Population-Based Clinical Cancer Registration in Germany.

Introduction: In 2013, a new federal law obligated all German federal states to collect additional clinical data in population-based cancer registries as an active tool for monitoring and improving the quality of cancer care, increasing transparency and promoting health research. Now, 10 years later, the current status of the expanded cancer registration is presented, including current figures on cancer in Germany.

Methods: Reporting of cancer is mandatory for physicians, and about 5 to 10 reports from different healthcare providers are expected for each case.

Generation and validation of a formula to calculate hemoglobin loss on a cohort of healthy adults subjected to controlled blood loss.

Background: The ability to approximate intra-operative hemoglobin loss with reasonable precision and linearity is prerequisite for determination of a relevant surgical outcome parameter: This information enables comparison of surgical procedures between different techniques, surgeons or hospitals, and supports anticipation of transfusion needs. Different formulas have been proposed, but none of them were validated for accuracy, precision and linearity against a cohort with precisely measured hemoglobin loss and, possibly for that reason, neither has established itself as gold standard. We sought to identify the minimal dataset needed to generate reasonably precise and accurate hemoglobin loss prediction tools and to derive and validate an estimation formula.

Donor-intrinsic variables determine mobilization efficiency: analyses from a cohort of sixty twice-mobilized stem cell donors.

Background: Healthy volunteer registry donors have become the backbone of stem cell transplantation programs. While most registrants will never become actual donors, a small minority are called upon twice, most commonly for the same patient because of poor graft function. Anecdotal evidence provides no hard reasons to disallow second-time mobilized apheresis, but few centers have treated enough two-time donors for definitive conclusions.

Introduction of principles of blood management to healthy donor bone marrow harvesting.

Background And Objectives: Patient blood (more accurately: haemoglobin, Hb) management (PBM) aims to optimize endogenous Hb production and to minimize iatrogenic Hb loss while maintaining patient safety and optimal effectiveness of medical interventions. PBM was adopted as policy for patients by the World Health Organization (WHO), and, all the more, should be applied to healthy donors.

Materials And Methods: Observational data from 489 bone marrow (BM) donors were retrospectively analysed, and principles of patient blood management were applied to healthy volunteer BM donations.

Correction: A novel association between relaxin receptor polymorphism and hematopoietic stem cell yield after mobilization.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Erythrocyte depletion from bone marrow: performance evaluation after 50 clinical-scale depletions with Spectra Optia BMC.

Background: Red blood cell (RBC) depletion is a standard graft manipulation technique for ABO-incompatible bone marrow (BM) transplants. The BM processing module for Spectra Optia, "BMC", was previously introduced. We here report the largest series to date of routine quality data after performing 50 clinical-scale RBC-depletions.

A novel association between relaxin receptor polymorphism and hematopoietic stem cell yield after mobilization.

Mobilization of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) from the bone marrow to the peripheral blood is a complex mechanism that involves adhesive and chemotactic interactions of HSCs as well as their bone marrow microenvironment. In addition to a number of non-genetic factors, genetic susceptibilities also contribute to the mobilization outcome. Identification of genetic factors associated with HSC yield is important to better understand the mechanism behind HSC mobilization.

Epigenetic silencing of miR-708 enhances NF-κB signaling in chronic lymphocytic leukemia.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression and their deregulation is involved in tumor development. Epigenetic gene silencing in cancer by DNA methylation contributes to the silencing of tumor-suppressor genes, including miRNAs. We have recently shown that the promoter of miR-708 is aberrantly methylated in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).

Early aberrant DNA methylation events in a mouse model of acute myeloid leukemia.

Background: Aberrant DNA methylation is frequently found in human malignancies including acute myeloid leukemia (AML). While most studies focus on later disease stages, the onset of aberrant DNA methylation events and their dynamics during leukemic progression are largely unknown.

Methods: We screened genome-wide for aberrant CpG island methylation in three disease stages of a murine AML model that is driven by hypomorphic expression of the hematopoietic transcription factor PU.