Lymphoma represents a heterogeneous hematological malignancy (HM), which is characterized by severe immunosuppression. Patients diagnosed of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) during the course of HM have been described to have poor outcome, with only few reports specifically addressing lymphoma patients. Here, we investigated the clinical behaviour and clinical parameters of a large multicenter cohort of adult patients with different lymphoma subtypes, with the aim of identifying predictors of death. The study included 856 patients, of whom 619 were enrolled prospectively in a 1-year frame and were followed-up for a median of 66 days (range 1-395). Patients were managed as outpatient (not admitted cohort, n=388), or required hospitalization (n=468), and median age was 63 years (range 19-94). Overall, the 30- and 100-days mortality was 13% (95%CI 11-15%) and 23% (95%CI 20-27%), respectively. Anti-lymphoma treatment, including anti-CD20 containing regimens, did not impact on survival. Patients with Hodgkin's lymphoma had the more favourable survival, but this was partly related to significantly younger age. The time interval between lymphoma diagnosis and COVID-19 was inversely related to mortality. Multivariable analysis recognized 4 easy-to-use factors (age, gender, lymphocyte, and platelet count) that were associated with risk of death, both in the admitted and in the not-admitted cohort (HR 3.79 and 8.85 for the intermediate and high-risk group, respectively). Overall, our study shows that patients should not be deprived of the best available treatment for their underlying disease, and indicates which patients are at higher risk of death. This study was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04352556.

The development of effective COVID-19 vaccines has been essential in slowing the spread of SARS-CoV-2. However, unvaccinated populations as well as those who do not respond to vaccination still remain at risk. Very few cancer patients were included in the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine trials and any individuals receiving chemotherapy or immunotherapy within 6 months were excluded. 1 Consequently, we have an inadequate knowledge of how well these vaccines work in the cancer patient population.However, by extrapolation from other vaccines, we hypothesized that patients with hematologic malignancies, especially those on E410 CORRESPONDENCE

Relapsed/refractory (R/R) acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a largely unmet medical need, owing to the lack of standardized, effective treatment approaches, resulting in an overall dismal outcome. The only curative option for R/R AML patients is allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) which is only applicable in a fraction of patients due to the scarce efficacy and high toxicity of salvage regimens. Recently, a number of targeted agents with relatively favorable toxicity profiles have been explored in clinical trials for R/R AML patients. The Bcl-2 inhibitor venetoclax, in combination with hypomethylating agents or low dose cytarabine, has produced impressive results for newly diagnosed AML, while its role in R/R disease is not well defined yet. We retrospectively analyzed the clinical outcomes of 47 R/R AML patients treated with venetoclax-based regimens between March 2018 and December 2020 at our institution. Overall, we report a composite complete response rate of 55% with an overall acceptable toxicity profile. Outcomes were particularly favorable for NPM1 mutated patients, unlike for FLT3-ITD positive patients irrespective of NPM1 status. For patients treated with intention to transplant, the procedure could be finally performed in 54%. These findings suggest a role for venetoclax-based regimens in R/R AML patients and support the design of prospective studies.

COVID-19 continues to be a relevant issue among patients with haematological malignancies (HM). Vaccines are frequently not effective in subjects on active treatment. In this multicentre retrospective study of Gruppo Italiano Malattie EMatologiche dell' Adulto (GIMEMA), we collected data from 91 paucisymptomatic HM patients treated with anti-spike neutralizing monoclonal antibodies (nMoAbs) to determine time to viral clearance, referencing it to the expected value of 28 days from an historical group of untreated paucisymptomatic

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