Since 2010 the European Hematology Association (EHA) and the Wallace H Coulter Foundation (WHCF) have been in a close partnership, in which EHA was the beneficiary of generous donations for its projects. The support of the WHCF has been the prime mover for the setup of the EHA-ASH Translational Research Training in Hematology (TRTH) program and an important contributor towards the vast expansion of EHA’s outreach program. Both programs have had a major impact on the Association’s array of activities and global network.

The importance of the achievements of Wallace Coulter, the inventor of the Coulter Counter - the most valuable tool in the hematology laboratory, as a person and his organization cannot be underestimated for the hematological community as well as for EHA due to the Foundation’s support. EHA is glad to be able to pay tribute and commemorate the 100th birthday of Wallace Coulter.

This year the Scientific Working Group Session on hematopoietic stem cells will focus on the recent advance in the field of “Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (IPSC)”.

Iron deficiency anaemia continues to me the most common disease in the world, affecting millions of people, mostly women. Failure to find an underlying cause of iron deficiency and failure to respond to iron replacement often points to a completely different mechanism of anaemia which is usually congenital and surprisingly can lead to excess accumulation of iron and ill health.

Breaking news on Lymphoma (lymph node cancer) and Myeloma (plasma cell cancer) reported at meetings of Scientific Working Groups during the European Hematology Congress in Stockholm, June 13-16, 2013  

  Today, May 8, is International Thalassemia Day. Today, we seek to enhance the awareness and knowledge of thalassemia and other hemoglobin disorders.

The introduction of a European Hematology Association-Theme of the Year in June 2012, focusing on Quality of Life (QoL) in Hematology, was successful in stimulating awareness, conference sessions, publications, and reports.

The conclusion, in June 2013, of this year’s theme includes two editorials in Haematologica entitled “Patients’ needs in hematology: whose perspectives?” and “Age and Aging in blood disorders: EHA Theme of the Year 2013-2014’’. The Scientific Working Group Quality of Life and Symptoms will organize a SWG Session “Implementation of treatment related patient-reported outcomes in routine clinical practice in hematological malignancies”. Although each theme of the year is introduced to highlight a certain topic in hematology, the themes will remain active. Therefore, Quality of Life will stay on the agenda.

As we all know, healthcare budgets in Europe are under increasing pressure, affecting all medical disciplines. Sadly, hematology is no exception. Austerity measures are threatening patients’ access to medicine in Europe. On May 16, the European Public Health Alliance (EPHA) organizes the event ‘Can EU Citizens Afford their Medicines? The Economic Crisis and Access to Medicines in Europe’ in the European Parliament, Brussels. If you are interested, please register using the following link.

REGISTRATION

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) regenerate blood cells throughout the lifespan of an individual.  The HSC pool has to accommodate to the cellular stresses associated with its life-long activity. HSCs are protected in specific bone marrow areas called “niches”. New technologies allow the analysis of different bone marrow compartments and the functional implications on HSCs.  HSCs persist for a lifetime; there is a balance between their proliferation and their quiescent (sleeping) state. Therefore, the HSCs cell cycle is controlled by factors within and outside the cell.

Every year on the 8th May, Thalassaemia International Federation commemorates the International Thalassaemia Day and organises activities for raising awareness about the genetic blood disorder of thalassaemia, on general topics…

The word ‘leukemia’ fills people with awe and foreboding. Things have changed, however, for the better. In children who have Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) the cure rate is about 90%. In adults the story is not so good. The predominant type of leukemia in adults is Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) and most patients are over 60 years of age. Although age was felt to be an important factor in the poor responses seen in adults, it is now clear that Acute Leukemia in older patients is a different disease which is intrinsically resistant to traditional chemotherapy.

To date, up to 80% of patients with the most common subtype of malignant lymphoma (diffuse large B-cell lymphoma), are cured of this aggressive disease by chemotherapy, in combination with the anti-lymphoma antibody Rituximab. Unfortunately, young patients with high risk disease and elderly patients fare much worse and there is an urgent need to improve their outcome. However, the past year has seen a significant increase in our knowledge of the biology of disease. Using gene expression profiling and other new molecular techniques, we are beginning to recognize/identify the disease driver pathways which make lymphoma cells continue to proliferate. These major advances will be extensively reported at the meeting.  The first results of clinical studies with new "smart molecules", such as lenalidomide, enzastaurin, bortezomib and ibrutinib, to mention a few, that specifically kill the cancer cells with only minimal damage to normal tissues/organs will be presented. So far, this modern "personalized medicine" approach appears to be promising, in particular for patients who only respond poorly to conventional treatment.

Personalized medicine and hematology have strong links. As one of the few medical specialties to do so,hematology has developed successful personalized medicine strategies and has managed to actually increase cure rates. It looks as if the future of research into blood disorders will yield more and more subtypes of diseases that will necessitate more personalized diagnoses and treatments. EHA is a member of the European Alliance for Personalized Medicine (EAPM) to work together with other academics, healthcare professionals, payers, patients, and industry representatives to accelerate the development, delivery and uptake of personalized medicine and diagnostics. Last week, this alliance organized the Irish Presidency Conference on ‘Innovation and Patient Access to Personalised Medicine’ in Dublin.

From the conference, the following press statement is released:

The Board of the European Hematology Association (EHA) has the pleasure to cordially invite you, as a member of the press, to the 18^th Congress of EHA. More than 9,500 participants from around the world are expected at the upcoming 18^th Congress of the European Hematology Association at the Stockholmsmässan in Stockholm, Sweden from June 13-16, 2013.

There are many myths out there. Today, on World Cancer Day 2013, you can get the facts. One and a half million premature deaths per year, among them from hematological malignancies, could be prevented.

The emerging field of personalised medicine is offering innovative ways of tackling Europe's health issues. But Europe's healthcare system is not yet fully adapted to take advantage of the possibilities.How can patients get access to the benefits that are on the brink of becoming available through personalised medicine?

This is the theme of a conference organised by EAPM under the Irish Presidency of the EU, in Dublin on March 20-21.