This session is accredited.

This symposium serves as a comprehensive exploration into the complex landscape of inherited and acquired hematological malignancies. Bringing together leading experts, this symposium aims to deepen understanding, share insights, and explore innovations in the field.

At the end of this session, participants will be able to:

  • Describe the various hereditary hematological malignancy syndromes, their prevalence and strategies for clinical management.
  • Identify non-genetic mechanisms of therapeutic sensitivity and resistance in myeloid malignancies.
  • Discuss the updated consensus classification of myeloid malignancies and implications for cancer diagnostics labs.

Speakers:

Dr. Aly Karsan

Dr. Jose-Mario Capo-Chichi

Dr. Amy Trottier

Non-genetic Mechanisms Of Therapeutic Sensitivity And Resistance In The Myeloid Malignancies Speaker: Dr. Aly Karsan

Myeloid malignancies which include the myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are clonal hematopoietic disorders initiated in hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPC) that acquire properties which provide a relative advantage over normal HSPC. Regardless of the type of therapy, long-term response rates in the myeloid malignancies are poor, and understanding the mechanisms that underpin the advantage of malignant HSPC is critical to develop strategies that improve long-term survival. Dr. Karsan’s work examines the signals that provide a clonal advantage to leukemic cells, some of which are also those that promote recalcitrance to therapy. His work has focused on post-transcriptional mechanisms that underlie many of the phenotypes observed in the myeloid leukemias, particularly in the context of cell state. Dr. Karsan will discuss their work in dissecting the RNA networks that generate signals that promote leukemogenesis and resistance to standard therapies, as well as more recent work implicating the epigenomic state of the leukemic cell as a significant determinant of therapy responsiveness.

At the end of the session, participants will be able to:

  • Describe the characteristics of different leukemic stem and progenitor populations.
  • Distinguish different approaches to assessing epigenomic states.

CanMEDS Roles: Medical Expert (the integrating role), Communicator, Collaborator, Scholar

Target Audience: Geneticists, Trainees

Dr. Karsan is a clinician-scientist at BC Cancer, Professor of Pathology at UBC, and Tier 1 CRC Chair in Myeloid Cancers. His research aims to understand the post-transcriptional mechanisms of therapy resistance in the myeloid cancers using various omic, in vitro and in vivo models, with a focus on single cell approaches, to understand normal and leukemic stem cell function. His clinical interest centres on developing genomic assays, and improving automation and quality assurance. In 2010 he established the first clinically-accredited next-generation sequencing lab in Canada, and one of the first in the world. He has worked with the health authority to bring new genomic assays into the clinical realm. He is a member of several international consortia including the International Working Group for Prognosis in Myelodysplastic Syndromes, and he represents the Canadian Cancer Trials Group as the Co-chair/Study Champion of the NCI Myelomatch clinical trials.

Analysis, Interpretation And Reporting Of Myeloid Genes Variants In 2024 Speaker: Dr. Jose-Mario Capo-Chichi

Dr. Capo-Chichi will provide an overview of the updated consensus classification of myeloid malignancies and implications for cancer diagnostics labs. The presentation will highlight challenges with the analysis, interpretation and reporting of key biomarkers in myeloid malignancies.

At the end of the session, participants will be able to:

  • Cite key myeloid genes biomarkers.
  • Identify challenges with myeloid genes variant interpretation.
  • Describe technical limitations with myeloid genes analysis.

Target Audience: Geneticists, Trainees, Hematopathologists

CanMEDS Roles: Communicator, Professional

Dr. Capo-Chichi is a fellow of the Canadian College of Medical Geneticist and the American Board of Medical Genetics and Genomics. He is a lab director at the Genome Diagnostics Laboratory at University Health Network in Toronto/Canada and an assistant professor in the Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology at the University of Toronto. Dr Capo-Chichi is also a clinician investigator at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre Research Institute with a primary focus on the genomic bases of acquired and inherited myeloid malignancies. His interest include the improvement of traditional genomic approaches and the development of novel clinical tests for diagnosis and prognostication of cancers, using high-throughput genotyping strategies.

Hereditary Hematologic Malignancy Syndromes: More Common Than You Think Speaker: Dr. Amy Trottier

Dr Trottier will provide an overview of hereditary hematologic malignancy syndromes, with a focus on those that predispose to MDS and/or AML. Topics will include who, how, and when to test as well as what to do with the results. She will also present results of large scale germline genetic sequencing studies conducted on an unbiased international MDS population, which revealed a high frequency of underlying germline predisposition.

At the end of the session, participants will be able to:

  • State the frequency of germline predisposition in Myelodysplastic Syndrome.
  • Provide an overview of hereditary hematologic malignancy syndromes.
  • Plan a clinical approach for hereditary hematologic malignancy syndromes.

Target Audience: Geneticists, Trainees

CanMEDS Roles: Medical Expert (the integrating role), Communicator, Collaborator, Leader, Scholar, Professional

Dr Trottier is an assistant professor in the Division of Hematology and Hematologic Malignancies in Halifax, NS. She completed her undergraduate medical degree at Dalhousie University, followed by internal medicine and hematology residencies at the University of Calgary. She then undertook a research fellowship at the University of Chicago studying germline predisposition to hematologic malignancies. Since returning to Halifax in 2020, she opened a translational research program and has established an inherited hematologic malignancy risk clinic.

Declaration of Conflict of Interest: Receives honoraria as a speaker for Takeda Canada Inc. Receives Site PI for an industry sponsored clinical trial for myelofibrosis from CTI BioPharma Corp.

Event Timeslots (2)

Day 4
-
Part 2 - Speakers: Dr. Jose-Mario Capo-Chichi and Dr. Amy Trottier - accredited

Day 2
-
Part 1 - Speaker: Dr. Aly Karsan - accredited