Prevention and management of hepatitis B virus reactivation in patients with hematological malignancies treated with anticancer therapy

Hepatitis due to hepatitis B virus(HBV) reactivation can be severe and potentially fatal, but is preventable. HBV reactivation is most commonly reported in patients receiving cancer chemotherapy, especially rituximabcontaining therapy for hematological malignancies and those receiving stem cell transplantation. All patients with hematological malignancies receiving anticancer therapy should be screened for active or resolved HBV infection by blood tests for hepatitis B surface antigen(HBs Ag) and antibody to hepatitis B core antigen(antiHBc). Patients found to be positive for HBs Ag should be given prophylactic antiviral therapy to prevent HBV reactivation. For patients with resolved HBV infection, no standard strategy has yet been established to prevent HBV reactivation. There are usually two options. One is pre-emptive therapy guided by serial HBV DNA monitoring, whereby antiviral therapy is given as soon as HBV DNA becomes detectable. However, there is little evidence regarding the optimal interval and period of monitoring. An alternative approach is prophylactic antiviral therapy, especially for patients receiving highrisk therapy such as rituximab, newer generation of anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody, obinutuzumab or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. This strategy may effectively prevent HBV reactivation and avoid the inconvenience of repeated HBV DNA monitoring. Entecavir or tenofovir are preferred over lamivudine as prophylactic therapy. Although there is no well-defined guideline on the optimal duration of prophylactic therapy, there is growing evidence to recommend continuing prophylactic antiviral therapy for at least 12 mo after cessation of chemotherapy, and even longer for those who receive rituximab or who had high serum HBV DNA levels before the start of immunosuppressive therapy. Many novel agents have recently become available for the treatment of hematological malignancies, and these agents may be associated with HBV reactivation. Although there is currently limited evidence to guide the optimal preventive measures, we recommend antiviral prophylaxis in HBs Ag-positive patients receiving novel treatments, especially the Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitors and the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase inhibitors, which are B-cell receptor signaling modulators and reduce proliferation of malignant B-cells. Further studies are needed to clarify the risk of HBV reactivation with these agents and the best prophylactic strategy in the era of targeted therapy for hematological malignancies.

Genome sequencing reveals the role of rare genomic variants in Chinese patients with symptomatic intracranial atherosclerotic disease

Objectives The predisposition of intracranial atherosclerotic disease(ICAD)to East Asians over Caucasians infers a genetic basis which,however,remains largely unknown.Higher prevalence of vascular risk factors(VRFs)in Chinese over Caucasian patients who had a stroke,and shared risk factors of ICAD with other stroke subtypes indicate genes related to VRFs and/or other stroke subtypes may also contribute to ICAD.Methods Unrelated symptomatic patients with ICAD were recruited for genome sequencing(GS,60-fold).Rare and potentially deleterious single-nucleotide variants(SNVs)and small insertions/deletions(InDels)were detected in genome-wide and correlated to genes related to VRFs and/or other stroke subtypes.Rare aneuploidies,copy number variants(CNVs)and chromosomal structural rearrangements were also investigated.Lastly,candidate genes were used for pathway and gene ontology enrichment analysis.Results Among 92 patients(mean age at stroke onset 61.0±9.3 years),GS identified likely ICAD-associated rare genomic variants in 54.3%(50/92)of patients.Forty-eight patients(52.2%,48/92)had 59 rare SNVs/InDels reported or predicted to be deleterious in genes related to VRFs and/or other stroke subtypes.None of the 59 rare variants were identified in local subjects without ICAD(n=126).31 SNVs/InDels were related to conventional VRFs,and 28 were discovered in genes related to other stroke subtypes.Our study also showed that rare CNVs(n=7)and structural rearrangement(a balanced translocation)were potentially related to ICAD in 8.7%(8/92)of patients.Lastly,candidate genes were significantly enriched in pathways related to lipoprotein metabolism and cellular lipid catabolic process.Conclusions Our GS study suggests a role of rare genomic variants with various variant types contributing to the development of ICAD in Chinese patients.