Clonal evolution in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) originates long before diagnosis and is a dynamic process that may affect survival. However, it remains uninvestigated during routine diagnostic workups. We hypothesized that the mutational status of bone marrow dysplastic cells and leukemic blasts, analyzed at the onset of AML using integrated multidimensional flow cytometry (MFC) immunophenotyping and fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) with next-generation sequencing (NGS), could reconstruct leukemogenesis. Dysplastic cells were detected by MFC in 285 of 348 (82%) newly diagnosed patients with AML. Presence of dysplasia according to MFC and World Health Organization criteria had no prognostic value in older adults. NGS of dysplastic cells and blasts isolated at diagnosis identified 3 evolutionary patterns: stable (n= 12 of 21), branching (n= 4 of 21), and clonal evolution (n= 5 of 21). In patients achieving complete response (CR), integrated MFC and FACS with NGS showed persistent measurable residual disease (MRD) in phenotypically normal cell types, as well as the acquisition of genetic traits associated with treatment resistance. Furthermore, whole-exome sequencing of dysplastic and leukemic cells at diagnosis and of MRD uncovered different clonal involvement in dysplastic myelo-erythropoiesis, leukemic transformation, and chemoresistance. Altogether, we showed that it is possible to reconstruct leukemogenesis in 80% of patients with newly diagnosed AML, using techniques other than single-cell multiomics.

Artificial intelligence (AI) can unveil novel personalized treatments based on drug screening and whole-exome sequencing experiments (WES). However, the concept of "black box" in AI limits the potential of this approach to be translated into the clinical practice. In contrast, explainable AI (XAI) focuses on making AI results understandable to humans. Here, we present a novel XAI method -called multi-dimensional module optimization (MOM)- that associates drug screening with genetic events, while guaranteeing that predictions are interpretable and robust. We applied MOM to an acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cohort of 319 ex-vivo tumor samples with 122 screened drugs and WES. MOM returned a therapeutic strategy based on the FLT3, CBF beta-MYH11, and NRAS status, which predicted AML patient response to Quizartinib, Trametinib, Selumetinib, and Crizotinib. We successfully validated the results in three different large-scale screening experiments. We believe that XAI will help healthcare providers and drug regulators better understand AI medical decisions.

The value of measurable residual disease (MRD) in elderly patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is inconsistent between those treated with intensive vs hypomethylating drugs, and unknown after semi-intensive therapy. We investigated the role of MRD in refining complete remission (CR) and treatment duration in the phase 3 FLUGAZA clinical trial, which randomized 283 elderly AML patients to induction and consolidation with fludarabine plus cytarabine (FLUGA) vs 5-azacitidine. After consolidation, patients continued treatment if MRD was ¿0.01% or stopped if MRD was <0.01%, as assessed by multidimensional flow cytometry (MFC). On multivariate analysis including genetic risk and treatment arm, MRD status in patients achieving CR (N = 72) was the only independent prognostic factor for relapse-free survival (RFS) (HR, 3.45;P= .002). Achieving undetectable MRD significantly improved RFS of patients with adverse genetics (HR, 0.32;P= .013). Longer overall survival was observed in patients with undetectable MRD after induction though not after consolidation. Although leukemic cells from most patients displayed phenotypic aberrancies vs their normal counterpart (N = 259 of 265), CD34 progenitors from cases with undetectable MRD by MFC carried extensive genetic abnormalities identified by whole-exome sequencing. Interestingly, the number of genetic alterations significantly increased from diagnosis to MRD stages in patients treated with FLUGA vs 5-azacitidine (2.2-fold vs 1.1-fold;P

The CD20 marker continues to be exploited as a therapeutic target for non-Hodgkin¿s lymphoma. Obinutuzumab is part of a new generation of anti-CD20 monoclonal antibodies, which are synthesized using molecular engineering technology, resulting in novel target epitopes and unprecedented optimization of antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity and antibody-dependent cellular phagocytosis. Rituximab is the current gold standard for anti-CD20 therapy, yet despite outstanding results published over the past decade, many patients continue to relapse after anti-CD20 regimens. Obinutuzumab is slowly positioning itself in the treatment of CD20+ B-cell neoplasms. On the basis of favorable results from the phase III GADOLIN trial, obinutuzumab was recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in combination with bendamustine followed by obinutuzumab maintenance, for the treatment of follicular lymphoma (FL) patients who relapsed or are refractory to a rituximab-containing regimen. Additional phase III trials are underway to test obinutuzumab as a first-line anti-CD20 agent in FL with good preliminary results (GALLIUM trial); thus, it is likely that obinutuzumab will soon achieve a first-line indication. It is plausible that obinutuzumab will replace rituximab as the gold standard for chemoimmunotherapy in FL, although some safety concerns still need to be resolved. This review will address the preclinical pharmacology and the main aspects of the clinical development of obinu