@article{GerhardHartmannWiegeringBenoitetal.2021, author = {Gerhard-Hartmann, Elena and Wiegering, Verena and Benoit, Clemens and Meyer, Thomas and Rosenwald, Andreas and Maurus, Katja and Ernestus, Karen}, title = {A large retroperitoneal lipoblastoma as an incidental finding: a case report}, series = {BMC Pediatrics}, volume = {21}, journal = {BMC Pediatrics}, doi = {10.1186/s12887-021-02628-w}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-260173}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Background Lipoblastoma is a rare benign mesenchymal neoplasm of infancy that most commonly occurs on the extremities and trunk but can arise at variable sites of the body. Retroperitoneal lipoblastomas are particularly rare but can grow to enormous size, and preoperative diagnosis is difficult with diverse, mostly malignant differential diagnoses that would lead to aggressive therapy. Since lipoblastoma is a benign tumor that has an excellent prognosis after resection, correct diagnosis is crucial. Case presentation A case of a large retroperitoneal tumor of a 24-month old infant that was clinically suspicious of a malignant tumor is presented. Due to proximity to the right kidney, clinically most probably a nephroblastoma or clear cell sarcoma of the kidney was suspected. Radiological findings were ambiguous. Therefore, the mass was biopsied, and histology revealed an adipocytic lesion. Although mostly composed of mature adipocytes, in view of the age of the patient, the differential diagnosis of a (maturing) lipoblastoma was raised, which was supported by molecular analysis demonstrating a HAS2-PLAG1 fusion. The tumor was completely resected, and further histopathological workup led to the final diagnosis of a 13 cm large retroperitoneal maturing lipoblastoma. The child recovered promptly from surgery and showed no evidence of recurrence so far. Conclusion Although rare, lipoblastoma should be included in the differential diagnoses of retroperitoneal tumors in infants and children, and molecular diagnostic approaches could be a helpful diagnostic adjunct in challenging cases.}, language = {en} } @article{DanhofRascheMottoketal.2021, author = {Danhof, Sophia and Rasche, Leo and Mottok, Anja and Steinm{\"u}ller, Tabea and Zhou, Xiang and Schreder, Martin and Kilian, Teresa and Strifler, Susanne and Rosenwald, Andreas and Hudecek, Michael and Einsele, Hermann and Gerhard-Hartmann, Elena}, title = {Elotuzumab for the treatment of extramedullary myeloma: a retrospective analysis of clinical efficacy and SLAMF7 expression patterns}, series = {Annals of Hematology}, volume = {100}, journal = {Annals of Hematology}, number = {6}, issn = {1432-0584}, doi = {10.1007/s00277-021-04447-6}, url = {http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-266468}, pages = {1537-1546}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Extramedullary disease (EMD) represents a high-risk state of multiple myeloma (MM) associated with poor prognosis. While most anti-myeloma therapeutics demonstrate limited efficacy in this setting, some studies exploring the utility of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-modified T cells reported promising results. We have recently designed SLAMF7-directed CAR T cells for the treatment of MM. SLAMF7 is a transmembrane receptor expressed on myeloma cells that plays a role in myeloma cell homing to the bone marrow. Currently, the only approved anti-SLAMF7 therapeutic is the monoclonal antibody elotuzumab, but its efficacy in EMD has not been investigated thoroughly. Thus, we retrospectively analyzed the efficacy of elotuzumab-based combination therapy in a cohort of 15 patients with EMD. Moreover, since the presence of the target antigen is an indispensable prerequisite for effective targeted therapy, we investigated the SLAMF7 expression on extramedullary located tumor cells before and after treatment. We observed limited efficacy of elotuzumab-based combination therapies, with an overall response rate of 40\% and a progression-free and overall survival of 3.8 and 12.9 months, respectively. Before treatment initiation, all available EMD tissue specimens (n = 3) demonstrated a strong and consistent SLAMF7 surface expression by immunohistochemistry. Furthermore, to investigate a potential antigen reduction under therapeutic selection pressure, we analyzed samples of de novo EMD (n = 3) outgrown during elotuzumab treatment. Again, immunohistochemistry documented strong and consistent SLAMF7 expression in all samples. In aggregate, our data point towards a retained expression of SLAMF7 in EMD and encourage the development of more potent SLAMF7-directed immunotherapies, such as CAR T cells.}, language = {en} }