Blood Podcast

In this episode, Blood editor Dr. Laura Michaelis interviews Drs. Nigel Russell and Uwe Platzbecker on their articles published in volume 147 issue 10 of Blood. Dr. Russell discuses "CPX-351 vs daunorubicin, cytarabine, and gemtuzumab ozogamicin in older adults with non–adverse-risk AML: the NCRI AML18 trial" where a large randomized trial demonstrated that DA-GO2 provided greater overall survival as compared to CPX-351, and that further studies should compare DA-GO2 to lower-intensity venetoclax-based regimens. Dr. Platzbecker shares insights from the first prospective study to evaluate the clinical impact of early therapeutic intervention for MRD in "Azacitidine to treat measurable residual disease in patients with MDS/AML: final long-term results of the RELAZA2 trial" demonstrating potential therapies for patients to achieve and maintain remission.

In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. Laurie Sehn interviews authors Drs. Anastasios Karadimitris and Maria Carolina Florian on their papers published in Volume 147 Issue 2 of Blood. Dr. Karadimitris' paper "Off-the-shelf dual CAR-iNKT cell immunotherapy eradicates medullary and leptomeningeal high-risk KMT2A-rearranged leukemia", discusses the success of bispecific CAR-iNKT cells targeting CD19 and CD133 in pre-clinical models, prompting the clinical development of this class of product. Dr. Florian's paper, "A Notch trans-activation to cis-inhibition switch underlies hematopoietic stem cell aging" proposes that the Jagged2/Notch interaction is a key regulator of hematopoietic stem cell divisional symmetry during aging and offers insights that may inform strategies to restore regenerative function in aged hematopoiesis.

In this week's episode, Blood Associate editor Dr. Hervé Dombret interviews authors Drs. Sarah K. Tasian and David T. Teachey on their contributions to the How I Treat Series on acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Dr. Tasian's paper, “How I treat Philadelphia chromosome-like acute lymphoblastic leukemia in children, adolescents, and young adults” discusses the different classes of Ph-like ALL and reviews the recent trials investigating TKIs and immunotherapy specifically for this high-risk patient population. Dr. Teachey's paper, “How I treat ETP-ALL in children”, discusses the best current and emerging therapies that may be used in patients with ETP ALL, including nelarabine and other new agents, immunotherapy, and allogeneic HSCT.See the full How I Treat series in volume 145 issue 1 of Blood.

In this week's episode, Blood Associate editor Dr. Thomas Ortel interviews authors Drs. Ware Branch and J.J. Strouse on their contributions to How I Treat hematologic complications in pregnancy. Dr. Branch's paper, “How I diagnose and treat antiphospholipid syndrome in pregnancy” discusses the evolving clinical and laboratory features of APS, and the treatment of cases meeting ACR/EULAR classification criteria. Dr. Strouse stresses the unique problems posed to both the mother and fetus during pregnancy in his paper "How I treat sickle cell disease in pregnancy”.See the full How I Treat series in volume 143 issue 9 of Blood journal.

In this week's episode we've pulled a vault recording from 2025! Blood editor Dr. Laurie Sehn interviews authors Drs. David-Alexandre Trégouët and Johannes Schetelig on their research published in volume 146 issue 19 of Blood journal. Dr. Trégouët's study conducted a genome-wide association study supplemented by transcriptome and Mendelian randomization analyses to identify 28 loci and proteins associated with VTE recurrence risk. This work provides genomic evidence that inherited variants contribute to the risk of VTE recurrence, raising the possibility of a more personalized approach to the prevention of recurrent VTE. The study conducted by Dr. Schetelig and colleagues report the results of a long term trial on patients with poor-response AML, comparing outcomes between patients who received salvage chemotherapy versus immediate transplantation. With no difference in survival rates at 5 years, outcomes seem to be determined mainly by genetic risk factors, age, and comorbidities, therefore challenging the routine use of intensive remission induction before allogeneic transplant in patients with an available donor and underscore the need for novel therapeutic strategies for poor-risk AML.Featured Articles:Molecular Determinants of Thrombosis Recurrence Risk Across Venous Thromboembolism Subtypes Disease risk but not remission status determines transplant outcomes in AML: long-term outcomes of the ASAP trial