Among patients with aplastic anemia (AA), the presence of a positive pre-treatment paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) clone had a positive impact on response to intensive immunosuppressive therapy (IIST), according to findings published in Hematology. In a meta-analysis, researchers examined 15 studies on the prognostic value of a pre-treatment PNH clone in patients with AA (N=1,349). The presence of a PNH clone before treatment positively impacted 6-month (pooled OR, 1.49; 95% CI, 1.06-2.08), 12-month (pooled OR, 3.10; 95% CI, 1.89-5.10), and overall hematologic (pooled OR, 1.69; 95% CI, 1.07-2.68) response rates after IIST. However, patients with a positive pre-treatment PNH clone were more likely to develop PNH/AA-PNH syndrome following IIST (pooled OR, 2.78; 95% Cl, 1.21-6.39).
