David Bai, PharmD

Pediatric patients with autoimmune neutropenia have a higher prevalence and cost than previously suspected, according to the results of 2 studies presented at the 60th American Society of Hematology Annual Meeting & Exposition, held December 1-4 in San Diego, California.

The Allen Institute for Immunology has partnered with several cancer institutions, including the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, with the primary goal of understanding the differences between a defective and healthy immune system to improve immune-based treatments.

Ibrutinib-containing regimens have similar overall survival rates but significantly higher progression-free survival (PFS) rates at 2 years compared with bendamustine plus rituximab.

Only alcohol was found to have a strong positive correlation with breast cancer risk in a recent study looking at diet in postmenopausal women.

ELOQUENT-3 trial results found that adding elotuzumab to pomalidomide and dexamethasone improved progression-free survival (PFS) and overall response rate in patients with multiple myeloma that had relapsed from or were refractory to (R/R) lenalidomide and a proteasome inhibitor.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a progressive neurological disease that requires timely management, and a panel of neurologists has developed an internationally applicable standard of care for timely management in patients with MS.

A new study has recommended updated cutoffs for synovial effusion and hypertrophy to help screen for patients with symptomatic radiographic knee osteoarthritis.

Among patients with pancreatic cancer being treated with modified FOLFIRINOX, those who develop severe neutropenia have significantly longer median overall survival, as well as longer time to treatment failure, compared with those who do not develop severe neutropenia.

The use of osteoporosis medication for 12 months reduced the risk of fractures and decreased medical costs in elderly female Medicare beneficiaries with osteoporosis, according to the results of a recent study.

In patients who relapse after allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation, the therapeutic benefits that transplantation provide is diminished through mechanisms that remain unclear. A new study analyzed the genetic and epigenetic alterations of leukemic cells to determine any common features of relapse after transplantation

Patients who undergo outpatient autologous stem cell transplantations (ASCTs) not only report lower costs and higher satisfaction, but they also have lower odds of developing febrile neutropenia and septicemia than patients who undergo inpatient ASCT, according to the results of a new analysis.

Patients in low-income countries receive similar antenatal care coverage as patients in high-income countries. However, they receive inequitable quality of antenatal care for 3 essential services: blood pressure monitoring, urine and blood tests, according to a study published in Lancet Global Health.

CD7 gene-edited chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells target CD7-positive acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cells while sparing myeloid and erythroid cells and minimizing toxicity, according to the results of a recent study.

AMT-061, an AAV5 vector containing factor IX (FIX)-Padua variant, has been shown to increase FIX activity to threshold FIX levels sufficient to significantly reduce the risk of bleeding events without the risk of adverse immune reactions.

Greater infection rate, higher white blood cell, monocyte, and absolute neutrophil counts are more significantly associated with severe congenital neutropenia than with patients with idiopathic and recovered neutropenia, according study results.

No significant differences in bone mineral density (BMD) were observed between patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) who received thyroid-stimulating hormone suppression (TSHS) and those who did not, according to a recent study.

Ultrasounds are a safer and equally effective diagnostic tool compared with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to diagnose and monitor pregnant women with suspected active rheumatoid arthritis (RA), according to a new report published in Radiology Case Reports.

The addition of nivolumab to azacitidine led to significantly better overall response rate and overall survival compared with previous hypomethylating agent-based regimens in patients with relapsed acute myeloid leukemia (AML), according to the results of a recent phase 2 study.

When used in combination with rituximab, Hu5F9-G4 (5F9), a humanized monoclonal anti-CD47 antibody, promotes durable objective and complete response rates in lymphoma while also having minimal adverse events (AE), according to a phase 1b study published in New England Journal of Medicine.

A large pooled analysis of 758,592 premenopausal women, conducted by the Premenopausal Breast Cancer Collaborative Group, identified an inverse association between body mass index (BMI) and the risk of breast cancer.

Patients with transfusion-dependent thalassemia (TDT) and osteoporosis who were treated with denosumab had greater increases in bone mineral density in the femoral neck and lumbar spine, as well as lower pain scores and bone resorption biomarkers, compared with placebo, according to the results of a phase 2b trial.

Seeking to determine how FN is managed in most referral hospitals in Iran, researchers studied patients hospitalized during a 6-month period, also taking into account characteristics of FN patients and the risk factors associated with FN development.

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has many identifiable risk factors and inflammatory biomarkers that are linked to osteoporosis, according to the results of a recent review.

Modifiable factors, including lower caloric intake, greater physical activity, and smoking cessation, have been associated with recovery from metabolic syndrome, according to the results recently published following a multiethnic study.

A randomized clinical trial in obese or overweight pregnant women evaluating the use of a modified diet regimen shows a beneficial effect of a modified Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension (DASH) diet on gestation weight gain compared with usual care.

The use of CTLA-4, PD-1, or a combination approach achieved high response rates and improved overall survival in patients with CDKN2A mutations with metastatic melanoma, based on the results of a study by Helgadottir et al.

Children and adolescents with acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) face an increased risk of obesity and growth impairment from the disease and during ALL treatment, regardless of exposure to cranial irradiation, according to a recent study.

Cytarabine, aclarubicin, and granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (CAG) generates a positive effect for patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) by decreasing the number of immunosuppressive cell types and their associated cytokines, while also downregulating SDF-1α levels

PZ-2891 is a new and unique therapeutic agent that has shown to be able to penetrate the blood-brain barrier and increase coenzyme A levels in mice, leading to increased weight, longer life span, as well as improving locomotor activity, based on results from a study by Sharma et al.