Iranian Journal of Blood and Cancer
Volume:14 Issue: 2, Jun 2022

Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is the leading cause of viral-associated congenital infections. Moreover, it can also be acquired. Between 50 to 80 percent of the world’s population is seropositive for CMV and most clinical disease occurs in individuals previously infected with CMV. Rarely, serious CMV infection has occurred in individuals with healthy immune system. In contrast to immunocompetent patients, higher morbidity and mortality of CMV end organ disease is considered in immunocompromised patients. According to available evidence, gastrointestinal (GI) disease has lower prevalence in case of CMV-induced organ involvement, especially in pediatric non-transplant acute leukemia. In this report, we present a 12-year-old girl, known case of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) receiving maintenance chemotherapy with manifestations of gastroenteritis and significant weight loss. Initial laboratory data, demonstrated mild pancytopenia especially lymphopenia and thrombocytopenia. After excluding more common etiologies, colonoscopy with multiple biopsies were taken which was indicative of CMV-colitis. Intravenous (IV) ganciclovir for 3 weeks and oral valganciclovir for about 9 months were initiated. Follow-up courses for CMV surveillance included blood qualitative CMV polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and colonoscopy with biopsy which were negative for CMV but tissue qualitative CMV PCR was positive for CMV in about 7 months after initiation of treatment. Oral treatment was decided to be continued. To sum up, plenty of guidelines have been developed in stem cell transplantation and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) patients but non-transplant leukemic setting, is a neglected area in the field of CMV infection management.

Chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) is a myeloproliferative hematopoietic malignancy with a heterogeneous proliferation of hematopoietic cells in the bone marrow. The ocular manifestations are rare symptoms of CML. In this case report, a CML patient with retinal hemorrhage is reported as an uncommon symptom.

A 35-year-old man was referred due to decreased right eye vision. The reduction of the visual acuity of the right eye (2/10), rounded and diffuse intra-retinal hemorrhage with white-center Roth’s spots, and macular edema were seen. No systemic diseases and other ophthalmic manifestations were seen in this case. The white blood cell (WBC) count was 135,000 cells/ μl, the platelets were 430,000 cells/μl, and hemoglobin was 12.5 gr/dl. The myeloid progenitor and precursor were present in peripheral blood smear and bone marrow. Also, the quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction indicated that the BCR-ABL1-to-ABL1 ratio was 0.795. a daily administration of 400 mg of Imatinib was prescribed. Two months later, WBC count reached 6,500 cells/μl, Hb was 11.6 gr/dl, and platelets were 306,000 cells/μl.

 The ophthalmic manifestations may be a symptom of CML. We found the rounded and diffuse intra-retinal hemorrhage, Roth’s spots, and macular edema as the ocular manifestation of a CML case.

Numerous experiments have been performed to determine the relationship between the Matrix metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) -1306C/T and -735C/T polymorphisms and the prevalence and progression of lung cancer in diverse populations. However, due to the small sample size and the different results of previous studies, we decided to perform a general meta-analysis on all previous studies about mmp-2 polymorphism and lung cancer in Asian population.

A complete literature review was conducted within the ISI Web of Knowledge, google scholar, and PubMed databases for studies about MMP-2 polymorphism and lung cancer published from 2002 to 2020. A meta-analysis was conducted, which included more than 2884 cases and 2768 controls. The pooled odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (CI) were used for dominant, recessive, and co-dominant MMP-9 genotypes to assess the strength of the association.

A significant correlation was found between the MMP2 C 1306T polymorphism and lung cancer risk (C vs T: OR=1.705, P=0.029; CC vs CT+ TT: OR=1.16, 95% P=0.000) and for MMP2 C 735T polymorphism (C vs T: OR=1.433, P=0.151; CC vs CT+TT: OR=1.698, P=0.000).

The present meta-analysis revealed a significant association between the MMP-2-735C/T and MMP-9-1562 C/T polymorphisms and the risk of lung cancer in Asian population.

Obesity is an important public health problem worldwide. Epidemiological studies have demonstrated that obesity is associated with an increased risk of several cancer types. Also, obesity is associated with an increase in cancer mortality. Biological mechanisms and the relationship between obesity and cancer are complex and not well understood. Studies on the role of adiposederived factors in cancer development may be the mechanistic link between obesity and cancer risks. Visfatin or pre-B cell enhancing factor (PBEF) or nicotin-amide-phosphoribosyl-transferase (Nampt) is an important hormone protein that is mainly produced by adipose tissue, and has three major functions: growth factor, cytokine, and nicotinamide phosphoribosyltransferase, therefore, increasing of visfatin has several effects. Recently, studies have shown that over-expression of visfatin is important in the carcinogenesis of several types of cancers. This review aimed to summarize findings from both experimental and epidemiological studies investigating the association between visfatin levels and cancer risk.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) accounts for nearly 30% of pediatric cancers. The maintenance treatment for ALL comprises daily oral 6-mercaptopurine (6-MP) and weekly methotrexate (MTX). 6-MP is a purine analog that can significantly improve the long-term survival of ALL patients. Despite more than 90% of 5-year survival of childhood ALL in developed countries, treatment interruption due to drug toxicities continues to be a grave concern during therapy. Several studies have highlighted the association between some genetic variants and 6-MP toxicities in ALL patients. Some variants of 6-MP metabolizing enzymes received much attention as possible predictors of myelotoxicity following 6-MP therapy. Recently, two landmark genome-wide association studies have highlighted variants in nucleoside diphosphate–linked moiety X-type motif 15 (NUDT15) as promising indicators of 6-MP toxicities. It seems that NUDT15 genotyping can help determine the optimum dose of 6-MP and prevent toxicities, especially fatal myelotoxicity. No association was found between NUDT15 variants and hepatotoxicity or survival rates of ALL patients in previous studies. However, further studies are warranted to shed more light on these issues. The current review updates and evaluates the available scientific data regarding different genetic variants of NUDT15 and their possible roles in 6-MP intolerance in various ethnic groups.

Cancer is a public health emergency. It has a high mortality rate despite numerous studies on pharmaceutical therapies. Chimeric antigen receptor-natural killer (CAR-NK) cells are promising immunotherapy that could be used to treat cancer, especially leukemia. However, the evidence is still unclear. Thus, this systematic review aims to summarize the evidence regarding the use of CAR-NK cells as a therapy for leukemia.

This systematic review was conducted in accordance with the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis (PRISMA) statement guidelines. The literature search was done using PubMed, ProQuest, ScienceDirect, and EBSCOHost with “chimeric antigen receptor”, “natural killer cell”, and “leukemia” as the primary keywords until 20 March 2020. Data collection and extraction were done by three independent reviewers. Extending a risk-of-bias approach to address in-vitro studies for assessing the risk of bias was utilized in the quality assessment of the studies.

The search strategy identified 221 studies. Three relevant articles met our inclusion criteria. All the included studies had a low risk of bias. The main findings from available data were as follows: (a) cytotoxicities of CAR-NK cells were found highest in cell lines expressing antigen for CAR (CD19+ cancer cells) (b) CAR-NK cells had low cytotoxicities against cells that didn’t express antigen for CAR (e.g. SR-91); (c) all studies did not result in aberrant growth of the transduced CAR-NK cells.

The use of CAR-NK cells showed promising results in treating leukemia based on its cytotoxicity against CD19+ cancer cell lines.

When a cell’s DNA is damaged, the injured cells react by changing from normal to malignant cells, rather than dying or repairing the damage. Metastatic cancer is the deadliest kind of cancer since it refers to cancer that has spread to other parts of the patient’s body. The need for cancer detection techniques that are rapid, non-invasive, and accurate is growing. Cancer diagnosis, monitoring, therapy, and prognosis may all benefit from a diagnostic tool that can quickly and efficiently detect changes in cancer biomarkers in biological samples. Medication delivery, biomarker mapping, molecular imaging, drug transport, gene therapy, targeted therapy, and detection and diagnostics are some of the possible nanotechnology uses in cancer diagnosis and treatment that have been discovered. Nano-carriers for pharmaceutical delivery are critical in the medical business. Nanotechnology-based molecular diagnostics has the potential to accurately and quickly identify cancer. Nanotechnology-based treatments may ensure precise malignant tissue targeting. As their name suggests, nanofibers are fibers with a single dimension in the nanoscale region. Also, because of its simplicity and ease of parameter control, electrospinning is the most often utilized. In this paper, we look at how prepared nanofibres may be utilized to detect and cure cancer.

Hemophilic pseudotumor is a rare lesion that is progressive and expansile by nature. It is a hematoma or a blood cyst surrounded by a fibrous capsule.

A 7-years-old boy was referred with a painless swelling in the mandible, bleeding and problem in mastication. Due to a late diagnosis, the patient went untreated for almost a year. After detailed examination and taking medical history as well as paraclinical investigations, including panoramic X-ray, CT (computed tomography), cone-beam CT, and angiography along with laboratory tests, a hemophilic pseudotumor was diagnosed. Treatment plan was set to curettage, coagulation factor injection and regular follow-up. The prognosis was satisfactory and the patient made a full recovery within a year.

A hemophilic pseudotumor is very rare in the jaw and can be diagnosed as a benign or malignant tumor due to its nonspecific radiographic features. Invasive treatment may result in severe bleeding or even death. Therefore, knowledge of the lesion is a prerequisite for careful diagnosis and treatment.