Objective To evaluate the relationship between the amount of grafted cells and the incidence of acute graft versus host disease (aGVHD) after haploid hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (haplo-HSCT). Methods Data of 68 patients who underwent haplo-HSCT from Jan 2009 to Dec 2013 were analyzed retrospectively. Influences of different factors on the incidence of Ⅲ-Ⅳ degree of aGVHD after HSCT were evaluated. Results 68 patients including 42 males and 26 females were 5/10-9/10 HLA match with 19 father donors, 24 mother donors, 16 sibling donors and 9 children donors. 51 patients not suffered Ⅲ-Ⅳdegree of aGVHD included 32 males and 19 females with the mean age of 20 years old (5-55 years old). 17 patients sufferedⅢ-Ⅳdegree of aGVHD including 10 males and 7 females with the mean age of 23 years old (5-54 years old). There were no significant differences in the amount of the grafted mononuclear cells (MNC) and CD34+cells, and the white blood cell counts (WBC) and platelet count (Plt) recovered time between two groups (P>0.05). However, MNC number was related to CD34+cell number (P<0.05) and WBC recover time (P<0.05), and the CD34+cells number was related to WBC and Plt recover time (P< 0.05). Conclusion The incidence of Ⅲ-Ⅳ degree of aGVHD is unrelated to the amount of grafted MNC, and CD34+cells.

Research progress of somatic mutations and the response to the treatment of de novo myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) patients in the 57th American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meetings was reviewed. The optimal methods and therapy time for patients with high-risk de novo MDS remained an area of ongoing investigation. The clinical prognostic scoring system does not include the molecular genetic abnormalities and DNA metlylation of histone/nuclear chromatin modifications, which may predict the effect of hypomethylation (HMA). Treatment of HMA may change the expression of genes related with prognosis, and the response rate to the HMA treatment was significantly increased for TET2-mutated patients with high-variant allele frequencies. The overall grade of recommendation for choosing HMA therapy over induction chemotherapy in high-risk MDS based on molecular genetic mutations was 2C, according to less-associated toxicity and increased responses primarily in TET2-mutated disease. Further prospective studies are needed to evaluate the long-term effects of HMA therapy, particularly in TET2-mutated patients.

Chimeric antigen receptor-T cell (CAR-T) therapy is one of the effective novel immunotherapy for malignancies, and it has a great effect on leukemia and lymphoma. More researches are needed to improve the understanding of CAR-T therapy and promote the development of this technology in order to treat hematological malignancies from a novel perspective.

Progress of World Health Organization (WHO) reclassification of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) in the 57th American Society of Hematology annual meetings were reviewed. A revision to the 4th edition of the WHO classification of MDS will be enacted in mid-2016. Based on recommendations of the Clinical Advisory Committee, proposals for change included abandoning the routine names of 'refractory anemia/cytopenia', expressing the prognostic significance of gene mutations in MDS, revising the diagnostic criteria for MDS entities with ring sideroblasts based on the detection of SF3B1 mutations, modifying the cytogenetic criteria for MDS with isolated del (5q), reclassifying the erythroid/myeloid type of acute erythroleukemia, and recognizing the familial link in some cases of MDS.

Objective To study the clinical characteristics, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of primary pulmonary peripheral T-cell lymphoma, not otherwise specified (PTCL-NOS). Methods Two cases of primary pulmonary PTCL-NOS were studied and relevant literature were reviewed. Results Case 1 diagnosed as primary pulmonary PTCL-NOS was a 44 years old woman and disease progressed after GLD (Gem+L-OHP+ DXM) chemotherapy regimen. At last, the patient died of respiratory failure after one month. Case 2 diagnosed as primary pulmonary PTCL-NOS was a 46 years old man and reach partial response after CHOP regimen, and still alive now.Conclusion Primary pulmonary PTCL-NOS is very rare. It is easy to be misdiagnosed due to non-specific clinical and imaging manifestations. Acquiring enough tissue specimens for pathologic examination is the key to a definitive diagnosis. At present, there is no standard chemotherapy regimen for these patients, the prognosis is relatively poor.

Objective To study the clinical characteristics, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of primary pulmonary peripheral T-cell lymphoma, not otherwise specified (PTCL-NOS). Methods Two cases of primary pulmonary PTCL-NOS were studied and relevant literature were reviewed. Results Case 1 diagnosed as primary pulmonary PTCL-NOS was a 44 years old woman and disease progressed after GLD (Gem+L-OHP+DXM) chemotherapy regimen. At last, the patient died of respiratory failure after one month. Case 2 diagnosed as primary pulmonary PTCL-NOS was a 46 years old man and reach partial response after CHOP regimen, and still alive now.Conclusion Primary pulmonary PTCL-NOS is very rare. It is easy to be misdiagnosed due to non-specific clinical and imaging manifestations. Acquiring enough tissue specimens for pathologic examination is the key to a definitive diagnosis. At present, there is no standard chemotherapy regimen for these patients, the prognosis is relatively poor.

Objective To investigate the efficacy of rituximab-containing regimen in Epstein-Barr virus associated hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (EBV-HLH). Methods A retrospective analysis involving 6 EBV-HLH patients who had received treatment with rituximab-containing regimen was performed. The patients who were diagnosed with lymphoma or primary HLH subsequently were not included in the analysis. Results All patients were males. The median age was 27.5 years (range 20-61 years). Two patients received rituximab-containing regimen as primary therapy, and got partial remission (PR) within 2 weeks after the first course of rituximab, but relapsed within 4 weeks. Four patients received rituximab-containing regimen as salvage therapy, but none achieved remission. The 6 patients died due to HLH and complications, such as infection and hemorrhage. Laboratory data including white blood cell count, haemoglobin concentration, platelet count ferritin, alanine transaminase, aspartate transaminase,total bilirubin, fibrinogen and EBV-DNA did not show statistical significance (all P>0.05). Conclusion The efficacy of rituximab as a treatment for EBV-HLH is not as good as that in the previous study, and a prospective clinical trial of rituximab-based monotherapy is needed to answer the question.

Objective To analyze the relationship between the expression of protection of telomeres 1 (POT1) and the pathogenesis of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Methods 62 patients with de novo AML (case group) and 10 patients with iron deficiency anemia (control group) were enrolled in this study. The quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Western blot were used to detect the expression of POT1 in AML patients. Results There were 62 de novo AML patients, including 2 cases M1, 14 cases M2, 12 cases M3, 14 cases M4, 17 cases M5, 2 cases M6 and 1 case AML without classification. According to the risk stratification, high risk group (24 cases), medium risk group (22 cases) and low risk group (16 cases) were divided. Compared with that in the controls, POT1 expression levels in patients with AML were significantly decreased both in mRNA and protein level (P< 0.05). The relative expression levels of POT1 mRNA and protein in patients with M2, M4 and M5 were significantly lower than those in the controls (P< 0.05). The expression levels of POT1 in high risk group, medium risk group and low risk group were significantly decreased than those in the controls (P<0.05). Compared with that in the controls, The relative POT1 mRNA expression was significantly decreased in M3 patients (P< 0.05), but not in protein level. POT1 protein expression was showed both in the cytoplasm and nucleus. There was no significant difference of the expression of POT1 protein between cytoplasm and nucleus (P> 0.05). Conclusions POT1 may be involved in the pathogenesis of AML. POT1 protein expresses in both cytoplasm and nucleus, and the regulatory mechanism may be related to the telomere length.

Objective To investigate the changes of follicular helper T cells (Tfh cells) and Tfh cells associated molecules in the peripheral blood (PB) of patients with malignant lymphoid diseases (MLD) dynamically, and explore their roles on pathogenesis of the diseases. Methods Fifty-five patients with MLD were enrolled in this study,including 9 patients with acute lymphocyte leukemia (ALL), 30 patients with non-Hodgkin lymophoma (NHL) and 16 patients with multiple myeloma (MM), and 10 healthy controls (NC) of similar age were also enrolled. The percentage of CD4+CXCR5+cells (Tfh cells) and expression of ICOS+, PD1+among the T cells were detected by flow cytometry (FCM), while the levels of interleukin 21 (IL-21) in plasma were detected by ELISA tests. Results The percentage of Tfh cells and expression of ICOS and/or PD-1 in PB of all untreated patients were significantly higher than those of NC (all P< 0.01), and MM group< ALL group 0.05), and apparently lower than those who achieved PR (P< 0.05). The percentages of Tfh cells in patients with T-ALL and T-NHL were higher than those in patients with B-ALL and B-NHL (P> 0.05), and much higher than NC (P< 0.01). The concentration of IL-21 in patients were much higher than that in NC [(326.56±32.44) pg/ml] (P<0.01), and MM group

Lenalidomide is an oral immunomodulator with multiple functions including immune regulation, anti-tumor, and regulation of tumor microenvironment. Since the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved lenalidomide for the treatment of mantle cell lymphoma, recent studies have indicated that lenalidomide monotherapy or lenalidomide combinations in other types of lymphoma also has broad prospects. The treatment progress of lenalidomide in lymphoma will be summarized in this paper based on the new reports in the 57th American Society of Hematology (ASH) annual meeting.