Issue Archive

In this timely Blood Spotlight, Barta et al summarize for the practicing hematologist the strengths and limitations of current data on brentuximab vedotin–based treatment in peripheral T-cell lymphoma (PTCL).

This issue’s How I Treat article offers valuable insights to clinicians caring for patients with congenital antithrombin deficiency and is likely to be especially helpful for clinicians who only see a few cases in their career.

The results of a recent randomized control trial challenged the use of a platelet count of 50 × 10⁹/L as the threshold for prophylactic transfusions in preterm neonates, indicating lower rates of severe bleeding or death with use of 25 × 10⁹/L as the trigger point. Here, the authors further analyze trial data and conclude that the 25 × 10⁹/L threshold can be adopted for all preterm neonates, irrespective of predicted baseline outcome risk.

This article reports the outcomes of a clinical trial of CD28-containing CD19-specific chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells in pediatric, adolescent, and young adult patients with relapsed or refractory B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). Minimal disease burden at entry and use of high-dose cyclophosphamide conditioning are reported to be associated with more favorable outcomes.

A deep dive into genomic aberrations in 37 new diagnoses of primary mediastinal B-cell lymphoma (PMBL) reveals a surprisingly high number of driver mutations as well as genetic and epigenetic explanations for immune evasion by the tumor.

The authors describe recurrent novel insertion/deletion mutations in the JH2 domain of JAK2 occurring in patients with eosinophilia as a prominent feature of their myeloproliferative neoplasms. Remarkably, 2 of the patients with a specific mutation (Leu583-Ala586DelInsSer) meet the criteria for both chronic eosinophilic leukemia and polycythemia vera, suggesting that this may be a distinct overlap syndrome.

Currently, we have insufficient understanding of venous thromboembolism in cancer patients. In this article, the authors reveal a novel mechanism for colon cancer-associated venous thrombosis using a murine model.