received the same induction regimen based on Vincristine, DNM and Prednisone, consolidation with L-Asparaginase, central nervous system prophylaxis, and 3-year maintenance with 6-mercaptopurine and Methotrexate with periodic cycles of reinduction. We analysed the overall and disease-free survival (DFS) in relation to various prognostic factors, focusing on the dosage of DNM actually received during the induction period. Complete remission (CR) was achieved in 68 (79%) patients and the overall DFS was of 32 months (median follow-up 37 months); 22 patients (25.6%) are off-therapy and disease-free. The actual dosage of DNM received during induction turned out to be an independent DFS prognostic factor. In fact, patients who received more or less than 175 mg/sqm in induction had a median DFS of 44 and 12 months, respectively (p = 0.05). The plateau of DFS in the two groups was 44% and 21%, respectively. Similar data were found analyzing the dose-intensity (mg/sqm/week) of DNM given in induction. Our data suggest that the actual dosage of DNM given in induction plays a role in the long term DFS of adult ALL.