A series of chemotherapeutic drugs that induce DNA damage, such as cisplatin (DDP), are standard clinical treatments for ovarian cancer, testicular cancer, and other diseases that lack effective targeted drug therapy. Drug resistance is one of the main factors limiting their application. Sensitizers can overcome the drug resistance of tumor cells, thereby enhancing the antitumor activity of chemotherapeutic drugs. In this study, we aimed to identify marketable drugs that could be potential chemotherapy sensitizers and explore the underlying mechanisms. We found that the alcohol withdrawal drug disulfiram (DSF) could significantly enhance the antitumor activity of DDP. JC-1 staining, propidium iodide (PI) staining, and western blotting confirmed that the combination of DSF and DDP could enhance the apoptosis of tumor cells. Subsequent RNA sequencing combined with Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) pathway enrichment analysis and cell biology studies such as immunofluorescence suggested an underlying mechanism: DSF makes cells more vulnerable to DNA damage by inhibiting the Fanconi anemia (FA) repair pathway, exerting a sensitizing effect to DNA damaging agents including platinum chemotherapy drugs. Thus, our study illustrated the potential mechanism of action of DSF in enhancing the antitumor effect of DDP. This might provide an effective and safe solution for combating DDP resistance in clinical treatment.
Female ; Male ; Humans ; Cisplatin/pharmacology* ; Disulfiram/pharmacology* ; Testicular Neoplasms/drug therapy* ; Fanconi Anemia/drug therapy* ; Alcoholism/drug therapy* ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ; Cell Line, Tumor ; Substance Withdrawal Syndrome/drug therapy* ; Apoptosis ; Antineoplastic Agents/therapeutic use* ; Cell Proliferation

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) associated macrophage activation syndrome (MAS) is clinically severe, with a high mortality rate and rare neuropsychiatric symptoms. In the course of diagnosis and treatment, it is necessary to actively determine whether the neuropsychiatric symptoms in patients are caused by neuropsychiatric systemic lupus erythematosus (NPSLE) or macrophage activation syndrome. This paper retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 2 cases of SLE associated MAS with neuropsychiatric lesions, Case 1: A 30-year-old female had obvious alopecia in 2019, accompanied by emaciation, fatigue and dry mouth. In March 2021, she felt weak legs and fell down, followed by fever and chills without obvious causes. After completing relevant examinations, she was diagnosed with SLE and given symptomatic treatments such as hormones and anti-infection, but the patient still had fever. The relevant examinations showed moderate anemia, elevated ferritin, elevated triglycerides, decreased NK cell activity, and a perforin positivity rate of 4.27%, which led to the diagnosis of "pre-hemophagocytic syndrome (HPS)". In May 2021, the patient showed mental trance and babble, and was diagnosed with "SLE-associated MAS"after completing relevant examinations. After treatment with methylprednisolone, anti-infection and psychotropic drugs, the patient's temperature was normal and mental symptoms improved. Case 2: A 30-year-old female patient developed butterfly erythema on both sides of the nose on her face and several erythema on her neck in June 2019, accompanied by alopecia, oral ulcers, and fever. She was diagnosed with "SLE" after completing relevant examinations, and her condition was relieved after treatment with methylprednisolone and human immunoglobulin. In October 2019, the patient showed apathy, no lethargy, and fever again, accompanied by dizziness and vomiting. The relevant examination indicated moderate anemia, decreased NK cell activity, elevated triglycerides, and elevated ferritin. The patient was considered to be diagnosed with "SLE, NPSLE, and SLE-associated MAS". After treatment with hormones, human immunoglobulin, anti-infection, rituximab (Mabthera), the patient's condition improved and was discharged from the hospital. After discharge, the patient regularly took methylprednisolone tablets (Medrol), and her psychiatric symptoms were still intermittent. In November 2019, she developed symptoms of fever, mania, and delirium, and later turned to an apathetic state, and was given methylprednisolone intravenous drip and olanzapine tablets (Zyprexa) orally. After the mental symptoms improved, she was treated with rituximab (Mabthera). Later, due to repeated infections, she was replaced with Belizumab (Benlysta), and she was recovered from her psychiatric anomalies in March 2021. Through the analysis of clinical symptoms, imaging examination, laboratory examination, treatment course and effect, it is speculated that the neuropsychiatric symptoms of case 1 are more likely to be caused by MAS, and that of case 2 is more likely to be caused by SLE. At present, there is no direct laboratory basis for the identification of the two neuropsychiatric symptoms. The etiology of neuropsychiatric symptoms can be determined by clinical manifestations, imaging manifestations, cerebrospinal fluid detection, and the patient's response to treatment. Early diagnosis is of great significance for guiding clinical treatment, monitoring the condition and judging the prognosis. The good prognosis of the two cases in this paper is closely related to the early diagnosis, treatment and intervention of the disease.
Humans ; Female ; Adult ; Rituximab/therapeutic use* ; Macrophage Activation Syndrome/etiology* ; Retrospective Studies ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic/drug therapy* ; Methylprednisolone/therapeutic use* ; Lupus Vasculitis, Central Nervous System ; Fever/drug therapy* ; Erythema/drug therapy* ; Hormones/therapeutic use* ; Anemia ; Alopecia/drug therapy* ; Triglycerides/therapeutic use* ; Ferritins/therapeutic use*

Primary myelofibrosis (PMF) is easily confused with cirrhosis, due to its main clinical manifestations of splenomegaly and the blood cytopenia. This review focuses on clinical studies to identify primary myelofibrosis and cirrhosis related portal hypertension, to analyze the differences between the two diseases, in order to distinguish PMF and cirrhosis from the pathogenesis, clinical manifestations, laboratory examinations and treatment principles, and simultaneously improve clinicians' understanding of PMF, which is a reference for exploring the early screening or diagnostic indicators of PMF, also provides a clinical basis for the application of new targeted drugs such as ruxolitinib.
Humans ; Primary Myelofibrosis/drug therapy* ; Hypertension, Portal/complications* ; Liver Cirrhosis/pathology* ; Splenomegaly/pathology* ; Anemia

Humans ; Cyclosporine/therapeutic use* ; Anemia, Aplastic/drug therapy* ; Neoplasms/drug therapy* ; Immunosuppressive Agents/therapeutic use* ; Benzoates/therapeutic use*

OBJECTIVES: To study the association between paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) clone and immunosuppressive therapy (IST) in children with severe aplastic anemia (SAA). METHODS: A retrospective analysis was performed on the medical data of 151 children with SAA who were admitted and received IST from January 2012 to May 2020. According to the status of PNH clone, these children were divided into a negative PNH clone group (n=135) and a positive PNH clone group (n=16). Propensity score matching was used to balance the confounding factors, and the impact of PNH clone on the therapeutic effect of IST was analyzed. RESULTS: The children with positive PNH clone accounted for 10.6% (16/151), and the median granulocyte clone size was 1.8%. The children with positive PNH clone had an older age and a higher reticulocyte count at diagnosis (P<0.05). After propensity score matching, there were no significant differences in baseline features between the negative PNH clone and positive PNH clone groups (P>0.05). The positive PNH clone group had a significantly lower overall response rate than the negative PNH clone group at 6, 12, and 24 months after IST (P<0.05). The evolution of PNH clone was heterogeneous after IST, and the children with PNH clone showed an increase in the 3-year cumulative incidence rate of aplastic anemia-PNH syndrome (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS SAA children with positive PNH clone at diagnosis tend to have poor response to IST and are more likely to develop aplastic anemia-PNH syndrome.
Anemia, Aplastic/drug therapy* ; Child ; Clone Cells ; Hemoglobinuria, Paroxysmal/etiology* ; Humans ; Immunosuppression Therapy ; Retrospective Studies

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of Pai-Neng-Da Capsule (, panaxadiol saponins component, PNDC) in combination with the cyclosporine and androgen for patients with chronic aplastic anemia (CAA). METHODS: A total of 79 CAA patients was randomly divided into 2 groups by a random number table, including PCA group [43 cases, orally PNDC 320 mg/d plus cyclosporine 5 mg/(kg·d) plus andriol 80 mg/d] and CA group [36 cases, orally cyclosporine 5 mg/(kg·d) plus andriol 160 mg/d]. All patients were treated and followed-up for 6 treatment courses over 24 weeks. The complete blood counts, score of Chinese medical (CM) symptoms were assessed and urine routine, electrocardiogram, hepatic and renal function were observed for safety evaluation. Female masculinization rating scale was established according to the actual clinical manifestations to evaluate the accurate degree of masculinization in female CAA patients treated by andriol. RESULTS: The effective rates were 88.1% (37/42) in the PCA group and 77.8% (28/36) in the CA group based on the standard for the therapeutic efficacy evaluation of hematopathy. There was no significant difference in the white blood cell (WBC) counts, platelet counts and hemoglobin concentration of peripheral blood between two groups after 6 months treatment. The masculinization score of female patient in the PCA group was significantly lower than the CA group (P<0.05). The mild abdominal distention was observed in 1 cases in the PCA group. In CA group, the abnormalities in the hepatic function developed in 2 cases and the renal disfunction was found in 1 case. CONCLUSION The PNDC possesses certain curative effects in the treatment of CAA without obvious side-effects and can partially replace andriol thereby to reduce the degree of masculinization [Registried at Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (ChicTR1900028153)].
Androgens ; Anemia, Aplastic/drug therapy* ; China ; Female ; Humans ; Nonprescription Drugs ; Saponins/therapeutic use*

Anemia, Aplastic/drug therapy* ; CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes ; Danazol ; Forkhead Transcription Factors ; Humans ; Interleukin-2 Receptor alpha Subunit ; Stanozolol ; T-Lymphocytes, Regulatory ; Transcription Factors

Objective: To reassess the predictors for response at 6 months in patients with severe or very severe aplastic anemia (SAA/VSAA) who failed to respond to immunosuppressive therapy (IST) at 3 months. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 173 patients with SAA/VSAA from 2017 to 2018 who received IST and were classified as nonresponders at 3 months. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to evaluate factors that could predict the response at 6 months. Results: Univariate analysis showed that the 3-month hemoglobin (HGB) level (P=0.017) , platelet (PLT) level (P=0.005) , absolute reticulocyte count (ARC) (P<0.001) , trough cyclosporine concentration (CsA-C0) (P=0.042) , soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) level (P=0.003) , improved value of reticulocyte count (ARC(△)) (P<0.001) , and improved value of soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR(△)) level (P<0.001) were related to the 6-month response. The results of the multivariate analysis showed that the PLT level (P=0.020) and ARC(△) (P<0.001) were independent prognostic factors for response at 6 months. If the ARC(△) was less than 6.9×10(9)/L, the 6-month hematological response rate was low, regardless of the patient's PLT count. Survival analysis showed that both the 3-year overall survival (OS) [ (80.1±3.9) % vs (97.6±2.6) %, P=0.002] and 3-year event-free survival (EFS) [ (31.4±4.5) % vs (86.5±5.3) %, P<0.001] of the nonresponders at 6 months were significantly lower than those of the response group. Conclusion: Residual hematopoietic indicators at 3 months after IST are prognostic parameters. The improved value of the reticulocyte count could reflect whether the bone marrow hematopoiesis is recovering and the degree of recovery. A second treatment could be performed sooner for patients with a very low ARC(△).
Anemia, Aplastic/drug therapy* ; Antilymphocyte Serum/therapeutic use* ; Cyclosporine/therapeutic use* ; Humans ; Immunosuppression Therapy ; Immunosuppressive Agents/therapeutic use* ; Prognosis ; Receptors, Transferrin/therapeutic use* ; Retrospective Studies ; Treatment Outcome

Objective: To study the metabolic characteristics of anti-human T-cell porcine immunoglobulin (p-ATG) in patients with severe aplastic anemia (SAA) . Methods: For patients with SAA treated with p-ATG combined cyclosporine A (CsA) immunosuppressants between February 2017 and December 2017, the p-ATG dose was 20 mg·kg(-1)·d(-1) over 12 h of intravenous administration for 5 consecutive days. The blood concentration of p-ATG was detected by the three-antibody sandwich ELISA method, the pharmacokinetic analysis software was fitted, and the second-chamber model method was used to calculate the pharmacokinetic parameters and plot the pharmacokinetic curve. Adverse events were recorded and the hematologic reactions were determined at 6 months after treatment. Results: Sixteen patients with SAA treated with p-ATG were enrolled, including 8 females and 8 males, with a median age of 22 years (range, 12 to 49 years) and a median weight of 62.5 kg (range, 37.5 to 82.0 kg) . The pharmacokinetics of p-ATG could be evaluated in 14 cases. p-ATG is distributed in vivo as a two-chamber model, with an average drug concentration peak (T(max)) of (5.786±2.486) days, a peak concentration (C(max)) of (616±452) mg/L, and a half-life of (10.479±8.242) days. The area under the drug time curve (AUC) was (5.807±3.236) mg/L·d. Six months after treatment, 8 of 14 patients received a hematologic response; the AUC (0-t) of the effective group and ineffective groups was (7.50±3.26) mg/L·d vs (4.50±2.18) mg/L·d, and the C(max) was (627±476) mg/L vs (584±382) mg/L, respectively. Conclusion: The plasma concentration of p-ATG reached a peak after 5 days of continuous infusion, and then decreased slowly, with a half-life of 10.479 days, and the residual drug concentration was detected in the body 60 days after administration. A relationship between drug metabolism and efficacy and adverse reactions could not be determined.
Anemia, Aplastic/drug therapy* ; Animals ; Antilymphocyte Serum/therapeutic use* ; Cyclosporine/therapeutic use* ; Female ; Humans ; Immunoglobulins/therapeutic use* ; Immunosuppression Therapy ; Immunosuppressive Agents/therapeutic use* ; Male ; Swine ; T-Lymphocytes ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of ruxolitinib in patients with polycythemia vera (PV). METHODS: The clinical data of patients with PV treated with ruxolitinib in Peking Union Medical College Hospital from January 1, 2013 to December 31, 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. The starting dose of oral ruxolitinib was 10 mg twice daily and could be increased after 3 months of treatment if hematocrit (HCT) control was not achieved. HCT control was defined as HCT<45% in the absence of phlebotomy. RESULTS: Thirty-three patients (17 males and 16 females) were treated with ruxolitinib at a median age of 50 (21-72) years. JAK2V617F and JAK2exon12 alleles were detected in 31 and 2 patients, respectively. Before treatment, median hemoglobin level was 187 (166-208) g/L, median white blood cell and platelet level was 10.4 (5.0-15.8)×10⁹/L and 457(237-677)×10⁹/L, respectively. Totally 17 patients (51.5%) who were resistant to or intolerant of hydroxyurea were treated with ruxolitinib as second-line therapy, and 16 patients (48.5%) were treated with ruxolitinib as first-line therapy voluntarily. The median time since PV diagnosis to treatment of ruxolitinib was 47 (3-188) months. By December 31, 2019, all the patients continued to receive ruxolitinib. The median duration of ruxolitinib exposure was 19 (2-91) months. Both in the first-line therapy group and second-line therapy group, 15 cases (accounting for 93.8% and 88.2%, respecitvely) achieved HCT control. The median time from start of therapy to HCT control was 2.2 (0.8-11.6) months. One patient (3.0%) had disease progression after HCT control. The most common hematologic adverse events included anemia and thrombocytopenia, according to CTCAE classification, including 1 case of grade 1 anemia (3.0%) and 1 case of grade 2 thrombocytopenia (3.0%). There was no thromboembolic event occurred during the therapy of ruxolitinib. CONCLUSION The remission rate of HCT in PV patients treated with ruxolitinib is high, and adverse reactions are rare. Ruxolitinib is effective in HCT control and generally well tolerated in patients with PV.
Adult ; Aged ; Anemia ; Female ; Hemoglobins/therapeutic use* ; Humans ; Hydroxyurea/therapeutic use* ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Nitriles ; Polycythemia Vera/drug therapy* ; Pyrazoles ; Pyrimidines ; Retrospective Studies ; Thrombocytopenia ; Young Adult