Issue Archive

In a Plenary Paper, Middleton and colleagues describe important transcriptional and translational changes in murine and human platelets during sepsis, elucidating the emerging role of platelets in the complications of systemic inflammatory illness.

This Special Report, this month’s CME article, details evidence-based guidelines for the selection of optimal unrelated donors and cord blood units for allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation.

Luceno-Araujo et al use assays of mutations associated with myeloid malignancy to propose an integrative prognostic score for acute promyelocytic leukemia (ISAPL) in patients treated with all-trans retinoic acid and anthracycline-based therapy. They demonstrate that the ISAPL is superior for predicting outcomes and identifying patients who may benefit from alternative therapies to maximize their chance of a cure.

Sud and colleagues interrogated the familial risk of hematological malignancy in association with over 150 000 patients. The majority of hematological malignancies showed increased familial relative risk, most prominently in association with B-cell malignancies.

Singh et al investigated the relationship among stasis, fibrinolysis, and venous thromboembolism (VTE), demonstrating a complex interaction by which venous stasis activates both thrombosis and fibrinolysis. Blocking the effects of α2-antiplasmin abolishes VTE, suggesting a potential novel approach to preventing thrombosis.

Weibel-Palade (WPB) bodies are endothelial cell organelles that store von Willebrand factor (VWF) and other proteins important for vascular hemostasis. Holthenrich and colleagues used an elegant proximity proteomics approach to compile a complete catalog of WPB-associated proteins and identify Munc13-2 as a novel factor mediating VWF secretion via WPB exocytosis.