Annual Report 2019
Department of Hematology
Koji Izutsu, Dai Maruyama, Tatsuya Suzuki, Wataru Munakata, Suguru Fukuhara, Shinichi Makita, Takahiro Fujino, Yo Saito, Hanae Ida, Rika Hosoba
Introduction
The Department of Hematology of National Cancer Center Hospital is dedicated to supporting patients with hematologic malignancies including leukemia, lymphoma, and myeloma by offering state-of-the-art diagnosis and treatment options and to developing novel treatment and diagnostic methods through clinical trials and translational research. Our Lymphoma Program has a history of pioneering clinical research on adult T-cell leukemia/lymphoma and other lymphoid malignancies, and has been leading development of novel agents or cell therapies for lymphoid malignancies in Japan.
The Team and What We Do
We offer the most advanced diagnostic procedures and care for patients with hematologic malignancies including leukemia, lymphoma, myelodysplastic syndrome, and multiple myeloma both on an outpatient and an inpatient basis (Table 1). Medical treatment that we offer includes chemotherapy, immunotherapy, radioimmunotherapy, and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy. We treat patients in collaboration with experts at Department of Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation, Department of Radiation Oncology, and Department of Experimental Therapeutics at our center. Moreover, experts at the Department of Pathology or Department of Clinical Laboratories at our center offer state-of-the-art diagnosis to guide treatment.
Six staff physicians and clinical fellows at our department are in charge of specialized care for patients with hematologic malignancies.
Research activities
We have launched a tumor sample banking system for hematological malignancies for future research use. These samples include tumor DNA derived from bone marrow, peripheral blood, and other tumor tissue obtained through core needle biopsy. We are doing clinical and clinicopathological research for hematological malignancies, especially for malignant lymphoma. In 2018, we launched the MASTER KEY HEM registration study in collaboration with other departments. This is a registration study for rare hematologic malignancies incorporating biomarkers. In 2019, we launched an investigator-initiated clinical trial of a PD-L1 antibody for extranodal NK/T-cell lymphoma. Our department is devoted to activities of the leading clinical study groups on hematological malignancies in Japan; namely, the Japan Clinical Oncology Group, the Lymphoma Study Group (JCOG LSG) and the Japan Adult Leukemia Study Group (JALSG). This year, we authored or coauthored 19 articles related to hematological malignancies.
Clinical trials
In 2019, we conducted 61 corporate-sponsored clinical trials, including many global studies, one first-in-human study, and 10 new studies which started from April 2019 to March 2020. We also conducted several investigator-initiated clinical trials of JCOG and JALSG.
Education
We have been offering a training program for young hematologists and/or oncologists. Many graduates from our programs are actively engaged in hematology and oncology societies.
Future prospects
The Department of Hematology will continue to address unmet needs in the treatment of hematologic malignancies. We are focusing on developing treatment for rare hematologic malignancies including rare subtypes of lymphoma. In addition, genome-based medicine is in our future plans. Information obtained from genomic tests have become imperative in diagnosis according to the current WHO classification of hematologic malignancies, prognosis prediction, and to guide selection of molecular-targeted agents.
List of papers published in 2019
Journal
1. Ito M, Fujiwara Y, Kubo T, Matsushita H, Kumamoto T, Suzuki T, Sunami K, Yamamoto N, Kohno T. Clonal Hematopoiesis From Next Generation Sequencing of Plasma From a Patient With Lung Adenocarcinoma: A Case Report. Front Oncol, 10:113, 2020
2. Suzuki T, Fukuhara S, Nomoto J, Yamashita S, Maeshima AM, Ito Y, Hatta S, Yuda S, Makita S, Munakata W, Suzuki T, Maruyama D, Taniguchi H, Ushijima T, Izutsu K, Tobinai K, Kobayashi Y. Clinicopathological and genetic features of limited-stage diffuse large B-cell lymphoma with late relapse: targeted sequencing analysis of gene alterations in the initial and late relapsed tumors. Haematologica, 2020
3. Izutsu K, Minami Y, Fukuhara N, Terui Y, Jo T, Yamamoto G, Ishikawa T, Kobayashi T, Kiguchi T, Nagai H, Ohtsu T, Kalambakas S, Fustier P, Midorikawa S, Tobinai K. Analysis of Japanese patients from the AUGMENT phase III study of lenalidomide + rituximab (R2) vs. rituximab + placebo in relapsed/refractory indolent non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Int J Hematol, 111:409-416, 2020
4. Makita S, Maruyama D, Maeshima AM, Taniguchi H, Yuda S, Toyoda K, Yamauchi N, Fukuhara S, Munakata W, Kobayashi Y, Kurihara H, Izutsu K, Tobinai K. A comparison of clinical staging using the Lugano versus Ann Arbor classifications in Japanese patients with Hodgkin lymphoma. Asia Pac J Clin Oncol, 16:108-114, 2020
5. Kusumoto S, Tanaka Y, Suzuki R, Watanabe T, Nakata M, Sakai R, Fukushima N, Fukushima T, Moriuchi Y, Itoh K, Nosaka K, Choi I, Sawa M, Okamoto R, Tsujimura H, Uchida T, Suzuki S, Okamoto M, Takahashi T, Sugiura I, Onishi Y, Kohri M, Yoshida S, Kojima M, Takahashi H, Tomita A, Atsuta Y, Maruyama D, Tanaka E, Suzuki T, Kinoshita T, Ogura M, Ueda R, Mizokami M. Ultra-high sensitivity HBsAg assay can diagnose HBV reactivation following rituximab-based therapy in patients with lymphoma. J Hepatol, 73:285-293, 2020
6. Matsuoka YJ, Okubo R, Shimizu Y, Tsuji K, Narisawa T, Sasaki J, Sasai H, Akashi-Tanaka S, Hamaguchi T, Iwasa T, Iwata S, Kato T, Kurotani K, Maruyama D, Mori A, Ogawa A, Sakurai N, Shimazu T, Shimizu C, Tabuchi T, Takahashi M, Takano T, Tatematsu N, Uchitomi Y, Watanabe C, Fukui T. Developing the structure of Japan's cancer survivorship guidelines using an expert panel and modified Delphi method. J Cancer Surviv, 14:273-283, 2020
7. Ikeda C, Maruyama D, Oka H, Fujino T, Maeshima AM, Matsushita H. Bone marrow involvement by monomorphic epitheliotropic intestinal T-cell lymphoma. Br J Haematol, 187:10, 2019
8. Munakata W, Terauchi T, Maruyama D, Nagai H. Revised staging system for malignant lymphoma based on the Lugano classification. Jpn J Clin Oncol, 49:895-900, 2019
9. Ito Y, Makita S, Maeshima AM, Hatta S, Yuda S, Suzuki T, Fukuhara S, Munakata W, Taniguchi H, Suzuki T, Maruyama D, Izutsu K. EBV-encoded RNA1-positive cells in the bone marrow specimens of patients with EBV-negative lymphomas and sarcomas. Pathol Int, 69:392-397, 2019
10. Iida S, Watanabe T, Matsumoto M, Suzuki K, Sunami K, Ishida T, Ando K, Chou T, Ozaki S, Taniwaki M, Uike N, Shibayama H, Hatake K, Izutsu K, Ishikawa T, Shumiya Y, Tobinai K. Carfilzomib monotherapy in Japanese patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma: A phase 1/2 study. Cancer Sci, 110:2924-2932, 2019
11. Ishitsuka K, Yurimoto S, Tsuji Y, Iwabuchi M, Takahashi T, Tobinai K. Safety and effectiveness of mogamulizumab in relapsed or refractory adult T-cell leukemia-lymphoma. Eur J Haematol, 102:407-415, 2019
12. Nakamura N, Maruyama D, Maeshima AM, Saito Y, Fujino T, Ito Y, Hatta S, Makita S, Fukuhara S, Munakata W, Suzuki T, Fujimoto H, Izutsu K. Multiple myeloma with IGH-FGFR3 rearrangement progressing as testicular plasmacytoma during carfilzomib treatment. Ann Hematol, 98:2463-2465, 2019
13. Nakai R, Fukuhara S, Maeshima AM, Kim SW, Ito Y, Hatta S, Suzuki T, Yuda S, Makita S, Munakata W, Suzuki T, Maruyama D, Izutsu K. Alectinib, an anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) inhibitor, as a bridge to allogeneic stem cell transplantation in a patient with ALK-positive anaplastic large-cell lymphoma refractory to chemotherapy and brentuximab vedotin. Clin Case Rep, 7:2500-2504, 2019
14. Maeshima AM, Taniguchi H, Ito Y, Hatta S, Suzuki T, Yuda S, Makita S, Fukuhara S, Munakata W, Suzuki T, Maruyama D, Izutsu K. Clinicopathological characteristics of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma involving small and large intestines: an analysis of 126 patients. Int J Hematol, 110:340-346, 2019
15. Yamagishi M, Hori M, Fujikawa D, Ohsugi T, Honma D, Adachi N, Katano H, Hishima T, Kobayashi S, Nakano K, Nakashima M, Iwanaga M, Utsunomiya A, Tanaka Y, Okada S, Tsukasaki K, Tobinai K, Araki K, Watanabe T, Uchimaru K. Targeting Excessive EZH1 and EZH2 Activities for Abnormal Histone Methylation and Transcription Network in Malignant Lymphomas. Cell Rep, 29:2321-2337.e7, 2019
16. Maruyama D, Nagai H, Fukuhara N, Kitano T, Ishikawa T, Nishikawa T. Final analysis of a phase II study of ibrutinib in Japanese patients with relapsed/refractory mantle cell lymphoma. J Clin Exp Hematop, 59:98-100, 2019
17. Kondo E, Shimizu-Koresawa R, Chihara D, Mizuta S, Izutsu K, Ikegame K, Uchida N, Fukuda T, Ichinohe T, Atsuta Y, Suzuki R. Allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation for primary mediastinal large B-cell lymphoma patients relapsing after high dose chemotherapy with autologous stem cell transplantation: data from the Japan Society for Haematopoietic Cell Transplantation registry. Br J Haematol, 186:e219-e223, 2019
18. Izutsu K. JSH practical guidelines for hematological malignancies, 2018: II. Lymphoma-1. Follicular lymphoma (FL). Int J Hematol, 110:11-19, 2019
19. Takahashi-Shishido N, Morimura S, Tomita Y, Miyagi-Maeshima A, Fukuhara S, Izutsu K, Sugaya M. Case of follicular lymphoma presenting with nodules and plaques on the face. J Dermatol, 46:e380-e381, 2019