Newsletter November 2011 - European Hematology Association

The first EHA – ISTH Joint Fellowship Award
was presented to Dr Astrid van Hylckama
Vlieg by Professor Ian Peak (ISTH) and Professor
Clara Camaschella (EHA). The EHA-
ISTH Joint Fellowship program is intended
to support the study of physiology of coagulation,
bleeding and thrombosis.
The title of the awarded project is: Ageing
of the venous valves and the risk of venous
thrombosis in the elderly.
Dr Astrid van Hylckama Vlieg explains
about her project.
> “Increasing age is the strongest risk
factor for deep venous thrombosis (DVT), a
major cause of death and disability in the
elderly. This steep age-gradient is, as yet,
unexplained since the elderly are often excluded
from research and are thus the
least studied in the field of venous thrombosis.
One of my interests is to identify
specific risk factors for venous thrombosis
in the elderly and elucidate the striking
age gradient. I was recently awarded the
joint fellowship of the European Hematology
Association (EHA) and the International
Society of Thrombosis and Haemostasis
(ISTH). This fellowship provides me the
great opportunity to continue my work on
the risk of venous thrombosis in the elderly.
The aim of the proposed study is to find the
mechanism underlying the age-gradient
and the high risk of DVT in the elderly, by
combining novel, in vivo imaging techniques
to study degenerative changes in
the venous valves and to study the coagulation
system with specific and global hypercoagulability
assays.
We will perform a case-control study of
patients with a first venous thrombosis
and controls, all aged ≥70 years. Detailed
clinical data (items on e.g., thrombosis,
medical history, lifestyle factors that may
affect thrombosis risk or ageing of the
valves) will be combined with ultrasound
imaging of the popliteal vein (non-affected
leg in patients) and coagulation assays.
This will be the first study in which the association
between ageing of the valves and
the risk of venous thrombosis will be investigated.
It is crucial to increase knowledge
on risk factors for venous thrombosis
in elderly, in order to prevent morbidity
and mortality“.
Professor Ian Peake, the EHA-ISTH Award Winner Astrid van Hylckama Vlieg and Professor Clara Camaschella.
The first EHA – JSH Fellowship Exchange
Award was presented to Dr Michaela Gruber
and Dr Naoki Kurita by Professor Yuzuru
Kanakura (JSH President) and Professor
Clara Camaschella (EHA). The
EHA-JSH Fellowship Exchange Award will
provide European and Japanese research
institutes the opportunity to reciprocally
exchange scientists for a short period (up
to 4 months) in either country. The intent of
the program is to give both clinical and laboratory-based
researchers an opportunity
to establish new collaborations and experience
research in a different environment.
Both winners introduce themselves here
and write about their projects.
> “My name is Michaela Gruber, I am a
medical doctor and currently working as a
researcher in the hematology lab at the
Medical University of Vienna in Austria.
Our group is particularly interested in
chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), which
is the most frequent leukemia in Western
countries but very rare in Asia. Within preliminary
work, we identified expression of
the enzyme uridine diphospho glucuronosyltransferase
(UGT) 2B17 as a risk factor
among Caucasian patients with CLL.
UGT2B17 shows a remarkable copy number
variation making it by far the most differentially
expressed gene between ethnic
groups. We initiated collaboration with the
Japanese Study Group on CLL and Related
Diseases. Together, we are investigating
the role of UGT2B17 in Japanese patients
with CLL as a starting point to establish a
long-term Japanese-European cooperation
studying predisposition and clinical
course of the disease. When we discovered
that EHA and the Japanese Society of Hematology
were initiating the new joint fellowship
we immediately decided to apply.
Luckily, our proposal “East-West Initiative:
Establishing a Comparative Research Network
on Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia”
was selected.
As a recipient of the EHA-ASH Translational
Research Training in Hematology Award
in 2010 I already benefited from the EHA
career development program. The EHA-
JSH exchange grant provides me the support
and the funding to collect the data for
our research in Japan. And I think it will be
only the beginning for future fruitful collaborations.
Furthermore I am confident I
will gain valuable new experiences and
friendships and that the support from EHA
and JSH will help to obtain more funding
from other national and international institutions.
In conclusion, I personally think
that the EHA-JSH fellowship is an important
step in my career towards becoming
an independent researcher in hematology.
Moreover, I believe that this collaboration
can give new insights helping us to better
understand and treat CLL in the future”.
> “My name is Naoki Kurita from the
Department of Hematology, Tsukuba University
Hospital. My project is called Investigation
on Cord Blood Transplantation.
EHA Newsletter November 2011 > 17