ASH News Daily 2017 - Issue 1 - A-27

Saturday, December 9, 2017

ASH News Daily

Page A-27
®

Aging

«« From Page A-1

function. Dr. Hartmut Geiger of Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center presented data
on how older HSCs directly contribute to agingassociated remodeling of the immune system,
and how rejuvenation of aged HSCs contributes
to restoring the functionality of an aged immune system. "Rejuvenation of old HSCs might
therefore be a novel strategy to reverse the ageassociated remodeling of the immune system,"
he commented. Dr. Fabienne Lucas of The Ohio
State University said that in patients with multiple myeloma, induction and maintenance
therapy do not seem to age T cells, whereas autologous BMT increases phenotypic hallmarks
of immune senescence in T cells, including increased expression of p16(INK4a). This suggests
that autologous BMT could be a suitable model
for accelerated T cell aging.
Pooled safety data for older adults with multiple myeloma treated with the monoclonal antibodies daratumumab and elotuzumab were
summarized by Dr. Bindu Kanapuru of the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration. Overall selected

Trainee Day

«« From Page A-7
with collaborators who may have very different
backgrounds. Dr. David Steensma of Dana-Farber
Cancer Institute discussed engagement in a clinical research team and how to position yourself as
a junior researcher to ultimately design and lead
clinical trials. Dr. Linda Burns of National Marrow
Donor Program/Be the Match spoke about the
important roles of members of a health outcomes
and clinical effectiveness research team and how
to participate in and eventually lead a team.
The final session of the day was a panel focusing on nontraditional career development that
highlighted careers in hematology outside of the
"usual" realms of academic medicine and clinical practice. The speakers were Dr. Ann Farrell
of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Dr.
Danielle Townsley of the National Heart, Lung,
and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of
Health, and Dr. Benjamin Kim of BioMarin Pharmaceutical, Inc. Each of the speakers discussed
the pros and cons of their particular career path
and participated in a group discussion and Q&A
session. After the completion of Trainee Day,
many of the participants continued to the Trainee Welcome Reception, where they had an opportunity to connect with their peers and learn
more about ASH trainee resources.
There will many more opportunities for trainees during the rest of this year's meeting and
beyond. As Dr. Loren describes "On Saturday,
the Career Development Lunches place a faculty
member at a table and trainees may join him or
her to discuss their interests and career trajectories
casually over lunch. Also, on Saturday and Sunday there are Trainee Didactic Sessions - small
lectures on specific areas of interest. This year,
topics span a range from translational medicine
to time management." Refer to ASH News Daily
section B or the ASH program guide for the times
and locations of each day's sessions. Finally, Dr.
Loren encourages any and all input: "Please find
one of us at any of the above events to share your
thoughts or to volunteer!"

Drs. Shah and Forsberg indicated no relevant conflicts of interest.

adverse events were similar across age groups,
although few older patients were enrolled in clinical trials. This also seems to apply to checkpoint
inhibitors in myeloma, although more data are
needed. Dr. Kanapuru commented that the FDA
encourages enrollment of older patients on clinical trials. Dr. Vu Luan Dang Chi, Institute Jules
Bordet, Free University of Brussels, discussed
how down-regulation of the transcription factor BACH2 correlates with aging in major human lymphocyte subsets and with resistance to
apoptosis. This down-regulation is even more
pronounced in T and B cells in patients with B
cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
The third session addressed the increased risk
of thrombosis associated with aging. Dr. Mathew
Rondina of George E. Wahlen VAMC Geriatric
Research and Education Clinical Center discussed platelet reprogramming and thrombosis
in human aging. Dr. Alisa S. Wolberg of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill discussed
fundamental mechanisms in venous thrombosis, commenting that it is "a pathology for which

the incidence increases with age. Our experience
with aged mice indicates that mice do not fully
recapitulate aspects of aging in humans, and
suggest the choice of animal model is important
when designing studies." Dr. Pavel DavizonCastillo of University of Colorado discussed the
megakaryocyte-platelet axis and pro-thrombotic
functional responses in a murine model of aging.
In the final session, Dr. Paul Hamlin discussed geriatric assessment among older adults
with lymphoma. Dr. Raul Cordoba of Fundación
Jimenez Díaz discussed the Spanish Geriatric
Assessment in Hematology (GAH) project. A
brief geriatric assessment (GAH scale) taking 20
minutes to implement was created specifically
for patients with hematologic malignancies including multiple myeloma, chronic lymphocytic
leukemia, and high-risk myelodysplastic syndromes/acute leukemias. The GAH scale will
be further validated and tested in other hematologic malignancies such as lymphomas.
Dr. Lederman indicated no relevant conflicts of interest.

Hematology Crossword Puzzle
Across
1. ____ Jim beef jerky
5. Brazilian dance
10. Poke holes in
14. ____ Lella, wartime
hero of 2017 bestseller
"Beneath A Scarlet Sky"
15. Alaskan islander
16. Rent, in Old Blighty
17. Burden of proof
18. Chief of the louts
20. The parts of 63-across
that didn't quite get cooked
22. Not moving
23. Immune response
orchestrator
24. Very, in music
26. Reindeer herder
29. Site of the Georgia
Dome... and this year's
American Society of
Hematology annual meeting
33. What many hematology
trainees have in spades
37. It grows on you
38. German grandmother;
tumor suffix
39. Yucca root (and, like 35
Down, starchy)
42. Jamaican Calypso
offshoot
43. The former name of
what WHO 2016 terms
MDS-RS
45. Popular battlefield
armor during the Iron and
Middle Ages... or an
unverifiable missive
forwarded by your aunt
47. Rout
50. O. Henry's "The Gift of
the ___"
51. Explode
53. Big mess
57. Persian greyhound and
mascot of Southern llinois
University
60. Drug formerly known as
STI-571 that's going to win
someone a Nobel prize
someday
63. Expensive cut of beef
from the short loin
65. Catalan painter Joan
66. Himalayan legend

52
60

53
61

62
65

Down
1. Wear
2. Physics lab and
radiotherapy suite device,
for short
3. Harden
4. Northern French river
and department
5. Delhi wrap
6. Came down to earth
7. The brainy bunch
8. Reason for a software
update
9. "Finally!"
10. Islamic law outlawed in
Oklahoma
11. Ocean motion
12. Wonder Woman's 2017
enemy and early tutor

67. Pope John ___, who
served only 33 days in 1978
68. Away from port
69. Rewrite
70. Turn red or yellow, say
71. "___ we forget..."

51
58

44
48

38
43

22
24

- Created by David Steensma, MD -

13. Sesame Street's
monobrowed pigeon lover
19. And others: Abbr.
21. Mel ____, voice of
Porky Pig and Daffy Duck
25. Arabic for "peace" - and
surname of late 1994
Heisman trophy winner
Rashaan
27. Mom-and-pop school
boosting org.
28. Fishy sign after
Aquarius
30. Astronaut's insignia
31. Bamboo torch with an
island flair
32. Asia's shrinking ___ Sea
33. Dessert wine
34. Bradley, Sharif, or
Abdel-Wahab
35. Hawaiian tuber and poi
source
36. Baseball bat wood... and
the leading hematology org.
40. Routing word
41. Existential feeling of
apprehension

44. A division of something
larger, like a protein
46. Barely enough
48. Microwave
49. Bacterial sequences that
are the basis of a popular
DNA editing technique that
will win someone a Nobel
prize someday
52. Traffic jam
54. Biscotti flavoring
55. What Montana's smoke
jumpers fight every summer
56. W.W. II menace
57. Eyelid affliction
58. In the sack
59. French novelist Pierre;
also the first item up for bid
at an auction
61. Man, boy, or bee drone
62. Related by blood
64. Mai ___

Look for the solution in
Sunday's issue.

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ASH News Daily 2017 - Issue 1