ALBERT

Description: Materials, Vol. 11, Pages 1580: Demineralized Bone Matrix Coating Si-Ca-P Ceramic Does Not Improve the Osseointegration of the Scaffold Materials doi: 10.3390/ma11091580 Authors: Andrés Parrilla-Almansa Nuria García-Carrillo Patricia Ros-Tárraga Carlos M. Martínez Francisco Martínez-Martínez Luis Meseguer-Olmo Piedad N. De Aza The aim of this study was to manufacture and evaluate the effect of a biphasic calcium silicophosphate (CSP) scaffold ceramic, coated with a natural demineralized bone matrix (DBM), to evaluate the efficiency of this novel ceramic material in bone regeneration. The DBM-coated CSP ceramic was made by coating a CSP scaffold with gel DBM, produced by the partial sintering of different-sized porous granules. These scaffolds were used to reconstruct defects in rabbit tibiae, where CSP scaffolds acted as the control material. Micro-CT and histological analyses were performed to evaluate new bone formation at 1, 3, and 5 months post-surgery. The present research results showed a correlation among the data obtained by micro-CT and the histomorphological results, the gradual disintegration of the biomaterial, and the presence of free scaffold fragments dispersed inside the medullary cavity occupied by hematopoietic bone marrow over the 5-month study period. No difference was found between the DBM-coated and uncoated implants. The new bone tissue inside the implants increased with implantation time. Slightly less new bone formation was observed in the DBM-coated samples, but it was not statistically significant. Both the DBM-coated and the CSP scaffolds gave excellent bone tissue responses and good osteoconductivity.

Description: In the last years, many passive electromagnetic sensors have been reported. Some of these sensors are used for measuring harmful substances. Moreover, the response of these sensors is usually obtained with laboratory equipment. This approach highly increases the total cost and complexity of the sensing system. In this work, a novel low-cost and portable Internet-of-Things (IoT) reader for passive wireless electromagnetic sensors is proposed. The reader is used to interrogate the sensors within a short-range wireless link avoiding the direct contact with the substances under test. The IoT functionalities of the reader allows remote sensing from computers and handheld devices. For that purpose, the proposed design is based on four functional layers: the radiating layer, the RF interface, the IoT mini-computer and the power unit. In this paper a demonstrator of the proposed reader is designed and manufactured. The demonstrator shows, through the remote measurement of different substances, that the proposed system can estimate the dielectric permittivity. It has been demonstrated that a linear approximation with a small error can be extracted from the reader measurements. It is remarkable that the proposed reader can be used with other type of electromagnetic sensors, which transduce the magnitude variations in the frequency domain.

Description: Diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCLs) can be divided into germinal-center B cell–like (GCB) and activated-B cell–like (ABC) subtypes by gene-expression profiling (GEP), with the latter showing a poorer outcome. Although this classification can be mimicked by different immunostaining algorithms, their reliability is the object of controversy. We constructed tissue microarrays with samples of 157 DLBCL patients homogeneously treated with immunochemotherapy to apply the following algorithms: Colomo (MUM1/IRF4, CD10, and BCL6 antigens), Hans (CD10, BCL6, and MUM1/IRF4), Muris (CD10 and MUM1/IRF4 plus BCL2), Choi (GCET1, MUM1/IRF4, CD10, FOXP1, and BCL6), and Tally (CD10, GCET1, MUM1/IRF4, FOXP1, and LMO2). GEP information was available in 62 cases. The proportion of misclassified cases by immunohistochemistry compared with GEP was higher when defining the GCB subset: 41%, 48%, 30%, 60%, and 40% for Colomo, Hans, Muris, Choi, and Tally, respectively. Whereas the GEP groups showed significantly different 5-year progression-free survival (76% vs 31% for GCB and activated DLBCL) and overall survival (80% vs 45%), none of the immunostaining algorithms was able to retain the prognostic impact of the groups (GCB vs non-GCB). In conclusion, stratification based on immunostaining algorithms should be used with caution in guiding therapy, even in clinical trials.

Description: The balance between actions of procoagulant and anticoagulant factors protects organisms from bleeding and thrombosis. Thus, antithrombin deficiency increases the risk of thrombosis, and complete quantitative deficiency results in intrauterine lethality. However, patients homozygous for L99F or R47C antithrombin mutations are viable. These mutations do not modify the folding or secretion of the protein, but abolish the glycosaminoglycan-induced activation of antithrombin by affecting the heparin-binding domain. We speculated that the natural β-glycoform of antithrombin might compensate for the effect of heparin-binding mutations. We purified α- and β-antithrombin glycoforms from plasma of 2 homozygous L99F patients. Heparin affinity chromatography and intrinsic fluorescence kinetic analyses demonstrated that the reduced heparin affinity of the α-L99F glycoform (KD, 107.9 ± 3nM) was restored in the β-L99F glycoform (KD, 53.9 ± 5nM) to values close to the activity of α-wild type (KD, 43.9 ± 0.4nM). Accordingly, the β-L99F glycoform was fully activated by heparin. Similar results were observed for recombinant R47C and P41L, other heparin-binding antithrombin mutants. In conclusion, we identified a new type of mosaicism associated with mutations causing heparin-binding defects in antithrombin. The presence of a fully functional β-glycoform together with the activity retained by these variants helps to explain the viability of homozygous and the milder thrombotic risk of heterozygous patients with these specific antithrombin mutations.

Description: Patients with multiple myeloma (MM) carrying high-risk cytogenetic abnormalities (CA) have inferior outcome despite achieving similar complete response (CR) rates when compared to cases with standard-risk CA. This questions the legitimacy of CR as treatment endpoint for high-risk MM, and represents a biological conundrum regarding the nature of tumor reservoirs persisting after therapy in patients with standard- and high-risk CA. Here, we used next-generation flow (NGF) to evaluate measurable residual disease (MRD) in MM patients with standard- (N=300) vs high-risk CA (N=90) enrolled in the PETHEMA/GEM2012MENOS65 trial (NCT01916252), and to identify mechanisms determining MRD resistance in both patient subgroups (N=40). The 36-month progression-free and overall survival rates were higher than 90% in patients with undetectable MRD, with no significant differences (P≥0.202) between cases having standard- vs high-risk CA. Persistent MRD resulted in median progression-free survival of approximately three and two years in patients with standard- and high-risk CA, respectively (P

Description: Background FLT3, PIM1, PIM2 and CXCR4 are proteins implicated in the signal transduction of the regulation of proliferation, differentiation and survival of hematopoietic stem cells, at different levels. The impairing of these three processes, regulated by these molecules, constitutes the main hallmark of Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML). The objectives of this work were to evaluate the expression level of the genes that codify such proteins in patients with AML; as well as correlate this level of expression with biological variables at diagnosis and survival. Methods peripheral blood or bone marrow samples from 31 healthy subject (HS) and 92 AML patients at diagnosis between 2004 and 2012 were studied. The median follow up was 14 months (69% of patients had died). We quantified the expression of FLT3, PIM1 and 2, and CXCR4 by real time PCR, employing primer pairs designed in our laboratory to amplify all known protein-coding transcripts; highlighting the presence of a 30.4% FLT3 ITD, 5.4% of other FLT3 mutations and 26% of NMP1 mutations. Results were then analyzed with the statistical package IBM“ SPSS” Statistics, v20 (IBM“, Nueva York). Results FLT3 was overexpressed in AML patients (FLT3 expression: controls 0.99 vs patients 36.97; p

Description: Abstract 2924 Background: Clonal composition and clone dynamic changes of neoplasms are a controversial issue, whose investigation is now facilitated by the development of massive parallel sequencing. Here we have analyzed the changes in the mutational spectrum associated with progression, treatment response and relapse in a multiple myeloma patient. We sequenced exomes for the primary quiescent-tumor, the progression and the relapsed samples. M&M: Patient and samples description Samples from asymptomatic, progression and relapse phases were compared by FISH and Whole exome massive parallel sequencing in a multiple myeloma patient carrying the t(4;14)(p16.3;q32) alteration. At relapse the cytogenetic study identified the presence of two major clones, 13q14 deletion and t(4;14)(p16.3;q32) in the 60% of the cells, and 17p13 deletion in the 12% of the cells. Whole exome sequencing was performed at CNAG (Barcelona, Spain) following standard protocols for high-throughput paired-end 76pb sequencing on the Illumina HiSeq2000 instruments (Illumina Inc., San Diego, CA). The variant calling was performed using an in house written software calling potential mutations showing a minimum independent multi-aligner evidence. Results: We performed whole exome sequencing on 3 tumor samples from the same patient: the first one at the time of diagnosis correspond to bone marrow infiltrated by 7% of plasma cells. The two additional samples, at progression and relapse, were done in CD138+ bone marrow cells, at this moment the percentage of infiltration was of 84% and 64% respectively. The germinal DNA from the same patient was used as reference. The mean coverage obtained for the four samples were 93x, with around 85% of bases with at least 20X coverage. After filtering, a total of 104 single nucleotide variations (SNV) were identified, some of them in more than one sample. The variations were classified into silent (25), missense (71), nonsense (6), and essential splice (2), according to their potential functional effect. In addition to t(4;14) and del13q14, progression and relapse samples shared 36 common SNVs. There were also some variants gained and/or loss in the different time points, suggesting the presence of at least five different clones, independent but related in their evolution. The two main clones were present in progression and relapse samples, but the ratio of the mutant alleles decreased in parallel to the decrement in the percentage of cells carrying on the described cytogenetic alterations Conclusions: There is a coupling between the cytogenetic and tumor sequence changes indicating that tumor at progression was composed by a dominant clone, together with multiple minor clones. Relapse after treatment was associated with multiple changes in the clone dynamics, progressive reduction of the main clone, emerging of new subclones and lost of minor clones. Dynamic changes along progression could be facilitated/induced by the therapy received. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Description: Background: The randomized PETHEMA/GEM phase III trial GEM05menos65 (www.clinicaltrials.gov NCT00461747) demonstrated that pretransplant induction therapy with VTD resulted in a significantly higher CR rate both, pretransplant and postransplant and in a significantly longer progression-free survival (PFS) when compared with thalidomide/dexamethasone (TD) and combination chemotherapy plus bortezomib (VBMCP/VBAD/B) (Rosiñol et al, Blood 2012). We report here the definitive results of the trial, ten years after the last patient was included. Methods: From April 6, 2006 to August 5, 2009, 386 patients younger than 65 years with newly diagnosed symptomatic multiple myeloma (MM) were randomized to receive three different induction regimens: six 4-week cycles of TD (thalidomide 200 mg daily; dexamethasone 40 mg on days 1-4 and 9-12) vs. six 4-week cycles of VTD (TD at identical doses plus i.v. bortezomib 1.3 mg/m2 on days 1, 4, 8 and 11) vs. combination chemotherapy plus bortezomib (4 cycles of alternating VBMCP and VBAD chemotherapy followed by two cycles of i.v. bortezomib at the usual dose of 1.3 mg/m2 on days 1,4,8,11 every 3 weeks). The duration of the induction therapy was 24 weeks in all arms. All patients were planned to undergo ASCT with high-dose melphalan at 200 mg/m2 followed by maintenance therapy with thalidomide/bortezomib (TV) vs. thalidomide (T) vs. alfa-2b-interferon (alfa2-IFN) for 3 years. One-hundred and thirty patients were allocated to VTD, 127 to TD and 129 to VBMCP/VBAD/B. Seventy out of the 330 patients (21%) with cytogenetic studies had high-risk cytogenetics [t(4;14), t(14;16) and/or 17p deletion]. Patient characteristics at diagnosis and prognostic factors such as ISS, cytogenetics and maintenance arm were similarly distributed in the 3 arms. Results: After a median follow-up of 115 months for alive patients, VTD resulted in a significantly longer PFS when compared with TD and VBMCP/VBAD/B (52 vs 28 vs 32 months, p=0.01) (Figure 1). The median overall survival (OS) was 128 vs 99 vs 93 months, respectively, with no significant differences among the 3 arms. In the overall series, the PFS was significantly shorter in patients with high-risk cytogenetics compared with patients with standard-risk (15 vs. 42 months, p=0.001). In the TD and in the VBMCP/VBAD/B arm patients with high-risk cytogenetics had a significantly shorter PFS than patients with standard-risk (7 vs 32 months, p=0.029 in TD group; 13 vs. 38 months, p=0.027 in VBMCP/VBAD/B group). However, there was no significant difference in the VTD arm (23 vs 52 months, p=0.125). Patients with high-risk cytogenetics had a significantly shorter OS in the overall series (median 38 months vs 114, p=0.0001) and this was observed in the three treatment arms: VTD median 36 months vs not reached (p=0.0001), TD median 52 months vs 113 (p=0.017), VBMCP/VBAD/B median 29 months vs 93 (p=0.01). The achievement of a negative MRD after transplant was associated with a longer PFS and OS. Thus, on an intention to treat basis, patients who had MRD negative after transplant had a significantly longer PFS (59 vs 38 months, p=0.0001) and OS (median not reached vs 102 months, p=0.001) than those who remained MRD positive after ASCT. Of interest, there are no significant differences in PFS (41 months vs 60 months, p=0.367) or OS (114 moths vs not reached, p=0.329) between patients with high-risk or standard risk cytogenetics who achieved negative MRD after transplant. By contrast, in patients with MRD positive after transplant, the PFS ( 16 months vs 38 months, p=0.006) and OS (29 months vs 113 months, p=0.001) was significantly shorter in patients with high-risk cytogenetics compared with patients with standard-risk cytogenetics. Conclusions: Our long-term results confirm that induction with VTD results in a significantly longer PFS when compared with TD and VBMCP/VBAD/B. Patients with high-risk cytogenetics who achieved postransplant MRD negative had a similar outcome than patients with standard-risk cytogenetics, while patients with high-risk cytogenetics who remain MRD positive had a dismal prognosis. Finally, the PFS of 52 months achieved with VTD is the longest ever reported in the first line treatment of younger patients with MM elegible for ASCT and support the use of VTD as the standard of care for pretransplant induction therapy. Figure 1. Figure 1. Disclosures Rosinol Dachs: Amgen: Honoraria; Celgene: Honoraria; Janssen: Honoraria. Oriol:Amgen: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Celgene: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Takeda: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Janssen: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau. Blanchard:Janssen: Honoraria. Granell:Janssen: Honoraria; Celgene: Honoraria. Mateos:GSK: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Celgene: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Amgen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Abbvie: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Amgen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; GSK: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Martinez-Lopez:Celgene: Honoraria, Research Funding; Janssen: Honoraria, Research Funding; Vivia: Honoraria; Pfizer: Research Funding; BMS: Research Funding; Novartis: Research Funding. Alegre:Celgene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Takeda: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Amgen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Janssen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Lahuerta:Celgene: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Takeda: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Amgen: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Janssen: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. San-Miguel:BMS: Honoraria; Roche: Honoraria; Sanofi: Honoraria; Celgene: Honoraria; Amgen: Honoraria; Janssen: Honoraria; Novartis: Honoraria. Blade:Amgen: Honoraria; Celgene: Honoraria; Janssen: Honoraria.

Description: Background: The international criteria for definition CR, requires, among other parametres, a negative IF both in serum and urine; however, urine IF is not always performed. In the belief that this lack could bias the comparison between trials, the First Trial Independent Response Adjudication Committee (FTIRAC) recommended that patients who met all CR criteria except the availability of a urine IF should be classified as VGPR (Blood 2014; 124 [abstract 3460]) but this criteria is not always applied which may translate into differences in CR rates between trials. However, it is unknown (1) if this conversion has a real clinical basis, (2) if urine IF results alter the clinical meaning of CR, or (3) on the contrary, if patients in CR with and those without a documented negative urine IF have a similar prognosis, in which case this rule would underestimate the CR rates, increasing the biases and magnifying the problem that was intended to improve. Aim: To determine the value of urine negative IF in the definition of CR. Methods: 459 patients were enrolled into the GEM2012MENOS65phase3 trial and treated with 6 induction cycles of bortezomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone, HDT/ASCT and 2 consolidation courses. Evaluable patients were enrolled in a maintenance trail (NCT02406144). Excluding 6 patients who discontinued early, 453 were evaluable. At diagnosis, the M-component was detected exclusively in serum in 173 of these patients and in serum and urine in 212 patients; 68 patients had pure Bence-Jones M-protein (BJMM). The protein studies were performed in each cycle. At the time of negative IF, bone marrow aspirates were analysed for count of PCs and monitoring minimal residual disease (MRD) following EuroFlow SOPs (median limit of detection of 3x10-6).The response classifications were made according to the IMWG criteria, but we applied the FTIRAC criteria, and, patients with

Description: BACKGROUND: Older patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) who are unsuitable for standard induction therapy have limited treatment options. While DNMT3A, TET2, IDH1/2 and TP53 mutations have been previously associated to better response to hypomethylating agents, there are no molecular biomarkers for low-dose cytarabine (LDAC)-based regimens. AIMS: To predict outcome in AML older patients at diagnosis based on mutation status in the context of FLUGAZA trial. FLUGAZA trial was focus on 〉65 years AML de novo patients comparing azacytidine vs. fludarabine and LDAC (FLUGA Scheme). METHODS: We analyzed bone marrow (BM) samples at diagnosis from 209 out of 285 AML patients treated according Flugaza trial (NCT02319135), azacytidine-arm (n=97) and FLUGA-arm (n=112). In this trial, patients were randomized to receive 3 induction cycles with fludarabine and cytarabine (FLUGA) followed by 6 consolidation cycles with reduced intensity FLUGA, vs 3 induction cycles with 5-azacytidine (AZA) followed by 6 consolidation cycles with AZA. Median age at diagnosis was 75 years (65-90). Both treatment groups were balanced for age, leucocytes count, baseline BM blasts, karyotype risk (ELN), and FLT3-internal tandem duplication and NPM1 gene mutations. Mutational profile analysis was carried out by NGS targeted gene sequencing (Ion Torrent S5XL System-Thermo Fisher Scientific) using a 43 genes custom panel implicated in leukemia prognosis. RESULTS: We detected 893 variants, 247 Indels and 646 SNVs. 206 (23.1%) of them were included as pathogenic or like-pathogenic by clinvar database. Ninety-five percent of patients (n=203) had at least one detectable mutation, and the median number of mutations was 4 (range = 0-8 mutations). The most common gene mutations were TET2 (N=55), FLT3 (n=52), SRSF2 (n=49), TP53 (n=45), DNMT3A (n=45), ASXL1 (n=45), RUNX1 (n=43), IDH2 (n=36), IDH1 (n=34), NPM1, (n=33) and NRAS (n=23). This mutational landscape is different to previous published in younger patients (Grimwade, Blood 2016), with higher number of patients with mutations in TP53 (21.5 vs 8%), SRSF2 (23.9 vs 2%), IDH1 (16.3 vs 7%) and IDH2 (17.2 vs 9%) and lower number of patients with mutation in NMP1 (15.8 vs 33%). The median OS of global series was 6 months (range 0-40). Multivariate Cox regression in the global series showed that NRAS and TP53 mutations predict reduced OS (Table 1). Distribution of mutations between both arms was not homogeneous (Figure 1) and NRAS (p=0.012) was more frequent among patients randomized to the FLUGA-arm. However, TP53 mutation frequency distribution was homogeneous: 23.7% in AZA-arm and 19.6% in FLUGA-arm (p=NS). In the AZA-arm, patient´s age was the only variable associated with not achieving composite complete remission (CR plus CR with incomplete recovery) and TET2 and EZH2 mutations were predictors to achieve composite CR. In the FLUGA-arm, TP53 and NRAS mutations were associated with not reaching composite CR (table 2). In the AZA-arm, cytogenetic was the only variable associated with risk of early death. In the FLUGA-arm, leucocyte count, TP53 and NRAS mutations were associated with risk of early death (table 3). In the AZA-arm, BCORL1 mutations (4.1%) were the only variable associated with high risk of relapse. In the FLUGA-arm, BCOR (7.1%) and TP53 (19.6%) mutations were associated with high risk of relapse (table 4). CONCLUSION The mutational profile of AML in elderly patients is different from the previously published in young patients. We have confirmed that a molecular pattern can identify patients with poor prognosis in elderly AML patients. NRAS and TP53 mutations confer a poor prognosis in LDAC (FLUGA-arm) patients, but this effect disappeared in the AZA-arm. BCOR and BCORL1 mutations were associated to a reduced DFS. These results confirm that azacytidine could be more efficacious than LDAC treatment for older patients with AML and mutations in TP53, NRAS, TET2 and EZH2. The percentage of patients who presented mutations in these genes amounted to 77% in this AML series. The study is registered at www.ClinicalTrials.gov as NCT02319135. This study was supported by the Subdirección General de Investigación Sanitaria (ISCIII, Spain) grants PI13/02387 and PI16/01530. Disclosures Salamero: Celgene: Honoraria; Novartis: Honoraria; Pfizer: Honoraria; Daichii Sankyo: Honoraria. Paiva:Amgen, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Celgene, Janssen, Merck, Novartis, Roche, and Sanofi; unrestricted grants from Celgene, EngMab, Sanofi, and Takeda; and consultancy for Celgene, Janssen, and Sanofi: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau. Fernandez:Pfizer: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Celgene: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Teva: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Abbvie: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Incyte: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Novartis: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Karyopharm: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Janssen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Daiichi Sankyo: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau.