Anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies inhibit seropositive response to Covid-19 vaccination in non-Hodgkin lymphoma patients within 6 months after treatment.

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused millions of deaths worldwide. Although vaccines have been developed, patients on immunosuppressive therapy are less likely to respond. This study was aimed at investigating the efficacy of a Covid-19 vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech) in patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma treated with anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies. Only 1 of 28 lymphoma patients (3.6%) developed a seropositive response, compared with 100% (28/28) of the healthy volunteers. The low levels of CD19+ lymphocytes among the lymphoma patients suggest that anti-CD20 treatment prevents the seropositive response to the vaccine. An additional vaccination might be indicated in these patients once B cells are repopulated.

Treatment of Philadelphia Chromosome-Positive Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia.

Opinion statementOver the past 15 years, the landscape of Ph+ ALL has changed dramatically. No longer the most dreaded form of acute leukemia, the advent of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) has ushered in a new era, as TKIs have become the backbone of any treatment regimen for Ph+ ALL. A greater number achieve a complete remission allowing for more patients to get the transplant, although probably less patients need a transplant. For the first time in decades, there is hope for older patients with Ph+ ALL. Defining residual disease at an increasingly lower level of disease burdens termed minimal residual disease (MRD) has allowed treatment algorithms to be designed based on deep molecular responses. The aggregate of recent data suggest that this is the most important endpoint to predict for long-term outcome and to decide on the optimal post-remission approach, including transplant. Novel agents, such as blinatumumab, are likely to be incorporated into therapy for relapse and as initial therapy in an attempt to increase the number of patients who may have deep molecular responses. Many more patients with Ph+ ALL are long-term survivors, and the future is looking brighter for this group of patients.

Variable hematologic presentation of autoimmune gastritis: age-related progression from iron deficiency to cobalamin depletion.

Iron deficiency is a known complication of achlorhydria and may precede the development of pernicious anemia. Among 160 patients with autoimmune gastritis identified by hypergastrinemia and strongly positive antiparietal antibodies, we explored the overlap between 83 subjects presenting with iron deficiency anemia (IDA), 48 with normocytic indices, and 29 with macrocytic anemia. Compared with macrocytic patients, patients with IDA were 21 years younger (41 +/- 15 years versus 62 +/- 15 years) and mostly women. All groups had a high prevalence of thyroid disease (20%) and diabetes (8%) suggestive of the autoimmune polyendocrine syndrome. Stratification by age cohorts from younger than 20 years to older than 60 years showed a regular and progressive increase in mean corpuscular volume (MCV) from 68 +/- 9 to 95 +/- 16 fl, serum ferritin levels from 4 +/- 2 to 37 +/- 41 microg/L, gastrin level from 166 +/- 118 to 382 +/- 299 pM/L (349 +/- 247 to 800 +/- 627 pg/mL), and a decrease in cobalamin level from 392 +/- 179 to 108 +/- 65 pg/mL. The prevalence of Helicobacter pylori infection was 87.5% at age younger than 20 years, 47% at age 20 to 40 years, 37.5% at 41 to 60 years, and 12.5% at age older than 60 years. These findings challenge the common notion that pernicious anemia is a disease of the elderly and imply a disease starting many years before the establishment of clinical cobalamin deficiency, by an autoimmune process likely triggered by H pylori.