We give you the next issue of the „Postępy Nauk Medycznych” (Progress in Medicine) in July, which is continuation of previous issues related to hematology.

The manuscript entitled “Occurrence of minor histocompatibility antigens’ disparities in allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation recipients and their HLA-matched siblings” presents the occurrence of immunogenic mHAgs mismatches between a donor and a recipient of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloHSCT) from HLA-matched sibling donors in 35 recipients after myeloablative conditioning between 2000 and 2008.

Chronic eosinophilic leukemia expressing the FIP1L1-PDGFRA fusion gene is a rare myeloproliferative neoplasm characterized by the involvement of vitally important organs. The use of imatinib has dramatically changed the prognosis of this disorder with a response rate close to 100%. The authors present a patient with eosinophilic leukemia with a chronic cough as the sole disease symptom. The introduction of imatinib resulted in symptom resolution and eradication of mutation in molecular assay. The high efficacy of low dose of imatinib was confirmed.

The JAK2V617F point mutation occurs in about 50% of patients with myelofibrosis, but its clinical correlates remain unclear. The authors present the results of the large study including 77 patients. They concluded that JAK2 homozygosity correlated with higher white blood cell count and female gender. They found the tendency to higher hemoglobin concentration in this patients subgroup. The correlation between the JAK2 mutation status and overall survival and risk of blast crisis was not demonstrated.

Non-Hodgkin lymphomas comprise a heterogenous group of lymphoid neoplasms occurring mainly in older patient population and characterized by different clinical course. The etiology remains unclear in majority of cases. This review presents the current knowledge about diagnostic difficulties as well as the problem of choosing the appropriate therapeutic management.

Over the past few years we have witnessed the changes in the concept of pathogenetic mechanism of immune thrombocytopenia. The increasing importance attributed to defect in platelet production associated with thrombopoietin deficiency is postulated. The introduction of thrombopoietin agonists resulted in platelet response in 70-80% of patients resistant to prior therapy. This paper presents the mechanism of action of thrombopoietin agonists as well as the indications for their use in daily clinical practice.

Acute lymphoblastic leukemia occurs mainly in children and the results of treatment using intensive chemotherapy are very good. These results are not encouraging for adult population. The current progress in this field is associated with the development of cytogenetics and molecular biology. The obtained results may allow us to qualify patients to certain risk categories as well as to choose optimal therapy. The undisputed breakthrough was related to the addition of tyrosine kinase inhibitors to the conventional chemotherapy for Philadelphia-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia. This improved the results in this poor prognosed patient population. However, allogeneic stem cell transplantation still remains only curative method with the estimated 5-year overall survival not exceeding 40%.

The progress made in diagnosis and therapy of multiple myeloma is related to new diagnostic tests which enable better disease monitoring and more precise remission assessment. Over the last few years a striking therapeutic progress has been observed; several new agents including proteasome inhibitors and second generation immunomodulators were introduced to clinical practice. An increasing attention is paid to the results of cytogenetics. It allows us to qualify patients to certain risk groups and select the appropriate therapy.

The significant proportion of the current journal was devoted to acute myeloid leukemias. Thanks to the development of molecular biology, many new genetic abnormalities were discovered. This was the basis for the introduction of new classification for acute myeloid leukemias in 2008. The presence of certain mutations is associated with certain genetic risk. It allows us to determine further therapeutic management and the use of targeted agents in the nearest perspective.

High dose chemotherapy followed by autologous stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) remains the standard therapeutic option in many blood cancers. Our Centre in Katowice performs more than 100 AHSCT per year for different clinical indications and the long-term results are very good.

Anemia is thought to be a problem of all medical specialities. The authors focus on the most frequent mistakes made in daily clinical practice in patients with different forms of anemia. They propose the schema of management which facilitate us to establish correct cause of anemia and introduce the appropriate treatment.

I highly recommend you all prepared papers and strongly encourage to read this issue of „Postępy Nauk Medycznych” (Progress in Medicine).