ASH News Daily 2017 - Issue 1 - A-1

Read this issue online at

www.hematology.org/ashnewsdaily2017_saturday
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Schedule
9:30 - 11:00 a.m.
Special Scientific Symposium on Hot
Topics in Hematology: New Pathways
Linking Hematopoiesis, Thrombosis, and
Cardiovascular Disease
Georgia World Congress Center
(Building C, Level 3, Georgia BR 1-3)
11:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
Grassroots Network Lunch
Omni Hotel at CNN Center
(International Ballroom, North Tower, M2)
11:15 a.m. - 12:15 p.m.
How to Get Published in a
Peer-Reviewed Journal
Georgia World Congress Center
(Building B, Level 2, B213-B214)
2:00 - 3:30 p.m.
Special Symposium on Quality
Georgia World Congress Center
(Building C, Level 2, C202-C204)
2:00 - 3:30 p.m.
Special Scientific Symposium on
Understanding and Modulating
the DNA Damage Response
Georgia World Congress Center
(Building C, Level 3, Georgia BR 1-3)
6:30 - 9:00 p.m.
Promoting Minorities in Hematology
Presentations and Reception
Georgia Aquarium
(Atlantic Room)

Update: Impact of Weather
Conditions on ASH Annual
Meeting for Saturday,
December 9. Please see page
A-2 for more information.

IN THIS SECTION
Red Blood Cells
A-3
AL Amyloidosis
A-3
Trainee Day
A-7
Immunotherapy
A-9
CAR T Cells
A-10

Will You Still Need Me, Will You Still Feed Me?
By Lynne Lederman, PhD

s our bodies age, our hematopoietic cells normally
continue to divide and renew, yet they age along with us.
The Friday Scientific Workshop
"Hematology and Aging: Highlighting Novel Science and Promoting a Research Agenda" explored
a broad spectrum of topics in the
context of aging via four sessions
of short presentations followed by
panel discussions that addressed
basic and clinical issues across disease types and disciplines.
In the first session on stem cells
and aging, Dr. Michael G. Poulos
of Weill Cornell Medical College
discussed how the aging vascular
endothelium modulates hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) activity. He
presented data from mouse models
that showed the aging of endothelial cells (ECs), a critical component
of the bone marrow microenvironment, was sufficient to drive hematopoietic aging phenotypes in
young HSCs. Healthy young ECs
can support aged HSC function,
and in lieu of a bone marrow transplant (BMT), enhance endogenous
aged HSC repopulating activity
and lymphoid reconstitution fol-

lowing myelosuppressive injury.
Dr. Gerald De Haan of the European Institute of the Biology of
Aging discussed molecular mechanisms that contribute to HSC aging.
Individual HSCs show disparate
functional behavior that increases
as HSCs age. This heterogeneity is
attributed to multiple epigenetic
modifications that differ from cell
to cell. Dr. De Haan said, "A metaanalyses aimed to detect genes differentially expressed upon HSC aging discovered a surprisingly small
number of 'aging genes.' One of
these is neogenin-1, a newly discovered receptor found to be important
for stem cell maintenance."
Dr. Cynthia Dunbar of the National Institutes of Health discussed the
creation of a rhesus macaque model
for the study of hematopoietic aging.
Hematopoietic stem and progenitor
cells (HSPCs) in this model behave
differently from those in murine
models, showing a relative proliferative or numerical deficit of multipotent elderly HSPCs, with hematopoiesis dependent on continued
output from lineage-biased progenitors. Dr. Dunbar's group has also
created a rhesus macaque model of
age-related clonal hematopoiesis of
indeterminate prognosis (CHIP) to

Dr. Hartmut Geiger gives his presentation at the Friday Scientific Workshop on Hematology and Aging.

study somatic mutations in epigenetic modifier genes that are associated with clonal HSCP expansions.
These mutations have been linked
to increased progression to hematologic malignancies. The model could
allow eventual testing of interventions to prevent clonal expansion or
progression to malignancy.
The next session focused on the
implications of aging on immune
»» AGING Page A-27

The Heart (and Lung
and Kidney) of
the Matter
By Hugh Young Rienhoff, Jr., MD

he management of sickle cell disease (SCD)
has had to keep pace with our understanding of the natural history of the disease as
patients survive longer. Chief among related issues we need to comprehend is the end-organ
damage that accompanies chronic hemolysis and
episodic vaso-occlusion. Virtually all organs are
affected to varying degrees, but impairment of
lung, renal, and cardiovascular function is what
generates the greater threats to health. Therapeutic strategies to minimize hemoglobinuria and
vaso-occlusion as well as the identification and
management of those patients with end-organ
damage will be discussed in the education session "Management of SCD: Present and Future,"
taking place today at 9:30 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. in

Room B405-B407 of the Georgia World Congress Center.
Session leader Dr. Mark Gladwin of University of Pittsburgh
»» SCD Page A-8

http://www.hematology.org/ashnewsdaily2017_saturday

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ASH News Daily 2017 - Issue 1