The European Hematology Association Roadmap for European Hematology Research: a consensus document

Abstract

The European Hematology Association (EHA) Roadmap for European Hematology Research highlights major achievements in diagnosis and treatment of blood disorders and identifies the greatest unmet clinical and scientific needs in those areas to enable better funded, more focused European hematology research. Initiated by the EHA, around 300 experts contributed to the consensus document, which will help European policy makers, research funders, research organizations, researchers, and patient groups make better informed decisions on hematology research. It also aims to raise public awareness of the burden of blood disorders on European society, which purely in economic terms is estimated at €23 billion per year, a level of cost that is not matched in current European hematology research funding. In recent decades, hematology research has improved our fundamental understanding of the biology of blood disorders, and has improved diagnostics and treatments, sometimes in revolutionary ways. This progress highlights the potential of focused basic research programs such as this EHA Roadmap.The EHA Roadmap identifies nine 'sections' in hematology: normal hematopoiesis, malignant lymphoid and myeloid diseases, anemias and related diseases, platelet disorders, blood coagulation and hemostatic disorders, transfusion medicine, infections in hematology, and hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. These sections span 60 smaller groups of diseases or disorders.The EHA Roadmap identifies priorities and needs across the field of hematology, including those to develop targeted therapies based on genomic profiling and chemical biology, to eradicate minimal residual malignant disease, and to develop cellular immunotherapies, combination treatments, gene therapies, hematopoietic stem cell treatments, and treatments that are better tolerated by elderly patients.

Figure 1.

An overview of the current ‘normal’ hematopoiesis field and an outlook on where future research should be directed.

Figure 2.

A roadmap for research into new technologies in anemias and related disorders.

Figure 3.

A roadmap for research into dyserythropoietic and hypogenerative anemias.

Figure 4.

Red blood cell membrane disorders.

Figure 5.

Proposed priorities for European research on hereditary hemolytic anemias.

Figure 6.

Synergistic activation of coagulation by contact and tissue factor pathways.

Figure 7.

Venous thrombosis (VT) incidence increases with age. Incidence rates per 100,000 person-years with 95% confidence intervals. Data are derived from the Tromsø Study (1994–2012), in which 26,853 individuals were followed for a median of 17.7 years, and a total of 710 first VTs occurred.

Figure 8.

Activation of the adaptive antigen-specific immune response. Potential targets for interventions to reduce Ab production or mitigate destruction. Potential interventions include high-dose IVIG and PDN (prednisolone).