20th International Congress on Myeloproliferative Neoplasms

As we all slowly come back to cautious travel and meeting colleagues in person, Lindsey Whyte and Kapila Viges represented the MPN Research Foundation (MPNRF) in New York for the 20th International Congress on Myeloproliferative Neoplasms. The signature event for gathering MPN clinicians, still chaired by Dr. Dick Silver and Dr. Jerry Spivak, was in full swing and covered a range of information on the pathogenesis, diagnosis and treatment of MPNs. The hybrid event enabled questions and polling from a virtual audience unable to make it to New York, a format which brought a new flavor to the healthy debate and sparring amongst passionate thought leaders the MPN community thrives on.

Highlights included the prognostic significance of leukocytosis in polycythemia vera by John Mascarenhas, MD, a study on the diagnosis of hereditary erythrocytosis (increased red blood cells) by Mary Frances McMullen, MD and an overview of MPN stem cell fitness by Joe Scandura PD, PhD.

Of particular interest was the update from Sergio Giralt, MD on tools that may be used in MF transplantation decisions citing ongoing work MPNRF funded to better understand transplant outcomes. Alessandro Vannucchi, MD spoke on the prognostic role of next-generation sequencing of genes (NGS), and Laura Michaelis, MD shared insights on Covid-19 in MPN patients.

Several posters were presented, including best poster awarded to Gaith Abu-Zeinah, MD, et al. on “A novel machine learning-derived dynamic scoring system predicts risk of thrombosis in polycythemia vera patients.” The conclusions point to a scoring system that may classify patients into distinct Low, Intermediate, and High risk groups based on age, prior thrombotic events and white blood cell count, amongst other factors, to guide treatment and selection of appropriate clinical trials for PV patients. Look out for more to come from Dr. Abu-Zeinah and this work at ASH in December.

And, we saw our friend and champion of the MPN community, Ruben Mesa, MD, receive well deserved acknowledgement by Dr. Dick Silver for his outstanding contributions to research and patient care.

The MPN Research Foundation team also had the opportunity to share MPN patient voices on an Advocacy Roundtable hosted by an engaged biopharmaceutical leader that is seeking out patient perspectives on advancing research, conducting clinical trials and bringing new treatments to change the prognosis for MPN patients.