Laura Albertazzi
@ausl.re.it
laboratorio analisi chimico cliniche azindali
ausl-irccs di reggio emilia
RESEARCH INTERESTS
flow cytometry and hematology
Scopus Publications
Scopus Publications
Lucia Mangone, Domenico Penna, Francesco Marinelli, Francesca Roncaglia, Isabella Bisceglia, Francesco Merli, Alessia Ruffini, Barbara Gamberi, Alessia Tieghi, Riccardo Valli,et al.
Frontiers Media SA
BackgroundHematological malignancies (HMs) represent a heterogeneous group of diseases with diverse etiology, pathogenesis, and prognosis. HMs’ accurate registration by Cancer Registries (CRs) is hampered by the progressive de-hospitalization of patients and the transition to molecular rather than microscopic diagnosis.Material and methodsA dedicated software capable of automatically identifying suspected HMs cases by combining several databases was adopted by Reggio Emilia Province CR (RE-CR). Besides pathological reports, hospital discharge archives, and mortality records, RE-CR retrieved information from general and biomolecular laboratories. Incidence, mortality, and 5-year relative survival (RS) reported according to age, sex, and 4 HMs’ main categories, were noted.ResultsOverall, 7,578 HM cases were diagnosed from 1996 to 2020 by RE-CR. HMs were more common in males and older patients, except for Hodgkin Lymphoma and Follicular Lymphoma (FL). Incidence showed a significant increase for FL (annual percent change (APC)=3.0), Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (MPN) in the first period (APC=6.0) followed by a significant decrease (APC=-7.4), and Myelodysplastic Syndromes (APC=16.4) only in the first period. Over the years, a significant increase was observed in 5-year RS for Hodgkin -, Marginal Zone -, Follicular - and Diffuse Large B-cell-Lymphomas, MPN, and Acute Myeloid Leukemia. The availability of dedicated software made it possible to recover 80% of cases automatically: the remaining 20% required direct consultation of medical records.ConclusionsThe study emphasizes that HM registration needs to collect information from multiple sources. The digitalization of CRs is necessary to increase their efficiency.
Giulia Besutti, Marta Ottone, Tommaso Fasano, Pierpaolo Pattacini, Valentina Iotti, Lucia Spaggiari, Riccardo Bonacini, Andrea Nitrosi, Efrem Bonelli, Simone Canovi,et al.
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Simone Canovi, , Giulia Besutti, Efrem Bonelli, Valentina Iotti, Marta Ottone, Laura Albertazzi, Alessandro Zerbini, Pierpaolo Pattacini, Paolo Giorgi Rossi,et al.
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Abstract Background Laboratory data and computed tomography (CT) have been used during the COVID-19 pandemic, mainly to determine patient prognosis and guide clinical management. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between CT findings and laboratory data in a cohort of COVID-19 patients. Methods This was an observational cross-sectional study including consecutive patients presenting to the Reggio Emilia (Italy) province emergency rooms for suspected COVID-19 for one month during the outbreak peak, who underwent chest CT scan and laboratory testing at presentation and resulted positive for SARS-CoV-2. Results Included were 866 patients. Total leukocytes, neutrophils, C-reactive protein (CRP), creatinine, AST, ALT and LDH increase with worsening parenchymal involvement; an increase in platelets was appreciable with the highest burden of lung involvement. A decrease in lymphocyte counts paralleled worsening parenchymal extension, along with reduced arterial oxygen partial pressure and saturation. After correcting for parenchymal extension, ground-glass opacities were associated with reduced platelets and increased procalcitonin, consolidation with increased CRP and reduced oxygen saturation. Conclusions Pulmonary lesions induced by SARS-CoV-2 infection were associated with raised inflammatory response, impaired gas exchange and end-organ damage. These data suggest that lung lesions probably exert a central role in COVID-19 pathogenesis and clinical presentation.
Giulia Besutti, Massimo Pellegrini, Marta Ottone, Michele Cantini, Jovana Milic, Efrem Bonelli, Giovanni Dolci, Giulia Cassone, Guido Ligabue, Lucia Spaggiari,et al.
Public Library of Science (PLoS)
We assessed the impact of chest CT body composition parameters on outcomes and disease severity at hospital presentation of COVID-19 patients, focusing also on the possible mediation of body composition in the relationship between age and death in these patients. Chest CT scans performed at hospital presentation by consecutive COVID-19 patients (02/27/2020-03/13/2020) were retrospectively reviewed to obtain pectoralis muscle density and total, visceral, and intermuscular adipose tissue areas (TAT, VAT, IMAT) at the level of T7-T8 vertebrae. Primary outcomes were: hospitalization, mechanical ventilation (MV) and/or death, death alone. Secondary outcomes were: C-reactive protein (CRP), oxygen saturation (SO2), CT disease extension at hospital presentation. The mediation of body composition in the effect of age on death was explored. Of the 318 patients included in the study (median age 65.7 years, females 37.7%), 205 (64.5%) were hospitalized, 68 (21.4%) needed MV, and 58 (18.2%) died. Increased muscle density was a protective factor while increased TAT, VAT, and IMAT were risk factors for hospitalization and MV/death. All these parameters except TAT had borderline effects on death alone. All parameters were associated with SO2 and extension of lung parenchymal involvement at CT; VAT was associated with CRP. Approximately 3% of the effect of age on death was mediated by decreased muscle density. In conclusion, low muscle quality and ectopic fat accumulation were associated with COVID-19 outcomes, VAT was associated with baseline inflammation. Low muscle quality partly mediated the effect of age on mortality.
Giulia Besutti, Paolo Giorgi Rossi, Valentina Iotti, Lucia Spaggiari, Riccardo Bonacini, Andrea Nitrosi, Marta Ottone, Efrem Bonelli, Tommaso Fasano, Simone Canovi,et al.
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Raffaele Frazzi, Veronica Bizzarri, Laura Albertazzi, Vincenza Ylenia Cusenza, Lia Coppolecchia, Stefano Luminari, and Fiorella Ilariucci
Wiley
TP53 gene defects encompassing del(17p) and mutations are associated with adverse disease outcomes in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL). TP53 disruption is a well-established prognostic marker in CLL with clinical and therapeutic implications, therefore its assessment is recommended prior to initiation of the first and every subsequent line of treatment (Pospisilova et al., 2012). Approximately 90% of del (17p) patients also carry TP53 mutations in the remaining allele and mutations in the absence of del(17p) occur in a significant proportion of CLL patients (c. 5% in first-line treatment situation) (Zenz et al., 2010; Pospisilova et al., 2012; Malcikova et al., 2018). Del(17p) assessment is addressed by means of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). FISH is an informative technique, albeit laborious and time-consuming. Hence, there is the need for a faster and more efficient method to quantitate the percentage of the deletion starting from a limited amount of sample. Droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) is a very sensitive and reproducible technique and is mostly used for research purposes (Del Re et al., 2019; Della Starza et al., 2019; Hamfjord et al., 2019; Kjaer et al., 2019). Here we present an approach based on ddPCR aimed at detecting and measuring the deletions and point mutations within the TP53 gene. The most recent guidelines suggest the evaluation of this gene’s abnormalities for intervention and monitoring purposes (Ladetto et al., 2016; Malcikova et al., 2018). Minimal residual disease (MRD) is an excellent prognostic tool in CLL patients and a surrogate for progression-free survival (PFS) (Ladetto et al., 2016). The achievement of MRD response is associated with prolonged PFS and overall survival and is a desirable goal of CLL therapies (Seymour et al., 2018; Kater et al., 2019). Here we propose the use of ddPCR to assess and monitor MRD in CLL patients.
It has been hypothesized that bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG), the anti-tuberculosis vaccine, can be protective against Covid-19. Using data of performed swabs and RT-PCR results for SARS-CoV-2 in the Reggio Emilia province (Emilia-Romagna Region, Northern Italy) from March 6th to March 26th, 2020, we computed age, gender, and place of birth (Italy or abroad) specific risk of being tested, prevalence of positive tests, and probability of testing positive given that a swab has been taken during the epidemic peak. We report that immigrants resident in Reggio Emilia province, mostly coming from Countries with high BCG vaccination coverage, and Italians had a similar prevalence of infection (odds ratio - OR 0.99; 95%CI 0.82-1.20) and similar probability of being tested (OR 0.93; 95%CI 0.81-1.10). Our data do not support the hypothesis that immigrants from Countries where BCG vaccination is recommended have a lower risk of Covid-19 infection.
Massimiliano Paci, Sally Maramotti, Enrica Bellesia, Debora Formisano, Laura Albertazzi, Tommaso Ricchetti, Guglielmo Ferrari, Valerio Annessi, Daniela Lasagni, Cristiano Carbonelli,et al.
Elsevier BV
L. Pattacini, B. Casali, L. Boiardi, N. Pipitone, L. Albertazzi, and C. Salvarani
Oxford University Press (OUP)
OBJECTIVE
To evaluate the effects of angiotensin II (Ang II) treatment on apoptosis of fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) from patients with osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
METHODS
AT1 receptor expression was detected by western blotting and flow cytometry. Apoptosis induction was quantified by nucleosome ELISA and by TUNEL; cell proliferation was determined by a bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU) incorporation assay. Silencing of p65 NF-kappaB was obtained by using a specific siRNA. Caspase 3 activation was evaluated by a colorimetric assay and its cleavage by western blotting.
RESULTS
AT1 expression resulted comparable in FLS from OA and RA patients. Ang II pre-treatment reduced FLS apoptotic response to serum starvation and nitric oxide (NO) exposure. This protective effect was reverted in the presence of the AT1 receptor antagonist losartan as well as after silencing the expression of NF-kappaB. Moreover, FLS treatment with the caspase inhibitor z-VAD-fmk cancelled this Ang II effect on apoptosis. Caspase 3 activation was reduced in presence of Ang II.
CONCLUSIONS
Ang II could represent an important mediator involved in FLS expansion, reducing their capacity to undergo apoptosis, through the activation of NF-kappaB and the blockage of caspase cascade.
F. Scamardella, M. Maconi, L. Albertazzi, B. Gamberi, L. Gugliotta, and M. Brini
Carden Jennings Publishing Co.
B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) is a lymphoproliferative disease caused by impaired apoptosis regulation that leads to an abnormal survival and an accumulation of B-lymphocytes. Anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 and proapoptotic Bax proteins are involved in the highly regulated mechanism of cell death. Bax and Bcl-2 intracellular levels were analyzed both in CD19+ and CD3+ cells from 28 B-CLL de novo patients and compared with cells from healthy donors. Our results were expressed as a ratio (Bax/Bcl-2) obtained by dividing Bax mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) and Bcl-2 MFI; obviously, a lower ratio is associated with an anti-apoptotic status, while a higher index correlates to apoptosis activation. In CD19+ B-CLL cells, the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio was lower than in the CD19+ normal counterpart (1.3 versus 3.51; P<.05), mainly due to a Bcl-2 over expression (17.65 versus 9.02; P<.001). In CD3+ cells from B-CLL patients, the Bax/Bcl-2 ratio was lower than in normal CD3+ cells (7.89 versus 8.96; P<.005), most importantly as a result of Bax suppression (77.22 versus 96.63; P<.001). These study data show an apoptosis inhibition not only in CD19+ cells, but also in CD3+ cells, suggesting a pivotal role of T-cells in B-CLL pathogenesis.