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Objective:To summarize the clinical features, treatments and prognoses of aggressive natural killer cell leukemia (ANKL) in children.Methods:Clinical data and follow-up results were retrospectively reviewed for one hospitalized case of ANKL in June 2019.Through a literature search, the relevant items were retrieved from the databases of China National Knowledge Infrastructure, WanFang and PubMed using the Chinese and English keywords of "aggressive natural killer cell leukemia" and "children" up to December 2021.Results:This 8-year-old girl was diagnosed with ANKL by flow cytometric immunophenotype and immunohistochemical stain.Fever was the initial manifestation accompanied by sallow complexion, fatigue, enlargement of liver, spleen and lymph node and hematopenia of three lines.Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) was performed after chemotherapy.As of April 2022, the child stayed in a disease-free survival state after follow-ups for over 2 years.The literature search finally yielded 7 eligible Chinese and 10 English reports with a total of 17 pediatric ANKLs.In this group, there were fever (n=15), rash (n=1), perineal mass (n=1) and diarrhea, vomiting and other digestive tract symptoms (n=1). Six cases were misdiagnosed during an early stage of disease.4 cases received chemotherapy alone, 3 cases received chemotherapy regimen for acute lymphoblastic leukemia, 1 child died and one death occurred after received chemotherapy regimen of "cisplatin + vincristine + doxorubicin + ifosfamide". Allo-HSCT was performed in 5 patients after remission with chemotherapy and one child died from multiple organ failure at 9 months after allo-HSCT.Nine cases gave up treatment.Conclusions:ANKL has a rapid disease progression, diverse clinical manifestations, easy misdiagnosis and poor prognosis.For suspected ANKL cases, clinicians perform multiple bone perforations at multiple sites and immunophenotype by flow cytometry as soon as possible to confirm the diagnosis.Currently allo-HSCT offers a long-term survival of ANKL patients.
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Objective:To examine the clinical experience and efficacy of unrelated cord blood transplantation (UCBT) in the treatment of recurrent refractory Epstein-Barr virus-associated hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (EBV-HLH) in children.Methods:The clinical data of a patient with recurrent refractory EBV-HLH and intestinal perforation who was treated by UCBT in Department of Pediatrics, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University in September 2015 and finally cured were retrospectively analyzed.Meanwhile, literature was reviewed.Results:The patient, male, 1 year and 6 months, was admitted to the hospital with " fever for 15 days, rash for 9 days" as the main complaint, mainly manifested as high fever, large liver, spleen, lymph nodes, rapidly progressing pancytopenia, liver function damage, phagocytic blood cells on bone marrow smear, diagnosed as EBV-HLH in September 2015.The patient received chemotherapy according to the HLH-2004 protocol developed by the International Association of Cell Societies.During the treatment, he suffered two recurrence during the maintenance period, and a second-line rescue treatment was adopted, namely, " Pegaspargase, Doxorubicin liposome, Etoposide and Methylprednisolone" (L-DEP regimen) chemotherapy.The complete relief of diagnostic indexes for hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis was evaluated after chemotherapy.The patient developed sudden intestinal perforation and underwent emergency surgical surgery, enteroenterostomy.After the condition was stabilized, the patient was pretreated with the " Fludarabine+ Busulfan+ Cyclophosphamide" (Flu+ BU+ CY) therapy and then treated with UCBT, with intravenous nutritional support provided during the entire process.Neutrophil and platelet implantation was implemented on day 13 and day 35 after transplantation, respectively.The chimeric rate was 100%, and the implantation was a success.Hepatic veno-occlusive disease, fungal pneumonia and skin graft-versus-host disease (GVHD) Ⅱ occurred on the 15 th day, 22 nd day and 26 th day after transplantation, respectively.The corresponding symptoms improved after treatment.On day 49 after transplantation, phase Ⅱ " enterostomy fistula" was performed.The patient was followed up to 70 months after transplantation, and generally in good condition.His symptoms relieved, and no chronic GVHD and other comorbidities occurred. Conclusions:Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is the only possible effective means of treating relapsed refractory EBV-HLH in children.In the absence of a suitable sibling or unrelated donor, unrelated cord blood stem cells can be used as a graft source.Enterostomy after intestinal perforation is not contraindicated for transplantation.
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Objective:To investigate the clinical efficacy, safety and compliance of Voriconazole suspension formula on the prevention and treatment of invasive fungal infection (IFI) in children with allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT).Methods:Clinical data of 25 children treated Voriconazole suspension formula for the prevention and treatment of IFI during the period of allo-HSCT in the Department of Pediatrics, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from August 1, 2020 to April 30, 2021 were retrospectively analyzed.The plasma trough concentration of Voriconazole was detected by high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS), and the genotype of CYP2C19 was detected by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP). The effect of CYP2C19 genotype on Voriconazole trough concentration was analyzed by rank-sum test, and Fisher′ s accurate test was used to analyze the influence of severity of gastrointestinal mucositis on serum trough concentration of Voriconazole in children with allo-HSCT. Results:A total of 25 children, including 18 males and 7 females were recruited.The median age at allo-HSCT was 6 (2-13) years.After initial administration of conventional dose of Voriconazole suspension formula during transplantation, plasma trough concentration of Voriconazole was intermittently monitored.Only 13 cases (52.0%) reached the target plasma trough concentration, 11 cases(44.0%) reached the target plasma trough concentration after adjusting the dose according to the plasma concentration, and 1 cases(4.0%) failed to reach it after increasing the dose twice.Genotype detection of CYP2C19 was performed in 20 children, involving 4 cases of poor metabolizers (PM), 9 cases of intermediate metabolizers (IM), 6 cases of extensive metabolizers (EM), and 1 case of ultra extensive metabolizer (UEM). A significant difference in plasma trough concentration was detected among all groups ( F=24.012, P<0.01). During the transplantation, 12 cases developed mild to moderate gastrointestinal mucositis, and 7 cases had severe gastrointestinal mucositis.The stan-dard rate of plasma trough concentration in children with severe gastrointestinal mucositis (1/7 cases, 14.3%)was significantly lower than those with mild to moderate gastrointestinal mucositis (9/12 cases, 75.0%) ( P=0.02). Five children (71.4%) with severe gastrointestinal mucositis could reach the target trough concentration after increasing the drug dose, suggesting that severe gastrointestinal mucositis had a great influence on the plasma concentration of Vorico-nazole suspension.The incidence of IFI in 25 children with allo-HSCT was 0, and the compliance of children taking Voriconazole dry suspension was 100.0%.The incidence of adverse reactions was 24.0% and all adverse reactions were relieved after symptomatic treatment. Conclusions:The plasma concentration of Voriconazole varies greatly among children and in different states of the same patient.Therefore, it is necessary to monitor the trough concentration of the drug and adjust the drug dose.The use of Voriconazole suspension formula for the prevention and treatment of fungal infection during allo-HSCT in children is clinically safe and effective, with a good compliance in children.
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Objective:To investigate the clinical value of the expression levels of biological protein markers regenerating islet-derived protein 3-alpha(REG3α), soluble tumor suppressor factor 2(sST2) and tumor necrosis factor receptor 1(TNFR1) in peripheral blood in the diagnosis and efficacy evaluation of intestinal acute graft-versus-host disease (aGVHD) in children after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT).Methods:Retrospective analysis of 50 children who underwent allo-HSCT, in the Department of Pediatrics, the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from January 2020 to February 2021 were enrolled, including 39 males and 11 females [median age: 8.5 (1-13) years]. The expression levels of above 3 biological proteins were detected before transplantation, 1 week, 2 weeks, 3 weeks, 5 weeks, 7 weeks, 9 weeks, 11 weeks and 13 weeks after transplantation, when intestinal aGVHD occured, and after treatment.Children with intestinal aGVHD were taken as the observation group, and children without intestinal aGVHD were taken as the control group.Whether differences in the expression levels of the 3 biological proteins in the peripheral blood of the 2 groups of children were statistically significant was analyzed.The receiver operating characteristic(ROC) curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic value of the above three biological proteins for intestinal aGVHD, and independent sample t test was performed to compare the expression levels of the 3 biological proteins before and after treatment in children with intestinal aGVHD. Results:(1) The concentrations of REG3α, sST2, and TNFR1 in the peripheral blood of the observation group were (33 985.42±24 631.33) ng/L, (139 899.66±115 825.65) ng/L, (3 041.65±2 418.72) ng/L, respectively, which were higher than the control group of (7 457.39±4 547.49) ng/L, (32 059.57±23 452.85) ng/L, (1 944.51±1 170.35) ng/L, the difference was statistically significant ( t=6.04, 5.19, 2.17, all P<0.05). (2) The area under ROC curve (AUC) of REG3α combined with sST2 in the diagnosis of intestinal aGVHD was 0.952 (95% CI: 0.851-0.992, P<0.001), the maximum Youden index was 0.894, the corresponding sensitivity was 83%, and the specificity was 99%.Its diagnostic value was better than REG3α, sST2 and TNFR1 ( Z=1.763, 1.332, 3.001, all P<0.05). (3) The concentrations of REG3α, sST2, and TNFR1 before treatment in the peripheral blood of children having received effective treatment were (31 343.01±25 364.71) ng/L, (146 629.52±110 501.04) ng/L and (2 489.00±859.70) ng/L, respectively, which were (12 104.37±11 704.60) ng/L, (93 539.55±81 920.93) ng/L and (2 048.15±813.47) ng/L after treatment, lower than those before treatment.The expression levels of REG3α and sST2 were significantly reduced ( t=-3.23, -2.10, all P<0.05), while the difference of the expression level of TNFR1 before and after treatment was not statistically significant ( P>0.05). Conclusions:REG3α and sST2 can be used as important reference indicators for clinical auxiliary diagnosis of intestinal aGVHD, and have good auxiliary diagnostic value.REG3α and sST2 can be used as objective indicators to evaluate the efficacy of clinical treatment of intestinal aGVHD.