Browsing by Author "Denčić-Fekete, Marija (15836938800)"

Introduction. The accurate diagnosis of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), not only on the morphological and clinical, but also on the molecular level, is very important for application of targeted therapies. Case report. A 62-year-old woman presented with APL. By using conventional cytogenetic analysis as well as applying the fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis it has not been possible to confirm the presence of t(15;17) in the presented patient. Using reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) two atypical promyelotic leukemia/retinoic acid receptor alpha (PML/RAR-α) fusion transcripts were identified. Both detected transcripts were isoforms. The larger transcript was in-frame, coding for functional aberrant PML/RAR-α protein, while the shorter transcript was an out-of-frame. Conclusion. Our study highlights the need for the application of molecular methodology in daily clinical practice. Precise characterization of PML/RAR-α fusion transcript creates a basis for identifying rare individual cases that require special caution when treating such patients. To our knowledge this is only the fifth case of atypical PML/RAR-α transcript containing full PML exon 7a, and among them the only one that was cytogenetically cryptic and FISH negative. All of the herein presented cases had lethal outcome. Therefore, our findings with the additional review of the literature, emphasizes the importance of detailed identification of atypical PML/RAR-α fusions, not only for the purpose of knowing their role in leukemogenesis, but also for the assessment of the impact that they can have on the outcome of the treatment. © 2020 Inst. Sci. inf., Univ. Defence in Belgrade. All rights reserved.

The hypocellular acute leukemia is very rare atypical leukemia with frequency of 5–7% among patients with acute leukemias. It mainly occurs in older patients and usually has a myeloid phenotype. It is still unclear whether the outcome of hypocellular acute myeloid leukemia is less favorable than adult acute myeloid leukemia with normal cellularity. We retrospectively analyzed all hypocellular acute myeloid leukemias which were treated in 16 years period, between January 1998 and December 2014. There were 33 patients, 21 male and 12 female. The median age of the patients was 58.9 years (ranging from 19 to 88 years) and median cellularity of bone marrow was 16%. All patients presented with cytopenias with median white blood cell count 1.9 × 109/l, platelets 47.2 × 109/l and hemoglobin 85.9 g/l. Nineteen patients were treated with standard 3 + 7 protocol (daunoblastin 45 mg/m2 1, 3, 5 days, cytosin-arabinozide 100 mg/m2/12 h for 7 days), 5 patients with HDAC protocol and, 3 (9%) with low dose cytosin-arabinoside and in 6 (18.1%) patients only supportive therapy was applied. One patient died on 34 day after treatment with HiDAC, 3 patients after treatment with 3 + 7 regimen in full doses on days 23, 35, and 58 days. Complete remission was achieved in 20/33 (60.60%) patients, with median duration of 14 months. Median overall survival (OS) of the entire cohort was 16 months, and for the treated group 21 months (range 5–67 months). Median OS of patients treated with low dose cytosine-arabinoside was 6 months. The advanced age (p = 0.009, KK = − 0.46, Log rank, p = 0.031) as well as therapy options (Log rank p < 0.0001) shows a significant correlation with OS. We report a cohort of patients with hypocellular acute myeloid leukemia who responded to standard induction chemotherapy as are in standard acute myeloid leukemia. © 2019, Indian Society of Hematology and Blood Transfusion.

Introduction/Objective Prognostication of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) has been substantially improved in recent times. Among several prognostic models (PMs) focused on the prediction of time to first treatment (TTFT), progression-risk score (PRS), and MD Anderson Cancer Center score 2011 (MDACC 2011) are the most relevant, while CLL-International Prognostic Index (CLL-IPI), although originally developed to predict overall survival (OS), is also being used to estimate TTFT. The aim of this study was to investigate CLL-IPI, PRS, and MDACC 2011 prognostic values regarding TTFT and OS. Methods The analyzed cohort included 57 unselected Serbian CLL patients from a single institution, with the basic characteristics reflecting more aggressive disease than in the general de novo CLL population. The eligible patients were assigned investigated PMs, and TTFT and OS analyses were performed. Results Patients with higher risk scores according to CLL-IPI, PRS, and MDACC 2011 underwent treatment significantly earlier than patients with lower risk scores (p = 0.002, p = 0.019, and p < 0.001, respectively). In multivariate analysis, MDACC 2011 and CLL-IPI retained their significance regarding TTFT (p = 0.001 and p = 0.018, respectively), while PRS did not. CLL-IPI was the only significant predictor of OS both at the univariate (p = 0.005) and multivariate (p = 0.013) levels. Conclusion CLL-IPI, PRS, and particularly MDACC 2011 are able to predict TTFT even in cohorts with more advanced-disease patients, while for prediction of OS, CLL-IPI is the only applicable among the three PMs. These results imply that PMs should be investigated in more diverse CLL populations, as it is in real-life setting. © 2021, Serbia Medical Society. All rights reserved.

Introduction. Myelodysplastic/myeloproliferative neoplasms represent a group of rare hematologic malignancies with con-comitant characteristics of two different disorders. There are cytopenias and cytoses with dysplastic morphology in the circu-lating blood and hyperplastic bone marrow, respectively. Many cytogenetic and molecular features have been found in this rare entity, but t(2;11)(p21;q23)del(5) (q22;q33) has not been de-scribed so far. Case report. We present a patient with myelo-dysplastic syndrome, subtype refractory anemia without ringed sideroblasts, with unique translocation t(2;11)(p21;q23) associ-ated with del(5)(q22;q33) in the karyotype. Fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis did not detect mixed-lineage leukemia (MLL) rearrangement, which can be found in other hematolog-ic malignancies with this translocation. After a year on support-ive treatment with packed red cells, thrombocytosis developed with a concurrent increase in white blood cells and the Janus kinase-2 gene mutation. This confirmed the presence of myel-odysplastic/myeloproliferative neoplasms. Due to the high platelet count, the cerebrovascular insult has occurred. The pa-tient was treated supportively and with lenalidomide. After in-troducing the lenalidomide steadily, the patient's condition im-proved, the peripheral blood count normalized, and he became transfusion independent. Conclusion. Patients with the cyto-genetic finding of t(2;11)(p21;q23) associated with del(5)(q22;q33) but without MLL rearrangement and with Ja-nus kinase-2 gene mutation presence, respond to lenalidomide therapy and have relatively longer overall survival. © 2021 Inst. Sci. inf., Univ. Defence in Belgrade. All rights reserved.

Introduction. The presence of aneuploidy in patients diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), except trisomy 12, is considered quite uncommon. Hyperdiploidy or near-tetraploidy (occurring in 1–3% of all CLL patients) usually confer a poor prognosis. Case report. We report a patient in a progressive phase of CLL with near–triploid karyotype. The prognosis of the disease was more precisely determined by applying the cytogenetic analysis of the karyotype and was complemented with molecular methods and pathohistological examination. The complex karyotype was accompanied by the TP53, C-MYC, and IGH gene disruptions, the most probable cause of rapid evolution into Richter’s syndrome. Conclusion. The use of comprehensive contemporary diagnostic techniques is highly recommended in patients who are in the progressive phase of CLL, primarily for the adequate choice of management strategy. The presented case confirms that aneuploidy in CLL patients indicates poor prognosis, which is in accordance with previous publications reporting on cases of CLL patients with aneuploidy. © 2023 Inst. Sci. inf., Univ. Defence in Belgrade. All rights reserved.

Background/Aim. Primary myelofibrosis (PMF) is a chronic, malignant hematological disease characterized by a leucoerythroblastic blood picture, anisopoikilocytosis teardrop- shaped erythrocytes, different degrees of bone marrow fibrosis and hepatosplenomegaly due to extramedullary hematopoiesis. Among genetic specificities of the disease, those that stand out are chromosomal aberrations in pathological, myeloid blood cells. The aim of this study was to examine the prognostic significance of clinical, hematologic and cytogenetic parameters in PMF. Methods. A retrospective study included 144 patients with PMF. Karyotypes were analyzed using conventional cytogenetic methods. Results. The chromosome examinations were successful in 126 (88%) patients and failed in the remainder ones (12%). Karyotype was abnormal in 36/126 (29%) subjects at presentation. The most frequent changes included +9, 13q- and 20q- (28%). Other abnormalities were: aberrations of chromosome 18 and 16, deletions (9q-, 12p-, 7q-, 5q-, 6q-, 8q-), trisomies (+1q, +8, +10, +21), monosomies (-7, -11), 3q inversion and loss of Y chromosome. We detected four novel balanced translocations in PMF: t(17;22)(q11;q13), t(15;17)(q22;q25), t(9;12)(q22;q24) and t(2;4)(q21;p16), one constitutional translocation-rob(13;14)(q10;q10) and some new karyotype anomalies . deletion of both homologues, hyperdiploidy and the coexistence of unrelated pathological clones. Conclusion. Chromosomal aberrations had a significant influence on overall survival of patients with PMF according to the refined cytogenetic-risk of the International Prognostic Scoring System (Refined CIPSS) (p = 0.004). Our patients matched the pattern of chromosome aberrations usually observed in PMF but some newly registered, balanced translocations and other rare karyotype anomalies were recorded as well. © 2020 Inst. Sci. inf., Univ. Defence in Belgrade. All rights reserved.