Publications by authors named "Alessandra Iurlo"

Treatment-free remission (TFR) in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) can be considered for patients in sustained deep molecular response (DMR) who can discontinue tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) while maintaining responses. Studies suggest that TKI de-escalation before TFR is feasible. This phase II study evaluated nilotinib de-escalation outcomes in adults with CML in chronic phase (CP) treated with first-line nilotinib for ≥ 3 years and in sustained DMR for ≥ 1 year.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Chronic systemic inflammation is a key driver of polycythemia vera (PV) progression, but the immunomodulatory effects of current treatments remain poorly defined. The neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is an accessible biomarker of systemic inflammation proven in other contexts, but its role in monitoring PV disease activity has not been established. Using data from three of the largest PV clinical trials, we evaluated the effects of PV therapies on NLR and its relationship with molecular response and clinical outcomes.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Polycythemia vera (PV) is a chronic myeloproliferative neoplasm with a substantial risk of thromboembolic events (TEs), which contribute to morbidity and mortality. Traditional thrombotic risk stratification primarily considers age and thrombosis history, yet these parameters alone do not capture the complexity of thrombotic risk. Growing evidence highlights the role of additional factors influencing the risk of TEs, underscoring the need for a more comprehensive approach to patient stratification.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients who have experienced failure and/or intolerance to multiple lines of treatment have limited therapeutic possibilities. Asciminib is a first-in-class tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) that inhibits the ABL Myristoyl Pocket (STAMP or Specifically Targeting the ABL Myristoyl Pocket) within the BCR::ABL1 oncoprotein. This retrospective Italian analysis reports the efficacy and safety outcomes of asciminib in treating 77 CML patients in chronic phase (CML-CP) within a compassionate use setting.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The SETD2 tumour suppressor encodes a histone methyltransferase that specifically trimethylates histone H3 on lysine 36 (H3K36me3), a key histone mark implicated in the maintenance of genomic integrity among other functions. We found that SETD2 protein deficiency, mirrored by H3K36me3 deficiency, is a nearly universal event in advanced-phase chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients. Similarly, K562 and KCL22 cell lines exhibited markedly reduced or undetectable SETD2/H3K36me3 levels, respectively.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Chronic-Phase Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (C-PCML) is defined by the presence of the fusion gene, which encodes a tyrosine kinase protein that drives the uncontrolled proliferation and survival of leukemic stem cells (LSCs). Nilotinib, a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, targets the activity of BCR-ABL1 by reducing aberrant signaling pathways, which drive the regeneration of LSCs. Despite nilotinib's action, a population of resilient LSCs persist in the bone marrow (BM) and can indeed drive relapse and progression in CML patients.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: In patients with myelofibrosis (MF), overall survival (OS) after ruxolitinib discontinuation is poor, with leukemic transformation, clonal evolution and thrombocytopenia as the main factors worsening prognosis.

Patients And Methods: To assess the impact of disease phenotype on outcome after ruxolitinib discontinuation in chronic phase patients, we performed a sub-analysis of the "RUX-MF" study (NCT06516406), which now includes 1055 MF patients who received ruxolitinib in a real-life context.

Results: After a median follow-up of 3.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Calreticulin (CALR) is a chaperone protein that plays a crucial role in protein folding quality control and calcium homeostasis. Mutations in result in a mutated protein lacking key calcium-binding sites and the KDEL sequence, leading to a constitutive activation of the MPL-JAK2-STAT5 pathway, which is involved in the pathogenesis of essential thrombocythemia (ET) and primary myelofibrosis (PMF). Despite advancements in understanding the role of mutations, current therapeutic strategies remain focused on managing symptoms and complications, with allogeneic stem cell transplantation (alloHSCT) as the only curative option.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) is marked by the BCR::ABL1 fusion gene. Monitoring tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy response is crucial for treatment management, thus, limitations in Reverse Transcription quantitative PCR's (RT-qPCR) accuracy and sensitivity led to the exploration of alternative methods like digital PCR (dPCR). This study evaluated dPCR efficacy in detecting Minimal Residual Disease (MRD) in CML patients undergoing TKI therapy.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • In the past decade, targeted kidney inhibitors (TKIs) have significantly improved the survival rates of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients, particularly those achieving deep and sustained molecular response (DMR), allowing some to consider stopping treatment.
  • A study analyzed responses from 1,777 CML patients in Italy, focusing on the impact of different TKIs (imatinib, dasatinib, nilotinib) and timing of responses (3, 6, and 12 months).
  • Results showed that patients achieving certain molecular response benchmarks at 3 months were more likely to achieve DMR later, with significant differences in outcomes based on the specific TKI used.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Up to 30% of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients may need a treatment change due to issues with first-line tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs), and bosutinib (BOS) emerges as an effective and safe alternative.
  • A study analyzed 132 CML patients treated with BOS across 18 hematology centers, finding that most patients switched due to intolerance to previous TKIs, with a significant number achieving positive treatment outcomes.
  • The findings suggest that BOS is a preferred treatment choice, particularly for patients who cannot tolerate previous TKIs, demonstrating its safety and effectiveness in real-life settings.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - The introduction of small molecule tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) for chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) has significantly improved patient life expectancy, making it comparable to the general population, despite potential mild to severe side effects from long-term use.
  • - Emerging goals in CML treatment include the potential for treatment-free remission (TFR), with specific eligibility criteria, where 25%-30% of patients might achieve prolonged TFR.
  • - This review focuses on guidelines for safely stopping TKIs, shares clinical insights from trials and real-world data, and highlights ongoing research into biological markers that could help predict TFR success.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Most patients with myelofibrosis who are treated with ruxolitinib eventually develop intolerance or relapse, leading to poor survival rates after stopping the drug; hence, the study evaluates fedratinib against best available therapy (BAT).
  • The FREEDOM2 trial was a phase 3, open-label study involving 201 patients with myelofibrosis who were either intolerant or had relapsed during ruxolitinib treatment, comparing fedratinib to BAT, with the main goal being the rate of spleen volume reduction after 6 cycles.
  • At the data cutoff, 36% of patients treated with fedratinib achieved a significant spleen volume reduction by the end of cycle
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Purpose Of Review: Myelofibrosis (MF) includes prefibrotic primary MF (pre-PMF), overt-PMF and secondary MF (SMF). Median overall survival (OS) of pre-PMF, overt-PMF and SMF patients is around 14 years, seven and nine years, respectively. Main causes of mortality are non-clonal progression and transformation into blast phase.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • Ruxolitinib (RUX) is a treatment for myelofibrosis, mainly studied in high-risk patients, but is often given to intermediate-1 patients with limited data on its effects.
  • In a study of 1,055 myelofibrosis patients, over half were classified as intermediate-1 risk, with notable symptoms and some having high-molecular-risk mutations.
  • The study found that after 6 months of RUX treatment, a significant proportion of patients experienced improvements in spleen size and symptoms, with certain factors like the absence of high-molecular-risk mutations being linked to better treatment responses.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • A study analyzed clinical and genetic data from 28 patients with idiopathic hypereosinophilia (HE) over a 10-year period, focusing on bone marrow morphology and mutational profiles using next-generation sequencing (NGS).
  • Out of 22 patients assessed for bone marrow (BM) morphology, 6 were normal, while 16 showed increased eosinophils and mild fibrosis; 4 patients had identifiable genetic mutations, including JAK2V617F and TET2.
  • The findings suggest that somatic mutations were rare (only 14.3% of patients) and caution is advised in interpreting these mutations without considering other clinical evidence, especially in older patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Despite increased understanding of the genomic landscape of Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (MPNs), the pathological mechanisms underlying abnormal megakaryocyte (Mk)-stromal crosstalk and fibrotic progression in MPNs remain unclear. We conducted mass spectrometry-based proteomics on mice with Romiplostim-dependent myelofibrosis to reveal alterations in signaling pathways and protein changes in Mks, platelets, and bone marrow (BM) cells. The chemokine Platelet Factor 4 (PF4)/Cxcl4 was up-regulated in all proteomes and increased in plasma and BM fluids of fibrotic mice.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • People with essential thrombocythemia (ET) usually take low-dose aspirin once a day to avoid blood clots, but this isn't always effective because their platelet levels change quickly.
  • A study tested if taking aspirin twice a day would work better and found that it did help lower certain blood markers and symptoms over 20 months.
  • The results showed that twice-daily aspirin caused fewer major blood clots, didn't lead to significant bleeding problems, and made patients feel better overall compared to taking it once a day.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

We evaluated RDW in a single-center series of 61 consecutive patients with primary and secondary MF at diagnosis and during treatment with ruxolitinib (RUX) and examined any possible prognostic impact. Elevated RDW values were present in all but 4 patients at diagnosis with a median RDW of 18.9%.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF