0000000000218464
AUTHOR
Corrado Tarella
Whole‐body magnetic resonance imaging (WB‐MRI) in lymphoma: State of the art
The improvements in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology and the concern related to the increased cancer risk in patients with lymphoma, also due to radiation exposure associated with imaging examinations, have led to the introduction of whole-body MRI (WB-MRI) as a radiation-free alternative to standard imaging procedures. WB-MRI seems a less histology-dependent functional imaging test than 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/CT (18 F-FDG-PET/CT). In patients with FDG-avid lymphomas, such as diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and Hodgkin lymphoma (HL), 18 F-FDG-PET/CT remains the imaging reference standard for staging, with WB-MRI potentially being a complementar…
Repeated courses of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: Clinical and biological results from a prospective multicenter study
Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) induces a transient mobilization of hematopoietic progenitor cells from bone marrow to peripheral blood. Our aim was to evaluate safety of repeated courses of G-CSF in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), assessing disease progression and changes in chemokine and cytokine levels in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Twenty-four ALS patients entered an open-label, multicenter trial in which four courses of G-CSF and mannitol were administered at 3-month intervals. Levels of G-CSF were increased after treatment in the serum and CSF. Few and transitory adverse events were observed. No significant reduction of the mean monthly decrea…
Whole body magnetic resonance in indolent lymphomas under watchful waiting: The time is now.
The indolent non-Hodgkin lymphomas (i-NHLs) are characterised by ‘indolent’ clinical behaviour with slow growth and prolonged natural history. The watchful waiting (WW) strategy is a frequently employed treatment option in these patients. This implies a strict monitoring by imaging examinations, including 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-FDG-PET/CT) and CT. A major concern is radiation exposure due to regularly monitoring by conventional imaging procedures. Several studies have demonstrated the reliability of whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (WB-MRI) for lymphoma staging. WB-MRI could be useful for active surveillance in i-NHLs providing the …
G-CSF (filgrastim) treatment for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: protocol for a phase II randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel group, multicentre clinical study (STEMALS-II trial)
IntroductionAmyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal progressive neurological disorder characterised by a selective degeneration of motor neurons (MNs). Stem cell transplantation is considered as a promising strategy in neurological disorders therapy and the possibility of inducing bone marrow cells (BMCs) to circulate in the peripheral blood is suggested to investigate stem cells migration in degenerated ALS nerve tissues where potentially repair MN damage. Granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) is a growth factor which stimulates haematopoietic progenitor cells, mobilises BMCs into injured brain and it is itself a neurotrophic factor for MN. G-CSF safety in humans has been de…
Molecular Remission Can Be Attained in Relapsed or Refractory Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) and Follicular Lymphomas after Reduced Intensity Conditioning (RIC) and Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation (ALLO-SCT).
Abstract RIC followed by allo-SCT is an effective salvage treatment for some relapsed hematologic malignancies due to the postulated graft versus tumour (GVT) effect. In order to evaluate the quality of the clinical response, we have investigated the molecular status of patients receiving allo-SCT for relapsed disease. Forty-four patients (19 chronic lymphocytic leukemias (CLL), 21 follicular lymphomas (FCL) and 4 small lymphocytic lymphomas (SLL)) were enrolled in a prospective phase II study. The median age was 54 years (range: 32–69 years). The median number of previous chemotherapy regimens was 2 (range: 1–5) and 23% of patients had already failed an auto-SCT. Before transplant 34% of p…
Alemtuzumab (Campath-1H) and CHOP chemotherapy as first-line treatment of peripheral T-cell lymphoma: results of a GITIL (Gruppo Italiano Terapie Innovative nei Linfomi) prospective multicenter trial
To evaluate in a prospective multicenter trial the feasibility and clinical efficacy of the combination of alemtuzumab (Campath-1H) with the cyclophosphamide/doxorubicin/vincristine/prednisone (CHOP) regimen (CHOP-C) as the primary treatment for patients with peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL), between January 2003 and December 2005, 24 consecutive patients with PTCL entered the study and received 8 CHOP courses. Alemtuzumab was added at 30 mg subcutaneously at day −1 initially to the first 4 courses (4 patients), and then to all 8 courses (20 patients). Complete remission (CR) was achieved in 17 (71%) patients, 1 had partial remission, and 6 had stable/progressive disease. At a median follo…
Dissection of DLBCL microenvironment provides a gene expression-based predictor of survival applicable to formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue
Abstract Background Gene expression profiling (GEP) studies recognized a prognostic role for tumor microenvironment (TME) in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL), but the routinely adoption of prognostic stromal signatures remains limited. Patients and methods Here, we applied the computational method CIBERSORT to generate a 1028-gene matrix incorporating signatures of 17 immune and stromal cytotypes. Then, we carried out a deconvolution on publicly available GEP data of 482 untreated DLBCLs to reveal associations between clinical outcomes and proportions of putative tumor-infiltrating cell types. Forty-five genes related to peculiar prognostic cytotypes were selected and their expression …