Newsletter November 2011 - European Hematology Association

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Professor Ulrich Jäger, EHA President with Naoki Kurita and Professor Clara Camaschella and Michaela Gruber Allergenic stem-cell transplantation is limited available for donors because only a small percentage of patients have HLAidentical siblings in advanced countries. In addition to matched unrelated donors, use of alternative donors such as unrelated umbilical cord blood (CB) or haploidentical family donors (haplo) has been gradually increased. Through the EHA-JSH Fellowship Exchange Program, I have learned innovative techniques regarding transplantation using CB or haplo at Ospedale San Martino in Genoa. Although over 20,000 cord blood transplantations (CBT) have been performed to date, including over 7,000 in Japan, high rate of graft failure remains a problem. Intra-bone marrow (iBM) CBT technique conducted by Dr Frassoni is one of the solutions for the problem. Through several 18 > EHA Newsletter November 2011 cases I saw, and by being involved in a series of experiments, I acquired the practical method and theoretical background of iBM-CBT. As another attractive option for patients who don’t have sibling donors, Dr Bacigalupo has been performing haplo transplantation followed by post-transplant high-dose cyclophosphamide as GVHD prophylaxis in a setting of myeloablative conditioning regimen. All haplo cases transplanted in Genoa were engrafted and the post-transplant immune reconstitution was favorable. By using this technique, problems inherent in haplo transplantation such as frequent infection and relapse can be overcome. As soon as I came back to Japan, I started organizing these new techniques in our facility. Half a year ago, my boss recommended me to apply for this fellowship program. I took a strong interest in the newly founded program because it could enable me to learn new techniques that had been rarely done in Japan. Through the project, not only did I learn novel methods regarding transplantation, but also met a lot of frontrunners in this field at Genoa, Rome, London, Paris, and Leiden. The human network I obtained in Europe will be a great treasure in my future carrier”.
EHA Partner Fellowship Winners Name: Marcela Braga Mansur Home Institute: Instituto Nacional de Câncer (INCA), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Host Institute: The Institute of Cancer Research (ICR), Sutton, Surrey, United Kingdom Project Title: Tracing Copy Number Alterations in Infants with Tcell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia - an early onset scenario. Project Summary: Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) in infants is a rare disease associated with MLL rearrangements, CD10- immature-B-lineage and prenatal origin. Otherwise, T- ALL is more prevalent in older children, being a very rare disease in infants. This raises the question of whether the aetiology of childhood T-ALL is likely to involve prenatal molecular alterations. However, in contrast to infant pro-B ALL, in which in utero origin has been extensively demonstrated, the genetic origin and timing for T-ALL is not fully elucidated. Few molecular studies have been performed to clarify these issues, but with major biotechnology advances, this setting is about to change. In a recent study of T-ALL, we have evaluated 15 children in early childhood (age ≤24 months), an investigation of great importance to test additional biomarkers in this very rare disease. In summary, our results suggested that abnormalities involving the NOTCH1 and MLL genes are early events of T- ALL leukemogenesis. The availability to us of such a rare series of T-ALL cases led us to plan a Genome-Wide SNP array study to trace copy number alterations (CNAs) and LOH/UPD profiles in T-ALL infants, aiming to determine the critical hits that account for natural history of T-ALL. We also aim to elucidate more definitively the early onset of these abnormalities and to delineate the additional genomic hits required to accelerate the emergence of a frank leukaemia. Another goal to be explored is a comparison between infants and older children with T-ALL by tracing CNA differences between these age groups, to find some correlation with disease progression or the necessity to accumulate secondary abnormalities. How did you learn about the EHA Research Fellowship Program? I learned about the EHA Research Fellowship Program by Dr Anthony Ford. He is an EHA member, and an important scientific collaborator of our research group that knows a lot about EHA Programs and suggested me to apply for this Fellowship Program as a great option to get a Post-Doc opportunity in Europe. Why did you apply for this program? I applied for this Program, because it could give me the opportunity to achieve my aim: to get a Post-Doc position in a European Cancer Research Centre of international excellence with proper financial and scientific support. How will the grant fund impact your career development? The EHA grant fund will afford me the imperative support, i.e. to have a financial stability, which will provide me security for the fulfilment of my professional projects. So this support will be the base to the most important opportunity of my scientific career, to be in a Research Centre of excellence facing inspiring challenges and acquiring a lot of professional experience and knowledge. In summary, this grant will be the trigger of my career development. Name: Dr Syed Khizer Hasan Home Institute: Advanced Centre for Treatment, Research and Education in Cancer (ACTREC), Mumbai, India Host Institute: Department of Biopathology, Faculty of Medicine and Surgery, University of Rome ‘Tor Vergata’, Rome, Italy Project Title: Study of minimal residual disease cells to potentiate AML therapy: a two step molecular-clinical investigation. Project Summary: The focus of the project is Acute Myeloid Leukemia, chosen as model system to assess the patient’s response to therapy and to characterize the biological and molecular determinants of those rare leukemic cells that persist after initial treatment. This project will evaluate the use of parallel RQ-PCR and flow cytometry to direct treatment approach in AML. Endpoint will be their capacity to predict remission and relapse. This study will enable us to establish risk based stratification of newly diagnosed AML using molecular and immunophenotypic markers and correlate them with patient outcomes with standard treatment strategies. How did you learn about the EHA Research Fellowship Program? As a member of EHA, I used to receive all updates about EHA events through emails. The news about EHA partner fellowship has also come through an email and that is how I learned about it. Why did you apply for this program? I am very keen to initiate my independent research programme that could provide greater insight into the causation of Acute Myeloid Leukemia as prevalent in India. In this area of research European laboratories and in particular Italian hematology institutions have made seminal contributions in various aspects of AML including molecular characterization and MRD studies. The director of ACTREC, Dr Rajiv Sarin has also encouraged and helped me a lot. How will the grant fund impact your career development? The proposed collaborative research program India and Italy has achievable goals of testing new approaches in molecular and genetic characterization of AML in conjucntion with detailed clinical and laboratory characterization of AML treated with standard therapy and followed up using conventional and molecular methods for improving MRD detection. This EHA partner fellowship would be the ideal platform for me to launch a very exicting and succesful career in India with the help of Italian colleagues in addressing a biologically interesting and clinically challenging disease. My close collaboration with Professor Francesco Lo-Coco, in Italy would help me to navigate unexpected challenges in the initial years of my independent research career. EHA Newsletter November 2011 > 19
Page 1 and 2: newsletter November 2011 the offici
Page 3 and 4: President’s Message It is a great
Page 5 and 6: Representatives from patient organi
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Page 9 and 10: much of my time helping academics i
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Newsletter November 2011 - European Hematology Association

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