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Blood Podcast

American Society of Hematology

Stay up to date on the latest research and reviews for both clinical and basic hematology with Blood podcast, published weekly in conjunction with each issue of Blood. Additionally, Blood review series podcasts feature in depth discussion with authors of recently published review articles. Subscribe and never miss a new episode.

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  • 30 episodes
  • weekly
  • Avg 20 min
  • English
Counted on this page — what you have heard stays on this device, so it is not something the list can be paged by.
  • Thursday · 13 min

    Restoring Stem Cell Function After Iron Overload

    In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. Laurie Sehn interviews Dr. Annamaria Aprile of the San Raffaele Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy on her latest article published in Blood titled "Iron overload damages mitochondria and induces metabolic rewiring of hematopoietic stem cells toward glycolysis." Dr. Aprile describes how reducing iron and mitochondrial reactive oxygen species in vivo restores mitochondrial activity, quiescence, and the self-renewal of HSCs. She discusses the therapeutic implications of these findings, focusing on combining iron chelation with a mitochondrial-focused antioxidant to protect or restore stem cell function, a strategy that still needs further testing, including in patient-derived cells.

  • October 15 · 16 min

    Venetoclax combinations in untreated CLL and the Clinical Significance of Clonal Monocytosis

    In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. Laura Michaelis interviews Dr. Moritz Fürstenau of University Hospital Cologne and Dr. William Dunn of the University of Cambridge on their latest articles published in Blood on CLL and clonal monocytosis. Dr. Fürstenau discusses "Venetoclax combinations in untreated CLL: 5-year results and patient-reported outcomes analysis of the CLL13/GAIA trial" highlighting greater improvements in patient-reported quality of life. Dr. Dunn discusses "The prevalence and clinical significance of clonal monocytosis" describing how using sex-specific monocyte thresholds and excluding isolated DNMT3A mutations refines the association between CMUS and MN.

  • October 8 · 27 min

    New Perspectives on Anticoagulation and Hyperinflammation

    In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. Laurie Sehn interviews Drs. Dan Chalothorn and David Gutstein from Regeneron Pharmaceuticals, and Dr. Ajitha Thanabalasuriar from McGill University on their latest articles published in Blood. The first half of the episode features "Anticoagulation with the mechanistically distinct FXI/FXIa antibodies amrecibart (REGN9933 A2 ) and cenvacibart (REGN7508 Cat )" during which Drs. Chalothorn and Gutstein discuss their research on anticoagulants targeting Factor XI and Factor XIa, which showed promising preclinical results in reducing thrombosis without increasing bleeding risk. They developed two distinct antibodies, targeting different domains of Factor 11, offering potential treatment options for different patient profiles. Next, while discussing "TGF-β–PDL1 signaling in neutrophils preserves the lung barrier during hyperinflammation", Dr. Thanabalasuriar underscores that dissecting neutrophil-specific TGF‑β/PD‑L1 signaling in real ICU patients is essential to translate this pathway into truly personalized therapies that both preserve lung barrier integrity and prevent fatal hyperinflammatory injury.

  • October 1 · 16 min

    Designing Durable Remissions in Relapsed AML and Follicular Lymphoma

    In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. Laura Michaelis interviews Dr. Harry Erba of Duke University and Dr. Sairah Ahmed of the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center on their latest articles published in Blood on durable treatment strategies for relapsed and refractory hematologic malignancies. Dr. Erba discusses "Ziftomenib with venetoclax and azacitidine for relapsed/refractory NPM1-mutated acute myeloid leukemia" highlighting the promise of this triplet regimen in a high-risk relapsed setting and delving into the mechanistic differences among menin inhibitors. Dr. Ahmed discusses "Durable efficacy and manageable long-term safety of lisocabtagene maraleucel for 3L+ FL: 3-year update from TRANSCEND FL" reviewing the 94% complete response rate, long-term safety profile, and how clinicians can decide whether a patient with relapsed follicular lymphoma is better suited for a bispecific antibody or CAR T-cell therapy.

  • September 24 · 14 min

    Dose Makes the Cure: Venetoclax in Ph- ALL

    In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. James Griffin interviews Dr. Jianxiang Wang from the National Clinical Research Center for Blood Diseases and the Institute of Hematology and Blood Diseases Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, and Peking Union Medical College in Tianjin, China, on his latest article published in Blood titled "Venetoclax plus pediatric regimen in adolescents and adults with Ph-negative acute lymphoblastic leukemia." In this prospective phase 2 study, 167 adolescents and adults (aged 14-60 years) with ND Ph− ALL received a course of venetoclax combined with pediatric-inspired chemotherapy, to determine the results of this treatment on MRD negativity.

  • September 17 · 30 min

    Exploiting Vulnerabilities in High‑Risk MM and Mapping the Red Cell Interactome

    In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. Laurie Sehn interviews Drs. Mariateresa Fulciniti and Angelo D'Alessandro on their latest articles published in Blood. Dr. Fulciniti, of the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, discusses the development of "PKMYT1 is a targetable vulnerability in del(17p) high-risk multiple myeloma" starting from the question, "Is 17P loss simply a prognostic marker, or does it create specific vulnerabilities that we can therapeutically exploit?" Then, Dr. D'Alessandro, of the University of Colorado, discusses "The red blood cell proteome and interactome identify a Band 3–BLVRB axis regulating hypoxic metabolic adaptation." His team began by asking, "What's in a red blood cell? How many proteins are there, and how can we confidently claim that these now several 1000s of proteins in opposite excess are indeed proteins within red blood cells are not coming from contaminants?" Both studies describe how deep molecular profiling can uncover specific, potentially targetable biological dependencies or interaction axes that may enable more precise, mechanism‑based therapeutic strategies.

  • September 10 · 24 min

    MYB driven ALL and Venetoclax-Azacitidine damage to Bone Marrow

    In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. James Griffin interviews Drs. Thomas Milne and Dominique Bonnet on their latest articles published in volume 147 issue 24 of Blood. Dr. Milne discusses how transcription factors simultaneously activate enhancers and connect them to their target genes in KMT2A-rearranged acute lymphoblastic leukemia. The binding of MYB, a key hematopoietic TF, is sufficient to drive novel enhancer activation, including initiating 3D contact with target promoters to drive ectopic expression of distal oncogenes. Continued MYB binding is required to maintain enhancer-promoter interactions, indicating that disruption of MYB is therapeutically tractable in multiple leukemias. Then, considering bone marrow vasculature, Dr. Bonnet discusses how the use of in vivo models to identify selective injury to sinusoidal endothelial cells caused by venetoclax-azacitidine, revealed a therapy-associated mechanism that links BM niche damage to impaired hematopoietic recovery. These data help explain the prolonged BM hypoplasia observed in some patients and prompt further research into how other targeted therapy-based induction regimens influence the BM microenvironment. Featured Articles MYB activity drives emergent enhancer activation and enhancer-promoter interactions in acute lymphoblastic leukemia Remodeling of the bone marrow vasculature induced by venetoclax and azacitidine damage

  • September 3 · 15 min

    Predictive Markers of Glofitamab Resistance in R/R B-NHL

    In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. Laurie Sehn interviews Drs. Camille Laurent and Christine Bezombes on their latest article published in Blood titled "Patient-derived lymphoma spheroids reveal predictive markers of glofitamab resistance in relapsed/refractory B-NHL." By using patient-derived lymphoma spheroids as an ex vivo platform, they identify key mechanisms of resistance to the bispecific T-cell engager glofitamab in B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma, showing that higher CD8 T-cell abundance and cytotoxic activity is associated with better therapeutic responses, while increased T follicular helper (Tfh) cells correlate with resistance. The authors further show that resistance could be overcome by depleting Tfh cells or combining glofitamab with TIGIT (T-cell immunoreceptor with Ig and ITIM domains) blockade, highlighting promising strategies to improve responses to T-cell engager therapies.

  • August 27 · 26 min

    Better Together: Adding daratumumab for AL Amyloidosis and and Mezigdomide for MM

    In this week's episode, Blood editor Laurie Sehn interviews Drs. Efstathios Kastritis and Lucia Chen on their latest articles published in Blood. Dr. Kastritis shares insights and results from the final survival analysis of the ANDROMEDA trial, which determined that adding daratumumab to cyclophosphamide, bortezomib, and dexamethasone improves hematologic responses and overall survival in newly diagnosed AL amyloidosis. Dr. Chen elaborates on the key benefits of Ikaros degradation for reducing T-cell dysfunction in MM patients: Ikaros degradation by mezigdomide enhances anti–B-cell maturation antigen CAR-T and bispecific TCE therapy efficacy in vitro and in vivo. Featured Articles: Daratumumab-Bortezomib-Cyclophosphamide-Dexamethasone for Newly Diagnosed Amyloidosis: ANDROMEDA Final Survival Analysis | Efstathios Kastritis Ikaros degradation by mezigdomide reduces T-cell dysfunction and improves the efficacy of antimyeloma T-cell therapies | Lucia Chen

  • August 20 · 15 min

    Balancing Infection and Thrombosis: Bispecific Antibodies and the Many Roles of HRG

    In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. Laura Michaelis interviews Drs. Joshua Hill and Jeffery Weitz on their latest articles published in Blood. Dr. Hill and Dr. Michaelis discuss the evolving landscape of infection risk in adults receiving bispecific antibody therapies for advanced B‑cell malignancies. They explore how these risks differ from those seen with allogeneic transplant, CAR T‑cell therapy, and traditional CD20‑directed antibodies, and touch on emerging approaches such as trispecific antibodies and evolving strategies for supportive care, including immunoglobulin replacement. In the second half of the episode, Dr. Michaelis is joined by Dr. Jeffrey Weitz to discuss new insights into the role of histidine‑rich glycoprotein in hemostasis. Their conversation delves into HRG’s interactions with key platelet receptors, its behavior in inflammatory states like sepsis and COVID‑19, and how these observations may reshape thinking about thrombosis risk and future therapeutic approaches. Featured Articles: How I prevent infections in adults receiving bispecific antibody therapies for advanced B-cell malignancies | Joshua Hill, MD Histidine-rich glycoprotein modulates platelet adhesion and aggregation by binding to GPIbα and GPIIb/IIIa | Jeffery Weitz, MD

  • August 13 · 32 min

    Cost-Effectiveness of Current SCD Treatments and Potential Therapeutic Targets for Fetal Hemoglobinopathies

    In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. James Griffin interviews Drs. George Goshua, Gerd Blobel, and Paul Kaminski on their latest articles published in Blood. Dr. Goshua elaborates on the background and then insights from "Haploidentical transplant, gene therapy, and standard care in sickle cell disease: a cost-effectiveness analysis". This analysis provides valuable guidance for clinicians, patients, and health systems as they consider treatment choices. However, as concluded in the accompanying Blood Commentary, the true measure of success is not which therapy “wins” the economic argument, but whether each patient receives the therapy best suited to their clinical needs and values. Then, Drs. Gerd Blobel and Paul Kaminski share "Dissecting polycomb complexes for enhanced fetal hemoglobin production", which utilizes a comprehensive CRISPR-based screen to interrogate the components of these repressive complexes and identified a single protein domain in EZH2, a subunit of PRC2, as a potential therapeutic target. They demonstrate that inhibition of the domain encoded by exon 14 of EZH2 selectively derepresses fetal hemoglobin expression, raising the possibility of developing drugs that specifically target this domain to treat hemoglobinopathies.

  • August 6 · 16 min

    HLH-like toxicities after CAR-T and Structure-Function Relationships of FNAIT

    In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. Laura Michaelis interviews Drs. Matthew Frank and Jieqing Zhu on their latest articles published in volume 147 issue 22 of Blood. Dr. Frank discusses "How I treat HLH-like toxicities after immune effector cell therapy", in which the two cases presented emphasize the need for early identification, the use of anticytokine therapy with either emapalumab or ruxolitinib when organ toxicities worsen despite conventional CRS-directed treatment, and the need for ancillary supportive care as central to success. Dr. Zhu shares insights from "Structural Basis of HPA-1 a Alloimmunization in FNAIT and Allosteric Regulation of Integrin Conformation" where they probed the structure-function relationships underpinning interactions of alloantibodies against the most common target, human platelet antigen 1a (HPA-1a). Their data can help explain why some alloantibodies cause severe hemorrhagic FNAIT while others result in milder, asymptomatic thrombocytopenia.

  • July 30 · 13 min

    FLT3-ITD microclones in AML and Results from the RESET-PV trial

    In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. Laura Michaelis interviews Drs. Pierre-Yves Dumas and Samik Basu on their latest articles published in Blood. Dr. Dumas talks about "Prognostic impact of FLT3-ITD microclones in young adults with acute myeloid leukemia treated with intensive chemotherapy" where the team was able to identify that ultra-low-burden FLT3-ITD microclones are associated with higher relapse risk and inferior relapse-free survival. Their work encourages the evaluation of FLT3 inhibitor strategies. Dr. Basu discusses "CD19 CAR T-cell therapy is feasible for patients with pemphigus vulgaris treated without lymphodepletion in the RESET-PV trial". In four patients, the treatment was well tolerated and supported CAR T-cell expansion and persistence, challenging the need for lymphodepletion and supporting chemotherapy-free approaches in autoimmune disease.

  • July 23 · 26 min

    Initial CHORUS data on HHT and ASH HematOmics Program

    In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. James Griffin interviews Drs. Hanny Al-Samkari and Xin Zhou on their latest articles published in Blood. This episode highlights two important advances in hematology: the first report from the CHORUS registry for hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) presented by Dr. Al-Samkari and also the introduction of the ASH Hematomics (ASHOP) platform for integrative genomic data analysis presented by Dr. Zhou. The CHORUS registry reveals that HHT is a progressive, underrecognized inherited bleeding disorder with a substantial burden of recurrent bleeding, iron deficiency, arteriovenous malformations, and life-threatening complications, while emphasizing the need for earlier diagnosis and the development of targeted therapies. The second presentation introduces ASHOP, an open-access platform that enables researchers to explore and integrate large-scale clinical and genomic datasets, facilitating discoveries in leukemia and other hematologic diseases through advanced analytical tools. Together, these studies demonstrate how comprehensive patient registries and innovative data-sharing resources are advancing precision medicine, improving disease understanding, and accelerating future research across hematology.

  • July 16 · 16 min

    IV Iron during Acute Infection and Revisiting iTTP Refractoriness

    In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. James Griffin interviews Drs. Haris Sohail and Lucas Kühne on their latest articles published in volume 147 issue 21 of Blood. In this CME article titled, "Retrospective, Real-World Study of IV Iron Use to Treat Iron deficiency Anemia During Acute Infection", Sohail et al show that IV iron given during acute infection with iron deficiency anemia is associated with improved 14-day and 90-day survival as well as hemoglobin recovery. Although this report has the limitations of a retrospective study, these findings challenge current practice and support randomized trials that include patients with infection. In "Revisiting Clinical Response and Refractoriness in Immune Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura", Kühne et al show in a multicenter registry study of 204 patients that refractoriness during caplacizumab treatment in immune TTP is uncommon and, when observed, is typically associated with confounding clinical factors. These findings underscore the importance of careful clinical reassessment and evaluation for alternative etiologies in patients with delayed platelet recovery, rather than attributing such cases to true treatment resistance.

  • July 9 · 18 min

    A Pediatric ITP Risk Model and Targeting CD2 with CAR T-cell therapies

    In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. Laura Michaelis interviews Drs. Kirsty Hillier and Marco Ruella on their latest articles published in Blood. For "Predicting Development of Pediatric Chronic Immune Thrombocytopenia at Disease Onset Using a Statistical Risk Model", Dr. Hillier shares the potential benefits of incorporating this new model to enhance the care of the 1 in 4 patients who develop chronic ITP. As an alternative to current guidelines which advise providers to "wait and see", this online model determines patients who are at risk for chronic ITP, allowing for providers to make informed decisions on their continued care. In "Harnessing the CD2 axis to broaden and enhance the efficacy of CAR T-cell therapies", Dr. Ruella explains how the treatment of T-cell neoplasms is limited by a lack of discriminating T-cell antigens that allow for effective antitumor responses while preventing CAR T-cell fratricide. The team found that CD2 was a viable target, especially combined with a novel PD-1:CD2 switch receptor to remedy dysfunction caused by CD2 deletion.

  • July 2 · 24 min

    IV Iron Risks and Low-Dose AML Gains

    In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. James Griffin interviews Drs. Heinz Zoller and Raul Ribeiro on their latest articles published in Blood. Dr. Zoller discusses "Ferric Carboxymaltose Increases Fracture Risk in Patients and Reduces Bone Formation in Mice with Iron Deficiency Anemia", and how these findings support consideration of alternative IV iron formulations that provide similar efficacy without risk of skeletal complications. Dr. Ribeiro discusses "A low-versus standard-dose regimen an induction for AML: a multicenter, randomized noninferiority trial" and how the low-dose regimen is associated with fewer toxicities, faster hematologic recovery, and reduced health care costs, suggesting a feasible treatment strategy for resource-limited settings.

  • June 25 · 23 min

    Orca-T for GVHD–free survival and Understanding VEXAS anemia

    In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. Laurie Sehn interviews Drs. Everett Meyer and Olivier Hermine on their latest articles published in volume 147 issue 11 of Blood. Dr. Everett Meyer discusses "Orca-T vs allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (PRECISION-T): a multicenter, randomized phase 3 trial" which demonstrated that Orca-T showed superior chronic GVHD–free survival compared to the control arm (78.0% vs 38.4%, P < .001) and lower nonrelapse mortality (3.4% vs 13.2%, P = .03). Dr. Olivier Hermine shares insights from "VEXAS anemia is a mosaic erythroblastopenia" which proposes that VEXAS syndrome–associated anemia should be considered as a mosaic erythroblastopenia, in which the severity of anemia is influenced by the quality and quantity of the UBA1–wild-type compartment.

  • June 18 · 16 min

    Treating AML, Before and After Relapse

    In this episode, Blood editor Dr. Laura Michaelis interviews Drs. Nigel Russell and Uwe Platzbecker on their articles published in volume 147 issue 10 of Blood. Dr. Russell discuses "CPX-351 vs daunorubicin, cytarabine, and gemtuzumab ozogamicin in older adults with non–adverse-risk AML: the NCRI AML18 trial" where a large randomized trial demonstrated that DA-GO2 provided greater overall survival as compared to CPX-351, and that further studies should compare DA-GO2 to lower-intensity venetoclax-based regimens. Dr. Platzbecker shares insights from the first prospective study to evaluate the clinical impact of early therapeutic intervention for MRD in "Azacitidine to treat measurable residual disease in patients with MDS/AML: final long-term results of the RELAZA2 trial" demonstrating potential therapies for patients to achieve and maintain remission.

  • June 11 · 25 min

    Future Directions in Relapsed and Refractory Large B-cell Lymphoma

    In this week's episode, Blood editor Dr. Philippe Armand interviews Drs. Manali Kamdar and Nancy L. Bartlett on their latest review article published in Blood titled “From breakthroughs to blueprints: evolving evidence and future directions in relapsed and refractory large B-cell lymphoma”. They discuss the how the advent of chimeric antigen receptor T cells, antibody-drug conjugates, and bispecific antibodies all show major increases in efficacy over legacy chemotherapy-based regimens. They also share their insights on how to transform treatment paradigms in light of these breakthroughs.

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