Primary bone lymphoma (PBL) is a rare disease. In this article two cases of primary diffuse large B-cell lymphoma of bones are described, one case of solitary lesion and the other of multiple lesions. Both patients were treated with courses CHOEP in combination with radiotherapy and achieved a complete remission (CR). The patient with solitary lesion is still in CR with the follow-up of 33 months. The patient with multiple lesions where partial remission has been received died in 3 months after the end of therapy from disease progression. The authors discuss differential diagnosis and present a review of literature concerning PBL.

Treatment results in a group of patients with multiple myeloma (n=18) treated with melfalan (200 mg/m²) followed by autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation as a second-line therapy are presented. Thirteen patients received one course of high-dose chemotherapy (HDCT), 5 had 2 courses. Before HDCT all treated patients achieved a partial remission (15 patients after 3 courses VAD, 3 patients after 3 courses of VAD and 2 courses of velcade- doxorubicin- prednisolone). The median time to disease progression was 33.1 (range 26—40) months; that of overall survival was 55.4 (range 29— 40) months.

Therapy for Ph-positive chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor imatinib results in achievement of high hematological and cytogenetic response rates. However, most patients with a complete cytogenetic response were found to have a minimal residual disease. Therefore the role of molecular monitoring during CML therapy has recently increased. Regular molecular monitoring allows to early diagnosis of relapse and improvement of treatment outcome as a result of therapeutic intervention. For the imatinib-treated patients therapy resistance or increased BCR-ABL gene expression is an indication for kinase domain mutations testing. Detection of the mutations causing imatinib resistance is required for therapy choice. Real-time polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequencing should become customary for CML monitoring.

Diseases with eosinophilia the pathogenesis of which is unclear are of particular clinical significance among hematological malignancies. These include acute and chronic graft versus host disease (GVHD) associated with eosinophilia, hypereosinophilic syndrome and chronic myeloid leukemias, Hodgkin's and non-Hodgkin's lymphomas. The role of eosinophils and mast cells intracellular proteins in proliferative diseases is unknown. The objective of the investigation was to study the significance of tryptase and eosinophilic cationic protein (ECP) measurements in patients with chronic GVHD and hematological malignancies. Thirty two patients with verified oncohematological diseases (a study group) — 6 patients with chronic GVHD after allogeneic hemopoietic stem cells transplantation, 18 with asthma and 8 with solid tumors - were included in the study. The serum concentrations of tryptase and ECP were measured by immunofluorescence assay. Elevated ECP levels were found in patients with GVHD (p < 0.03) and in those with lymphoproliferative diseases (p = 0.007) as compared to the nonhematological group (p < 0.03). Increased tryptase level was recorded in patients with GVHD and lymphoproliferative diseases as compared to those with solid tumors and nonhematological disorders (p = 0.03), as well as in the GVHD versus lymphoproliferation groups (p < 0.05). A direct correlation between ECP concentration and the eosinophils count in patients with lymphoproliferative diseases (r = 0.9; p = 0.000001) was found. The authors have concluded that measurement of soluble eosinophilic proteins levels and mast cell enzymes is reasonable to diagnostics and monitoring of various hypereosinophilic states in patients with chronic GVHD and hematological malignancies.

Overall survival and relapse rates in 62 patients after allogeneic hemopoietic stem cells transplantation according to posttransplantation chimerism values are presented. Significant differences in 5-year overall survival rate have been found in patients with complete donor and mixed chimerism on days 30 and 100 after transplantation with myeloablative conditioning regimens. The influence of chimerism in different time point after transplantation for relapse rate is shown.

Clinical efficiency of Dacogen (inhibitor of DNA hypermethylation) in 16 patients with MDS is presented. Bone marrow cytogenetic studies were performed in 6 patients; the detected chromosome aberrations included 5q deletion in 1 patient, X monosomy in 2 and multiple clonal rearrangements in 1. Results of this study indicated that after 4 courses of Dacogen (15mg/m2 i.v. 3 times daily for 3 days each course) significant clinical and hematological effects is received (according to standard criteria [1]): a complete response was in 3 patients; no partial response was registered; stabilization and bone marrow remission were achieved in 1 and 4 patients respectively. Response duration was 3.5 months. Drug myelotoxicity which would influence on intercourse interval and cause dose reduction during treatment was not revealed.