[Edited, slight mistake]
Hi Andy and all other experts, Hope your all well.
Got a question for you, I'm a thalassaemia intermedia and my hgb sits arounf 7.5. I've never been transfused and my spleen sits around 23-24cm.
My haematologist is a little concerned with my last few blood tests as they are coming back as 6.5 - 7.0 so a drop of an average of .7
They are also a little concerned about the very slight enlargement of my spleen too. In any case, I've potentially been given the option to go onto the Luspatercept trials however;
Because of the hgb drop and slight spleen enlargement they have decided to do a G6PD test and a JAK2 test amongst a few others a month ago.
All tests have come back negative except for a very slight possibility of a JAK2 mutation. They have recommended I repeat just the JAK2 test a further two times to see if its a false positive.
I took my second blood test already and will have the results next week before I take the third and final test sometime in 3-4 weeks.
OK here goes;
Unless I misunderstood, my haematologists said that if a JAK2 mutation is found to be present I won't be able to go on the Luspatercept trials however both the US and EU clinical trials website don't mention any JAK2 exclusions:
https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/study/NCT03342404?term=ACE-536-B-THAL-002&rank=1#contactshttps://www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu/ctr-search/trial/2015-003225-33/GRSo I am totally confused as to why I might be excluded, although I could have just misunderstood them.
This brings me to the questions of:
Is Luspatercept still an option for me if the drug gets approved in a few years and my hgb holds out until then even with a JAK2 mutation..?
If not, will Lentiglobin be an option if that gets approval and I have a JAK2 mutation..?
Or are these treatments not allowed if any JAK2 mutations are found after their potential approval..?
Finally, I believe Hydroxyurea helps with reducing JAK2 mutations and a potential for hgb increase, would that be a better option to try assuming they don't let me go on the trial..?
Worse still, is a mild JAK2 (1% - 5% chance after the first test) mutation something for me to be really worried about?
I'm really hoping the next two tests are negative as all I can think about is cancer and it's really worrying me.
Thanks Andy mate, sorry for the long post.