Review Series on Platelet Heterogeneity

In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. Laurie Sehn interviews Dr. Annamaria Aprile of the San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy on her latest article published in Blood titled "Iron overload damages mitochondria and induces metabolic rewiring of hematopoietic stem cells toward glycolysis." Dr. Aprile describes how reducing iron and mitochondrial reactive oxygen species in vivo restores mitochondrial activity, quiescence, and the self-renewal of HSCs. She discusses the therapeutic implications of these findings, focusing on combining iron chelation with a mitochondrial-focused antioxidant to protect or restore stem cell function, a strategy that still needs further testing, including in patient-derived cells.

In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. Laura Michaelis interviews Dr. Moritz Fürstenau of University Hospital Cologne and Dr. William Dunn of the University of Cambridge on their latest articles published in Blood on CLL and clonal monocytosis. Dr. Fürstenau discusses "Venetoclax combinations in untreated CLL: 5-year results and patient-reported outcomes analysis of the CLL13/GAIA trial" highlighting greater improvements in patient-reported quality of life. Dr. Dunn discusses "The prevalence and clinical significance of clonal monocytosis" describing how using sex-specific monocyte thresholds and excluding isolated DNMT3A mutations refines the association between CMUS and MN.

In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. Laurie Sehn interviews Drs. Dan Chalothorn and David Gutstein from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, and Dr. Ajitha Thanabalasuriar from McGill University on their latest articles published in Blood. The first half of the episode features "Anticoagulation with the mechanistically distinct FXI/FXIa antibodies amrecibart (REGN9933 A2 ) and cenvacibart (REGN7508 Cat )" during which Drs. Chalothorn and Gutstein discuss their research on anticoagulants targeting Factor XI and Factor XIa, which showed promising preclinical results in reducing thrombosis without increasing bleeding risk. They developed two distinct antibodies, targeting different domains of Factor 11, offering potential treatment options for different patient profiles. Next, while discussing "TGF-β–PDL1 signaling in neutrophils preserves the lung barrier during hyperinflammation", Dr. Thanabalasuriar underscores that dissecting neutrophil-specific TGF‑β/PD‑L1 signaling in real ICU patients is essential to translate this pathway into truly personalized therapies that both preserve lung barrier integrity and prevent fatal hyperinflammatory injury.

In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. Laura Michaelis interviews Dr. Harry Erba of Duke University and Dr. Sairah Ahmed of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center on their latest articles published in Blood on durable treatment strategies for relapsed and refractory hematologic malignancies. Dr. Erba discusses "Ziftomenib with venetoclax and azacitidine for relapsed/refractory NPM1-mutated acute myeloid leukemia" highlighting the promise of this triplet regimen in a high-risk relapsed setting and delving into the mechanistic differences among menin inhibitors. Dr. Ahmed discusses "Durable efficacy and manageable long-term safety of lisocabtagene maraleucel for 3L+ FL: 3-year update from TRANSCEND FL" reviewing the 94% complete response rate, long-term safety profile, and how clinicians can decide whether a patient with relapsed follicular lymphoma is better suited for a bispecific antibody or CAR T-cell therapy.

In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. James Griffin interviews Dr. Jianxiang Wang from the National Clinical Research Center for Blood Diseases and the Institute of Hematology and Blood Diseases Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and Peking Union Medical College in Tianjin, China, on his latest article published in Blood titled "Venetoclax plus pediatric regimen in adolescents and adults with Ph-negative acute lymphoblastic leukemia." In this prospective phase 2 study, 167 adolescents and adults (aged 14-60 years) with ND Ph− ALL received a course of venetoclax combined with pediatric-inspired chemotherapy, to determine the results of this treatment on MRD negativity.