Targeted Therapy in Leukaemia, Lymphoma and Myeloma

Historically, most advances in cancer therapy have been pioneered by clinicians managing the blood diseases [...]

Aptamers: Potential Diagnostic and Therapeutic Agents for Blood Diseases

Aptamers are RNA/DNA oligonucleotide molecules that specifically bind to a targeted complementary molecule. As potential recognition elements with promising diagnostic and therapeutic applications, aptamers, such as monoclonal antibodies, could provide many treatment and diagnostic options for blood diseases. Aptamers present several superior features over antibodies, including a simple in vitro selection and production, ease of modification and conjugation, high stability, and low immunogenicity. Emerging as promising alternatives to antibodies, aptamers could overcome the present limitations of monoclonal antibody therapy to provide novel diagnostic, therapeutic, and preventive treatments for blood diseases. Researchers in several biomedical areas, such as biomarker detection, diagnosis, imaging, and targeted therapy, have widely investigated aptamers, and several aptamers have been developed over the past two decades. One of these is the pegaptanib sodium injection, an aptamer-based therapeutic that functions as an anti-angiogenic medicine, and it is the first aptamer approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for therapeutic use. Several other aptamers are now in clinical trials. In this review, we highlight the current state of aptamers in the clinical trial program and introduce some promising aptamers currently in pre-clinical development for blood diseases.

Quantification of Blood Cells and Blood Disease Detection Using Image Processing

RBC (Red Blood Cells) and WBC (White Blood Cells) are the main constituents of blood. WBC fight infections by attacking bacteria and viruses, that invade the body, while RBC transports oxygen in the body. Many blood diseases can be detected using RBC and WBC count values. Immunity-related blood diseases like Leukopenia and Leukocytosis can be easily detected using the WBC count value. The manual counting method of blood cells in laboratories takes at least one day to get the blood results, which becomes a major drawback for healthcare sectors to diagnose the disease at the right time. More expensive pathological tests are also a major drawback. Accurate counting of blood cells is essential in the accurate diagnosis of the disease. The proposed system is used to calculate the RBC and WBC Count, Total blood Count, RBC and percentage and the blood disease (Leukocytosis, Leukopenia) from the input blood smear image. This will help laboratories to perform the counting of blood cells with high accuracy and less workload. This is achieved by pre-processing that involves grayscale conversion, image enhancement, noise removal, binary conversion of input image, followed by plane extraction and threshold-based Segmentation. The blood disease (Leukocytosis and Leukopenia) is detected using WBC percentage-based classification methodology. This approach obtained an accuracy of 98.4%, specificity of 88.889%, precision of 99.58%, F - Measure of 99.50%. Morphological operations are implemented using MATLAB software.

Touchable cell biophysics property recognition platforms enable multifunctional blood smart health care

As a crucial biophysical property, red blood cell (RBC) deformability is pathologically altered in numerous disease states, and biochemical and structural changes occur over time in stored samples of otherwise normal RBCs. However, there is still a gap in applying it further to point-of-care blood devices due to the large external equipment (high-resolution microscope and microfluidic pump), associated operational difficulties, and professional analysis. Herein, we revolutionarily propose a smart optofluidic system to provide a differential diagnosis for blood testing via precise cell biophysics property recognition both mechanically and morphologically. Deformation of the RBC population is caused by pressing the hydrogel via an integrated mechanical transfer device. The biophysical properties of the cell population are obtained by the designed smartphone algorithm. Artificial intelligence-based modeling of cell biophysics properties related to blood diseases and quality was developed for online testing. We currently achieve 100% diagnostic accuracy for five typical clinical blood diseases (90 megaloblastic anemia, 78 myelofibrosis, 84 iron deficiency anemia, 48 thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura, and 48 thalassemias) via real-world prospective implementation; furthermore, personalized blood quality (for transfusion in cardiac surgery) monitoring is achieved with an accuracy of 96.9%. This work suggests a potential basis for next-generation blood smart health care devices.

Neurological Complications in Patients with Blood Diseases during Their Treatment

Background: During inpatient treatment of patients (pts) with blood diseases (BD) severe neurological complications (SNC) can occur, which lead treatment protocol interruption. Objective: Determine the types, frequency, symptoms, and predictors of SNC that occurred during inpatient treatment of pts with BD. Patients and Methods: The retrospective exploratory study was conducted on the data analysis of 3,620 pts with BD who were undergoing inpatient treatment from 01. 2018 to 12.2019 in the National Research Center for Hematology (Moscow). 34 pts (with diagnoses: lymphoid neoplasms - 67.7%, myeloid neoplasms - 26.5%, others BD - 5.9%) those who had SNC, were selected: 14 men and 20 women, median age 39 years, interquartile range (IQR): 33-55 years. The neurological complication was estimated as SNC if it was an indication for transition to the intensive care unit. In order to reveal the predictors associated with the development of SNC, the pts who had SNC, were compared with the comparison group of 137 pts (formed using the Kernel matching method) who were similar to the main group by clinical and laboratory characteristics: 59 men and 78 women, median age 36 years, IQR: 26-53 years. Statistical analysis included the multivariate analysis: multiple binary logistic regression with stepwise inclusion of variables (that were found in the preliminary contingency table analysis), control false results (by the false discovery rate method) and odds ratio, OR (95% confidence interval), estimation. Results: SNC in pts with BD, developed in 0.94% of cases. The main SNC in pts with BD were: • epileptic seizure (50.0%, n=17), • ischemic stroke (20.6%, n=7), • hemorrhagic stroke (17.6%, n=6), • and meningoencephalitis (11.8%, n=4) (Figure 1). The following independent statistically significant (Wald test, p≤0.05) predictors associated with the development of SNC in pts with BD during the treatment, were identified: • antibiotic therapy (when more than 5 drugs are prescribed), OR = 2.9 (1.2-7,4); • chemotherapy (when more than 4 drugs are prescribed), OR = 2.9 (1.1-7.8); • thrombocytopenia (with a platelet count less than 50 x 10 9 g/l), OR = 2.3 (1.0-5.2); • the development of delirium in the pts, OR = 3.7 (1.3-10.8); and also the risk factor: • neurological disorders in the pts's medical history, OR = 2.6 (1.1-6.3). Conclusion. In the process of inpatient treatment pts with BD may develop SNC. This life-threatening complication violates the intended therapeutic protocol, which affects the results of BD treatment in general. The main types of SNC detected were: epileptic seizure, ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes, and meningoencephalitis. Four predictors such as massive antibacterial (more than 5 drugs prescribed) and chemotherapeutic effects (more than 4 drugs prescribed), thrombocytopenia and manifestation of delirium, associated with the development of SNC in pts with BD in the process of treatment, as well as one risk factor (the presence of neurological disorders in the patient checked-in history) were identified. All these independent signs must be taken into account and monitored in the treatment, as each of them increases the risk of the SNC development. Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures Zakharov: Takeda: Honoraria; EverNeuroPharma: Honoraria; KanonPharma: Honoraria; Merz: Honoraria; Boerhinger Ingelheim: Honoraria; Abbot: Honoraria; Pfizer: Honoraria; Egis: Honoraria; Polysan: Honoraria; SCS: Honoraria; Pharmasoft: Honoraria; Valenta: Honoraria.

Review On: Medicinal Uses, Phytochemistry And Pharmacological Action Of The Plant Bauhinia Racemosa (Lam.).

Herbal medicines are now attracting attention as potential sources to treat so many diseases or disorders. Plants have been used for medical purposes since the beginning of human history and are the basis of modern medicine. Bauhinia racemosa (Lam.) belongs to family Caesalpiniaceae, is a small deciduous tree with drooping branches. This plant grows in poor and very harsh climatic conditions the leaves and stem bark of the plant Bauhinia racemosa (Lam.) are usefull in headache, dysentery, diarrhoea, skin disease, fever and blood diseases. The plant reported to have antiulcer, antidiabetic, anticoagulant, hyperlipidemia, antitumor, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antianxiety, anthelmintic, analgesic, antipyretic, antihistaminic, anti-inflammatory, and hepatoprotective properties. The plant reported to have antiulcer, antidiabetic, anticoagulant, hyperlipidemia, antitumor, antimicrobial, antioxidant, antianxiety, anthelmintic, analgesic, antipyretic, antihistaminic, anti-inflammatory, and hepatoprotective properties. This review provides detailed information on plant Bauhinia racemosa (Lam.).

Imaging Characteristics of Invasive Pulmonary Fungal Infection Secondary to Hematological Diseases and Comparison before and after Treatment

Fungal infections have become crucial factors that threaten the prognosis and survival of blood disease patients. Here, we aim to analyze the epidemiological characteristics and early and advanced CT (computed tomography) manifestations of patients with invasive pulmonary fungal infections secondary to blood system diseases. 65 hospitalized patients from October 2018 to October 2020 with invasive pulmonary fungal infections secondary to blood diseases were enrolled. Blood diseases were recorded according to clinical and imaging data, and the serum galactomannan test (GM test) was conducted. Two senior radiologists analyzed the CT data and recorded the distribution of the lesions and CT signs. We analyzed and counted the first chest CT scan images of patients with nodule/mass type secondary to hematological diseases and invasive pulmonary fungal infection. The first CT nodules or mass-type lesions were statistically significant in nodule size, the number of lesions, distribution, and accompanying signs. Pulmonary fungal infection was common in both lungs during 7-day, 14-day, and 30-day follow-up CT. We also found that the nodular mass type was the main manifestation in the positive group of the GM test. Both the positive group and the negative group had the highest incidence of nodules. The incidence of air crescent signs in nodules or mass lesions in the positive group was higher than in the negative group, and the difference was statistically significant. To conclude, follow-up CT signs after antifungal treatment were highly sensitive to the early diagnosis of hematological diseases and secondary invasive pulmonary Eumycetes infection, which could be used for clinical treatment to provide help. GM test results were also related to CT manifestations such as air crescent sign, cavity, and halo sign.

Using the Zebrafish as a Genetic Model to Study Erythropoiesis

Vertebrates generate mature red blood cells (RBCs) via a highly regulated, multistep process called erythropoiesis. Erythropoiesis involves synthesis of heme and hemoglobin, clearance of the nuclei and other organelles, and remodeling of the plasma membrane, and these processes are exquisitely coordinated by specific regulatory factors including transcriptional factors and signaling molecules. Defects in erythropoiesis can lead to blood disorders such as congenital dyserythropoietic anemias, Diamond–Blackfan anemias, sideroblastic anemias, myelodysplastic syndrome, and porphyria. The molecular mechanisms of erythropoiesis are highly conserved between fish and mammals, and the zebrafish (Danio rerio) has provided a powerful genetic model for studying erythropoiesis. Studies in zebrafish have yielded important insights into RBC development and established a number of models for human blood diseases. Here, we focus on latest discoveries of the molecular processes and mechanisms regulating zebrafish erythropoiesis and summarize newly established zebrafish models of human anemias.