Effects of Casirivimab/Imdevimab Monoclonal Antibody Treatment among Vaccinated Patients Infected by SARS-CoV-2 Delta Variant.

There is a growing interest in using monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) in the early stages of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection to prevent disease progression. Little is known about the efficacy of mAbs against the delta variant of concern and its clinical presentations. We evaluated the effect of casirivimab/imdevimab treatment among five delta vaccine breakthrough patients. Symptomatic non-hospitalized vaccinated patients were submitted to nasopharyngeal swabs for the detection of SARS-CoV-2 and Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS). Blood analysis and chest Computed Tomography were also performed. A cocktail of casirivimab/imdevimab was administrated, and patients were monitored weekly. Clinical evolution was evaluated by the regression of the symptoms, negative results by real-time RT-PCR, and by the need of hospitalization: these aspects were considered as significant outcomes. In four cases, symptom reversion and viral load reduction were observed within 2 days and 7 days after mAbs treatment, respectively. Only one case, suffering from thymoma, was hospitalized 2 days later because of respiratory failure, which reverted within 18 days. mAbs treatment seems to be safe and effective against the delta variant and its clinical manifestations.

Evaluation of nucleated red blood cells in the peripheral blood of hematological diseases.

BACKGROUND: Nucleated red blood cells (NRBCs) are present in the peripheral blood of several hematological and non-hematological conditions, usually associated with bad prognosis. The lack of an easy, rapid and reliable NRBCs count method did no't allow one to know the incidence of NRBCs and to quantify them: the count was usually done during the microscopic revision of a blood smear; this is the reason we found few studies on NRBCs automated count in the literature. The aim of this study was the evaluation of the presence and the quantification of NRBCs in some onco-hematological disorders. METHODS: This study analyzed 478 patients with the automated hematology analyzer Sysmex XE2100. The range of NRBCs were calculated in the peripheral blood at diagnosis, at hematological remission and during therapy. RESULTS: NRBCs are present in the peripheral blood of a high number of hematological diseases and are related to ineffective erythropoiesis or stress erythropoiesis or primary alterations of hematopoiesis. NRBCs were found in nearly all onco-hematological diseases at diagnosis, but not in all patients. NRBCs were frequently found during chemotherapy and absent at remission. CONCLUSIONS: To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study that gives a range for NRBCs count in the peripheral blood of these diseases.

Possibility of myelodysplastic syndromes screening using a complete blood automated cell count.

Diagnosis of MDS has changed during the last years because of the 2008 WHO classification. Complete blood cell count (CBC) is a very important tool both for diagnosis of MDS. The aim of this study was to evaluate if it is possible to use the abnormal signals produced by dysplastic cells to produce a flag "dysplasia" able to identify the patients needing further hematological investigations. The proposed flag has been tested in a large group of patients to evaluate the sensibility and specificity. We create 5 patterns of MDS. Our study demonstrated that the flag "dysplasia" is specific and sensible for MDS.