The treatment landscape for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) has expanded dramatically over the last decade, with a wide range of effective treatments now available. Clinical management of CLL varies widely depending on patient profile, meaning the optimal treatment in Arab patients, who tend to be young and often present with comorbidities, including diabetes and obesity, requires specific considerations. In the absence of regional guidelines, a group of experts from across the Gulf region and one international expert from Germany convened to discuss and agree upon a position statement for venetoclax-based fixed-duration treatment strategies for Arab patients with CLL. Our position is that ibrutinib-venetoclax should be the first choice as first-line therapy for all fit CLL patients in the region, regardless of age. The advantages of an all-oral, fixed-duration treatment are discussed in the context of a young Arab patient population, including excellent patient and physician convenience, limited accumulative risk of toxicities, uncomplicated logistics, and low burden of healthcare administration costs. Finally, we discuss the management of key safety considerations in Arab populations including ethnic neutropenia, risk of cardiotoxic events, considerations during intermittent fasting, and avoiding adverse drug-drug interactions, e.g., with anti-tuberculosis or anti-obesity medications.

Treatment options for newly diagnosed multiple myeloma (NDMM) have expanded dramatically over the last two decades, resulting in remarkable improvements in response rates and median survival times. In eligible patients, autologous stem cell transplant plays the central role of an overall treatment strategy comprising induction, transplantation, consolidation, and maintenance. In this article, we draw from our own collective clinical experience of treating patients with NDMM in the Gulf region to discuss treatment strategies in both transplant-eligible and -ineligible patients, as well as in high-risk patients. We present position statements for these distinct patient populations specifically for treatment in the Gulf region, where patients with NDMM have a younger median age than and different comorbidity profile from Western populations. We discuss how the introduction of anti-CD38 agents, including daratumumab and isatuximab, have had a major impact on the frontline treatment landscape in MM, with daratumumab-based quadruplet and triplet regimens emerging as the new standard of care in transplant-eligible and -ineligible patients, respectively. In addition, we advocate aggressive quadruplet treatment of high-risk patients with NDMM, as part of a strategy including single or tandem transplant when eligible. Finally, we discuss the clinical and practical rationale behind our statements, which is intended to serve as a useful reference for hematologists treating physicians within the Gulf region and beyond.

Cancer is one of the foremost causes of mortality. The human genome remains stable over time. However, human activities and environmental factors have the power to influence the prevalence of certain types of mutations. This goes to the excessive progress of xenobiotics and industrial development that is expanding the territory for cancers to develop. The mechanisms involved in immune responses against cancer are widely studied. Genome editing has changed the genome-based immunotherapy process in the human body and has opened a new era for cancer treatment. In this review, recent cancer immunotherapies and the use of genome engineering technology are largely focused on.

Background: Despite its long-term history, haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) still faces challenges in several countries under development and especially in the private health sector. Objectives, Design and Methods: In this retrospective analysis, we present our experience and the results of 48 adult patients who underwent HSCT (autologous 37, allogeneic 9) at a private-sector hospital in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (UAE). The main indications were multiple myeloma and acute myeloid leukaemia in the autologous and allogeneic setting, respectively. Results: All patients successfully engrafted, and after a median follow-up of 6 (range: 1-11) months, 42 patients are alive (36 autografted and 6 allografted). The 1-year overall survival rates were 97% and 62% for autografted and allografted patients, respectively, while 4 patients died within 100 days post-transplant from treatment-related causes (1 patient from the autografted group and 3 patients from the allografted group). Conclusion: Our data confirm that HSCT is a feasible, safe, and effective treatment approach, offering high success rates to UAE patients with haematological malignant diseases.

Patients with "penta-refractory" multiple myeloma (MM) are challenging to treat given the limited treatment options available to them. Belantamab mafodotin is the first B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA)targeting antibody-drug conjugate approved for the treatment of relapsed/refractory MM (RRMM). In this case report, we reviewed in detail three female patients who were diagnosed with MM international scoring system (ISS)-3 and were heavily pretreated, and refractory to CD38 monoclonal antibodies, two proteasome inhibitors, and two immunomodulatory agents. These patients were started on belantamab mafodotin and experienced rapid and explosive clinical, biochemical, and extramedullary disease progression within a short period of time. All three patients experienced worsening cytopenia, increased transfusion requirement, severe uncontrolled bony pain, recurrent infections, and frequent hospital admissions. Two of them passed away due to disease progression complications within a few months of starting belantamab mafodotin. Although belantamab mafodotin as a single agent was withdrawn from the market after the DREAMM-3 trial failed to achieve its primary endpoint in late RRMM, BCMA-targeted therapy may still be a promising treatment approach, and the role of belantamab mafodotin is yet to be revealed in combination therapy in early RRMM.

Kayane Mheidly, Thierry Lamy De La Chapelle, Mathilde Hunault, Lotfi Benboubker, Mohamed Benchalal, Philippe Moreau, Alix Baugier de Materre , Olivier Decaux and Kamel Laribi Department of Hematology, Medical University Hospital, Pontchaillou, Rennes, France; Department of Hematology, Centre Hospitalier Le Mans, Le Mans, France; Department of Hematology, Medical University Hospital, Angers, France; Department of Hematology, Medical University Hospital, Tours, France; Department of Radiotherapy, Centre Eug ene Marquis, Rennes, France; Department of Hematology, Medical University Hospital, Nantes, France; Geriatric Department, Rothschild Hospital, Assistance Publique hôpitaux de Paris, Paris, France

We performed a retrospective analysis of 93 myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) patients with intermediate 2 or high‐risk IPSS score to study the impact of Azacitidine (AZA) relative dose intensity (RDI) <80% on the overall survival (OS). There were 51.6% of patients who had full dose and 48.4% had dose reduction or delayed with a RDI <80%. Nineteen patients (20.4%) had RDI <80% before getting objective response. Overall and progression‐free survivals (OS, PFS) probabilities for the whole population were 58% (95% CI: 48‐69) and 47% (95% CI: 38‐58) at 1 year; 35% (95% CI: 26‐47) and 31% (95% CI: 23‐43) at two years, respectively. When analyzing the outcomes according to the response to AZA, median OS was 32 months (range: 26‐55) for responders and 8 months (range: 7‐12) for nonresponders, with a respective 1‐year and 2‐year OS probabilities of 91% vs 28% and 66% vs 6%, respectively (P < 0.001). Interestingly, there was no impact of dose reduction on OS nor on PFS, however, when analyzing the timing of dose reduction as time‐dependent variable, we found that patients who had dose reduction before achieving the objective response, had significantly lower OS (P = 0.02) and PFS (P = 0.01) compared to patients who had dose reduction after achieving the objective response. In multivariate analysis, acute myeloid leukemia with 21%‐30% blasts in BM and poor and very poor karyotype significantly impacted OS, (HR = 2.09, 95% CI: 1.27‐3.44, P = 0.004, and HR = 2.73, 95% CI: 1.6‐4.6, P < 0.001 respectively), as well as PFS (HR = 1.84, 95% CI: 1.07‐3.17, P = 0.028, and HR = 3.03, 95% CI: 1.7‐5.39, P < 0.001, respectively).

Solitary bone plasmacytoma (SBP) is characterized by a solitary area of lytic bone destruction due to clonal plasma cell proliferation without evidence of systemic disease spread. The greatest risk is the progression to multiple myeloma (MM). The choice of the initial treatment may influence disease evolution. Radiotherapy remains the treatment of choice for SBP, although its efficacy has been tested only in small and historical retrospective series. This retrospective study aimed to evaluate the impact of the adjuvant chemotherapy associated to radiotherapy (combined treatment) on the evolution of SBP.