Highlights:
Each $2,500 award recognizes research in diseases treatable by hematopoietic cell transplantation, and post-transplant research to improve survival and quality of life of transplant patients.
Research in the past years has improved outcomes in unrelated transplant, making outcomes comparable to patients with an HLA-matched sibling, as well as contributed to better patient survival by enhancing patient-donor matching and identifying optimal transplant timing.
The NMDP and its research partner, the CIBMTR, will continue to foster research to broaden the number of diseases treatable by transplant and to extend these treatments to more people of all ages.
November 07 2011
Medical researchers in the United States, Sweden, France and Italy will be recognized for their work by the American Society of Hematology (ASH) and the National Marrow Donor Program® (NMDP) at the 2011 ASH Annual Meeting, Dec. 10-13 in San Diego. To help mark its 25th anniversary and facilitation of 50,000 transplants, the NMDP is providing awards to authors of the highest-scoring abstracts in 10 scientific categories.
“We are proud to partner with the American Society of Hematology to present these awards in recognition of the critical work these researchers have accomplished across an array of fields. These contributions to the field of hematopoietic cell transplantation will allow us to offer more hope for patients with leukemia, lymphoma and other devastating diseases for whom transplant may offer the best hope for a cure,” said Jeffrey W. Chell, M.D., chief executive officer of the NMDP.
NMDP, with its research arm CIBMTR® (Center for International Blood and Marrow Transplant Research®), collaborates with the global scientific community to lead and support research. This year, the 10 awards of $2,500 each recognize research in diseases treatable by hematopoietic cell transplantation (leukemia, lymphoma, myelodysplastic syndromes, bone marrow failure), and post- transplant research to improve survival and quality of life of transplant patients.
“The diversity of abstracts selected for these awards conveys the importance of blood and marrow transplantation and the management of diseases treated by transplantation to the field of hematology,” said ASH President-Elect Armand Keating, M.D., of the University of Toronto. “The NMDP has demonstrated a significant commitment to advancing vital research since its inception in 1987, and that investment has helped speed remarkable progress in the field of unrelated transplantation.”
One of the most remarkable strides: Patients who have received transplants from unrelated donors now experience outcomes nearly equal to patients with HLA-matched siblings. Research also has contributed to better patient survival by enhancing patient-donor matching and identifying optimal timing to receive a transplant.
Two of the six plenary abstracts are supported by the NMDP awards this year. One of those awards will go to Claudio Anasetti, M.D., from the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute in Tampa, Fla. The abstract presents results of the prospective clinical trial led by the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMT CTN) that compared peripheral blood stem cell(PBSC) grafts and bone marrow grafts in transplants using unrelated donors. BMT CTN is funded through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and is a collaborative effort of the CIBMTR, the NMDP and the EMMES Corporation, together with 20 core transplant centers. The other award going to a plenary abstract will go to Luca Malcovati, from the Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo & University of Pavia in Pavia, Italy, for myelodysplastic syndromes research.
Looking forward, NMDP will continue to foster research to broaden the number of diseases that can be successfully treated through transplantation, and to extend these treatments to more people of all ages. Today, patients over age 50 are the most rapidly expanding group.
With the support of millions of potential donors and key partner organizations, the NMDP will expand and improve its life-saving efforts through hematopoietic cell transplantation. “NMDP is proud to be part of this rigorous scientific field, whether through research, finding the right adult donor or cord blood unit, or providing education to physicians and their patients,” said Dennis Confer, M.D., chief medical officer of the NMDP. “Along with ASH, we congratulate the winners of these awards, and thank the researchers for their outstanding contributions.”
The complete list of award recipients and categories includes:
Clinical Allogeneic and Autologous Transplantation: Results (Abstract No. 1 - Plenary)
Claudio Anasetti, M.D., H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, Florida
Increased Incidence of Chronic Graft-Versus-Host Disease (GVHD) and No Survival Advantage with Filgrastim-Mobilized Peripheral Blood Stem Cells (PBSC) Compared to Bone Marrow (BM) Transplants from Unrelated Donors: Results of Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network (BMT CTN) Protocol 0201, a Phase III, Prospective, Randomized Trial
Bone Marrow Failure (Abstract No. 727)Pekka Jaako, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Bone Marrow Failure in RPS19-Deficient Mice is Partly Caused by p53 Activation and Responds to L-Leucine Treatment
Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia – Biology & Pathophysiology (Abstract No. 75)Mark Y. Chiang, M.D., Ph.D., University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
ZMIZ1 Collaborates with NOTCH1 During Induction and Maintenance of T-Cell Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
Acute Myeloid Leukemia – Biology & Pathophysiology (Abstract No. 757)Tanja A. Gruber, M.D., Ph.D., St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, Tennessee
Transcriptome Sequence Analysis of Pediatric Acute Megakaryoblastic Leukemia Identifies an Inv(16)(p13.3;q24.3)-encoded CBFA2T3-GLIS2 Fusion Protein as a Recurrent Lesion in 39% of Non-infant Cases: A Report from the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project
Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma – Biology, excluding Therapy (Abstract No. 259)Jens Lohr, M.D., Ph.D., Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts
The Mutational Landscape of Diffuse Large B Cell Lymphoma
Myelodysplastic Syndromes (Abstract No. 3 - Plenary)Luca Malcovati, M.D., Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo & University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
Somatic Mutation of SF3B1, a Gene Encoding a Core Component of RNA Splicing Machinery, in Myelodysplasia with Ring Sideroblasts
Clinical Allogeneic Transplantation: Conditioning Regimens, Engraftment, and Acute Transplant Toxicities (Abstract No. 650)Riccardo Saccardi, M.D., Eurocord Registry, Paris, France
Determining Late Engraftment Following Single Cord, Unrelated Transplantation: An Analysis of the Eurocord Registry
Clinical Allogeneic Transplantation: Acute and Chronic GVHD, Immune Reconstitution (Abstract No. 151)David Jacobsohn, M.D., Children’s National Medical Center, Washington, District of Columbia
Change in NIH Skin Score 0-3 Correlates with Provider- and Patient-Reported Skin Changes and Overall Survival: Results from the Chronic Gvhd Consortium
Clinical Allogeneic and Autologous Transplantation: Late Complications and Approaches to Disease Recurrence (Abstract No. 330)Saro Armenian, D.O., M.P.H., City of Hope, Duarte, California
Cardiovascular Risk Factors in Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation (HCT) Survivors: Role in Development of Subsequent Cardiovascular Disease
Health Services and Outcomes Research (Abstract No. 841)Can-Lan Sun, Ph.D., City of Hope, Duarte, California
Burden of Morbidity in 10+ Year Survivors of Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation (HCT): A Report from the Bone Marrow Transplant Survivor Study (BMTSS)
The American Society of Hematology is the world’s largest professional society concerned with the causes and treatment of blood disorders. Its mission is to further the understanding, diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disorders affecting blood, bone marrow, and the immunologic, hemostatic, and vascular systems by promoting research, clinical care, education, training, and advocacy in hematology. The official journal of ASH is Blood, the most cited peer-reviewed publication in the field, which is available weekly in print and online.