Cardiovascular disease has been recognized as the main cause of death in adults with sickle cell disease (SCD). Although the exact mechanism linking SCD to cardiomyopathy remains elusive, a possible role of subclinical acute transient myocardial ischemia during acute sickle cell-related vaso-occlusive crises (VOCs) has been suggested. We approached SCD cardiomyopathy by integrated omics using humanized SS mice exposed to hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R; 10 hours hypoxia followed by 3 hours reoxygenation) stress, mimicking acute VOCs. In sickle cell (SS) mice exposed to H/R, a neutrophil-driven cardiac hypertrophic response is initiated by cardiac proinflammatory pathways, intersecting proteins and micro RNA involved in profibrotic signaling. This response may be facilitated by local unresolved inflammation. We then examined the effect of 17(R)-resolvin D1 (17R-RvD1), a member of the specialized proresolving lipid mediator superfamily, administration on H/R-activated profibrotic and proangiogenic pathways. In SS mice, we found that 17R-RvD1 (1) modulates miRNAome; (2) prevents the activation of NF-κB p65; (3) protects against the H/R-induced activation of both platelet derived growth factor receptor and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1/Smad2-3 canonical pathways; (4) reduces the expression of hypoxia-inducible factor-dependent proangiogenic signaling; and (5) decreases the H/R-induced proapoptotic cell signature. The protective role of 17R-RvD1 against H/R-induced maladaptive heart remodeling was supported by the reduction of galectin-3, procollagen C-proteinase enhancer-1, and endothelin-1 expression and perivascular fibrosis in SS mice at 3 days after H/R stress compared with vehicle-treated SS animals. Collectively, our data support the novel role of unresolved inflammation in pathologic heart remodeling in SCD mice in response to H/R stress. Our study provides new evidence for protective effects of 17R-RvD1 against SCD-related cardiovascular disease.

Venetoclax (Ven), when combined with intensive chemotherapy, shows promise for untreated acute myeloid leukemia (AML), but its integration with the 7+3 regimen remains underexplored. In a phase 1b study, we assessed the safety and efficacy of Ven with daunorubicin and cytarabine in patients with newly diagnosed AML. A total of 34 patients (median age, 59 years; 62% non-White) received Ven at escalating durations (8, 11, or 14 days). Adverse events included febrile neutropenia (100%), sepsis (29%), and enterocolitis (23.5%), but there were no induction deaths. The median recovery times for neutrophils (>1.0 × 103/μL) and platelets (>100 × 103/μL) were less than 30 days. Composite complete remission was achieved in 85.3% of patients, and 86.2% were negative for measurable residual disease (MRD). Responses spanned all European Leukemia Net 2022 risk categories. With a median follow-up of 9.6 (2-20) months, the median duration of response, event-free survival, and overall survival were not reached. Ven (400 mg), when combined with 7+3 chemotherapy, was safe and effective in achieving MRD-negative remissions across all durations. Ven dose optimization is being explored in the expansion phase of this trial. Future multicenter studies should confirm our findings. This trial was registered at clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT05342584.

Although described more than a decade ago, the mechanism by which the JAK2 46/1 haplotype increases the risk of developing JAK2-mutated myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs) remains unexplained. Inflammation and immunity are linked to MPN development and thus could be relevant to the mechanism by which 46/1 mediates its effect. Here, we show that programmed death-1 receptor ligand (PD-L1) expression is elevated in 46/1 haplotype, both in healthy carriers and in CD34+ cells from patients with MPN. Using circular chromosome conformation capture, we observed that PD-L1 and the neighboring PD-L2 loci physically interact with JAK2 in a manner that differs between 46/1 and nonrisk haplotypes. CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing identified a region within JAK2 intron 2 that influences both JAK2 and PD-L1 expression. We suggest that increased PD-L1 expression may be relevant to the mechanism by which 46/1 leads to an increased inherited risk of developing MPN.

The last decade has seen the introduction of 2 new licensed therapies for thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP), caplacizumab and recombinant ADAMTS13 (rADAMTS13), for immune and congenital TTP (cTTP), respectively. They improve acute TTP outcomes, and reduce the need for plasma therapy, time to clinical response, and treatment burden. Future pathways need to replace plasma exchange in acute TTP and optimize/personalize rADAMTS13 in cTTP. Future emphasis should focus on additional monoclonals/treatments to tackle ADAMTS13 antibodies.

The contribution of interleukin-10 (IL-10), secreted by tumoral B cells, to the progression and shaping of the microenvironment in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) with activated B-cell-like (ABC) phenotype is not yet completely understood. To shed light on this issue, we generated an immunocompetent mouse model of ABC-DLBCL with conditional knockout of IL-10 specifically in malignant B cells. Paradoxically, these mice had significantly worse overall survival when left untreated but experienced increased sensitivity to conventional anti-CD20 immunotherapy or regulatory T-cell depletion. We identified various immunomodulatory mechanisms involved in this behavior. In particular, we show that IL-10-deficient lymphomas acquire a highly immunosuppressed and T-cell-exhausted microenvironment with increased angiogenesis that results in a more aggressive phenotype, which is refractory to PD-1 immune checkpoint blockade. However, the response of IL-10-deficient mice to anti-CD20 immunotherapy was greatly enhanced by upregulation of calcium channels in B cells. In general, IL-10 autocrine signaling promotes the survival of malignant B cells, whereas the paracrine action of B-cell-derived IL-10 maintains an immunoreactive microenvironment that influences the efficacy of emerging immunotherapy strategies targeting the lymphoma microenvironment. Furthermore, IL-10-associated transcriptional signatures derived from our studies may correctly predict clinical outcomes of patients with DLBCL treated with R-CHOP (rituximab plus cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine, and prednisone). Thus, our work provides important functional and mechanistic insights into the role of B-cell-derived IL-10 in the biology of ABC-DLBCL.

The phase 2 CLL2-BZAG trial tested a measurable residual disease (MRD)-guided combination treatment of zanubrutinib, venetoclax, and obinutuzumab after an optional bendamustine debulking in patients with relapsed/refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). In total, 42 patients were enrolled and 2 patients with ≤2 induction cycles were excluded from the analysis population per protocol. Patients had a median of 1 prior therapy (range, 1-5); 18 patients (45%) had already received a Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor (BTKi); 7 patients (17.5%) venetoclax; and, of these, 5 (12.5%) had received both. Fifteen patients (37.5%) had a TP53 mutation/deletion, and 31 (77.5%) had unmutated immunoglobulin heavy chain variable region gene. With a median observation time of 21.5 months (range, 8.0-35.3) the most common adverse events were COVID-19 (n = 26 patients), diarrhea (n = 15), infusion-related reactions (n = 15), thrombocytopenia (n = 14), nausea (n = 12), fatigue (n = 12), and neutropenia (n = 12). Two patients had fatal adverse events (COVID-19, and fungal pneumonia secondary to COVID-19). After 6 months of the triple combination, all patients responded, and 21 (52.5%; 95% confidence interval, 36.1-68.5) showed undetectable MRD (uMRD) in the peripheral blood. In many patients, remissions deepened over time, with a best uMRD rate of 85%. The estimated progression-free and overall survival rates at 18 months were 96% and 96.8%, respectively. No patient has yet required a subsequent treatment. In summary, the MRD-guided triple combination of zanubrutinib, venetoclax, and obinutuzumab induced deep remissions in a relapsed CLL population enriched for patients previously treated with a BTKi/venetoclax. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT04515238.