The European Hematology Association (EHA)

Research

SWG Education Activities

Session at EHA2023

The EHA2023 Congress was held in Frankfurt in June 2023.

During the event, we held a session with the EHA Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Taskforce on the treatment of AYA patients with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL).

Session name

‘Pediatric hematology: Treatment of AYA patients with ALL.’

Chair

Anna Castleton, Manchester (United Kingdom)

Presenters and topics

  1. ‘What can we learn from pediatric hematology to treat AYA with ALL - Experience from the NOPHO group’—Helene Hallböök (Uppsala, Sweden)
  2. ‘What can we learn from adult & geriatric hematology to treat AYA with ALL’—Wendy Stock (Chicago, United States of America)
  3. ‘How to configure AYA services for AYA patients - The Paris experience’—Nicolas Boissel (Paris, France)
  4. ‘A national approach to structuring TYA cancer care - The UK experience’—Rachael Hough (London, United Kingdom)

Session at the SIOP Europe (SIOPE) Annual Meeting 2023

The 4th SIOPE Annual Meeting was held in Valencia, Spain, from May 8–12, 2023. It focused on gene-editing approaches in thalassemia and sickle cell disease.

A joint EHA and International BFM Study Group (I-BFM) session took place during the event. The session involved contributions from four distinguished speakers in the field of pre-clinical research and clinical transplantation strategies for hemoglobinopathies.

Chair

Maria Ester Bernardo, Co-chair of the SWG on Pediatric Hematology of EHA.

Speaker 1: Prof Giuliana Ferrar

The first speaker was Prof Giuliana Ferrari from the San Raffaele-Telethon Institute for Gene Therapy in Milan.

Prof Ferrari has extensive experience and an excellent track-record in the development of hematopoietic stem cell gene therapy strategies (HSC-GT) for beta-Thalassemia. She has long studied the biology behind this disease.

During the event, Prof Ferrari gave a talk entitled ‘From gene addition to gene editing in the treatment of Hemoglobinopathies.’ This covered the huge developments in this field during the last 10–15 years, including the:

  • First application of lentiviral(LV)-based HSPC-GT in beta-Thalassemia
  • Most recent approaches under study, which are based on gene-editing of HSPC

Speaker 2: Prof Franco Locatelli

The second speaker was Prof Franco Locatelli from the Department of Pediatric Hemato-Oncology of Bambino Gesù Children Hospital in Rome.

Prof Locatelli is a well-known expert in the field of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for hemoglobinopathies. His expertise is wide ranging, and covers the:

  • Standard approach, which is based on the transplantation of allogeneic donor-derived HSC
  • Clinical application of both LV-based gene addition and gene-editing strategies

During his talk, Prof Locatelli summarized the clinical experience with both gene addition and Crispr-cas9 based gene-editing in beta-Thalassemia.

Speaker 3: Selim Corbacioglu

The third speaker was Prof Selim Corbacioglu from the Department of Pediatric Hemato-Oncology of Children’s Hospital in Regensburg.

During his presentation, Prof Corbacioglu reported his clinical experience with both gene addition and Crispr-cas9 based gene editing in Sickle Cell Disease.

Speaker 4: Dr Giulia Hardoui

The fourth speaker was Dr Giulia Hardouin from Imagine Institute in Paris.

Dr Hardouin is actively involved in the development, at pre-clinical level, of novel gene-editing strategies for hemoglobinopathies. This includes those relying on base editors and prime editors.

During the session, she reported on and summarized the most recent advancements of research in this field. As part of this, she presented the most promising gene therapy-based strategies that will possibly enter the clinical arena to cure hemoglobinopathies in the next years.

EHA Pediatric Hemato-Oncology Course 2024

The most recent EHA Pediatric Hemato-Oncology Course was held from April 10–13, 2024. This year's event took place in the Grand Hotel Riviera, Sorrento, Italy.