骨髓增生异常综合征的免疫表型特征分析

 【摘要】　目的　评价免疫表型在骨髓增生异常综合征（MDS）诊断中的价值。方法　采用流式细胞术对27例MDS患者的骨髓细胞进行免疫表型检测。结果　随着MDS疾病的进展,CD+34细胞比例逐渐升高,分别为：难治性贫血／环形铁粒幼细胞性难治性贫血（RA／RAS）7.43 %,难治性贫血伴原始细胞增多（RAEB）36.81 %,难治性贫血伴原始细胞增多转化型（RAEB-T）56.45 %,3组差异有统计学意义（F＝51.197,P＝0.000）,且各组间差异均有统计学意义（P＜0.05）;髓系抗原CD33、CD13、HLA-DR表达逐渐增高,CD14、CD15抗原表达随着疾病的进展逐渐降低,3组间差异有统计学意义（P＜0.05）;B淋巴细胞表面抗原CD19、CD10的表达随着疾病进展而降低;T淋巴细胞表面抗原CD7表达随着疾病进展而增高,分别为RA／RAS 2.63 %、RAEB 10.79 % 和RAEB-T 11.00 %,3组间差异有统计学意义（F＝10.439,P＝0.001）,其中RA／RAS组与RAEB组、RAEB-T组之间差异有统计学意义（P＝0.000,P＝0.001）。结论　检测MDS患者骨髓细胞的免疫表型有助于MDS的诊断、分型和判断预后,从而为治疗提供依据。     

MDS相关基因检测及其临床意义的研究

目的:探讨骨髓增生异常综合征(myelo dysplastic syndrome,MDS)患者发生与演变相关基因。方法:采用RT-PCR方法测定WT1、Evi1、Evi1-MDS1和微卫星遗传不稳定性。结果:Evi1和MDS1-Evi1基因阳性表达率分别为51·9%(14/27)和62·9%(17/27)。其中低危组RA/RAS和高危组RAEB/RAEB-T/CMML的Evi1基因总表达率分别占14·8%(4/27)和37·0%(10/27),MDS1-Evi1基因总表达率分别占25·9%(7/27)和37·0%(10/27);MDS患者WT1表达阳性率为55·6%(15/27),低危组RA/RAS和高危组RAEB/RAEB-T/CMML的WT1基因总表达率分别占14·8%(4/27)和40·7%(11/27);MDS患者微卫星遗传不稳定性检测结果表明,6例RA患者中发生Mfd27位点LOH0例,MI1例,9p21位点发生LOH1例,MI0例。5例RAS中发生Mfd27位点LOH2例,MI0例,9p21位点发生LOH0例,MI0例,低危组RA/RAS患者发生LOH或MI的共4例。7例RAEB中发生Mfd27位点LOH2例,MI0例,9p21位点发生LOH0例,MI1例,7例RAEB-T中发生Mfd27位点LOH1例,MI3例,9p21位点发生LOH0例,MI1例,2例CMML中1例Mfd27位点发生LOH。高危组RAEB/RAEB-T/CMML患者发生LOH或MI的共9例。结论:WT1、Evi1和微卫星遗传不稳定性与MDS发生和演变有关。     

Radiosensitivity in breast cancer assessed by the Comet and micronucleus assays

Spontaneous and radiation-induced genetic instability of peripheral blood mononuclear cells derived from unselected breast cancer (BC) patients (n=50) was examined using the single-cell gel electrophoresis (Comet) assay and a modified G2 micronucleus (MN) test. Cells from apparently healthy donors (n=16) and from cancer patients (n=9) with an adverse early skin reaction to radiotherapy (RT) served as references. Nonirradiated cells from the three tested groups exhibited similar baseline levels of DNA fragmentation assessed by the Comet assay. Likewise, the Comet analysis of in vitro irradiated (5 Gy) cells did not reveal any significant differences among the three groups with respect to the initial and residual DNA fragmentation, as well as the DNA repair kinetics. The G2 MN test showed that cells from cancer patients with an adverse skin reaction to RT displayed increased frequencies of both spontaneous and radiation-induced MN compared to healthy control or the group of unselected BC patients. Two patients from the latter group developed an increased early skin reaction to RT, which was associated with an increased initial DNA fragmentation in vitro only in one of them. Cells from the other BC patient exhibited a striking slope in the dose-response curve detected by the G2 MN test. We also found that previous RT strongly increased both spontaneous and in vitro radiation-induced MN levels, and to a lesser extent, the radiation-induced DNA damage assessed by the Comet assay. These data suggest that clinical radiation may provoke genetic instability and/or induce persistent DNA damage in normal cells of cancer patients, thus leading to increased levels of MN induction and DNA fragmentation after irradiation in vitro. Therefore, care has to be taken when blood samples collected postradiotherapeutically are used to assess the radiosensitivity of cancer patients.     

Prognostic Implications in Myelodysplastic Syndromes: A Review of 62 Cases

We retrospectively reviewed 62 MDS patients (15 RA, 3 RARS, 10 CMML, 20 RAEB, 14 RAEB-T) to clarify the current problems in their management. Median survival of RA and RARS patients was 67.9 months and significantly longer than that of CMML, RAEB, or RAEB-T patients with median survivals of 16.1, 16.8, and 9.5 months, respectively. Karyotypic abnormalities were observed in 58% of the patients examined. Forty-two patients died, 16 (38%) of leukemic transformation and 21 (50%) of bone marrow failure. While most of the RAEB-T patients of all ages and all the RAEB patients diagnosed below 60 years of age died of transformation, 70% of the older RAEB patients died of infection. Prognosis after transformation was poor and 12 patients died within two months. These results indicate that management after transformation and treatment against infection in RAEB patients with advanced age are crucial to improve the prognosis in MDS.     

Cytogenetic analogy between myelodysplastic syndrome and acute myeloid leukemia of elderly patients.

The biological and clinical importance of cytogenetic analysis in myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is being increasingly recognized. Recently, cytogenetic similarities were noted between elderly de novo AML and secondary AML, suggesting common etiopathogenetic mechanisms. In the present study we analyzed the cytogenetic similarities between patients with AML of different age and patients with MDS consecutively diagnosed during a 5-year period at a single, primary referral, hematologic center. Of 246 patients aged <86 years, 195 (80%) had a cytogenetic study at diagnosis. Informative metaphases were obtained in 182 cases (93%), including 17 (9.3%) with secondary MDS/AML. Patients were classified according to FAB criteria and were subdivided into four groups: (1) 'early MDS': 42 patients with MDS of FAB subtypes other than refractory anemia with excess of blasts (RAEB) or RAEB in transformation (RAEB-T); (2) 'late MDS': 35 patients with RAEB and RAEB-T; (3) 'old AML': 48 patients with AML aged 65 to 85 years; (4) 'young AML': 57 patients with AML aged <65 years. Results showed that 'late MDS' and 'old AML' had striking cytogenetic similarities both in the frequency of normal karyotypes (31% and 27%), single abnormalities (14% and 13%), double abnormalities (17% and 14%), complex karyotypes (37% and 46%), and numerical abnormalities (89% and 93%), as well as in the frequency of rearrangements involving chromosome 5 (20% and 31%) and 7 (27% and 27%). The only difference between the two groups was found in the median number of chromosomes involved in complex karyotypes (5 vs 8; P=0.03). 'Early MDS' had significantly less complex karyotypes (21%; P<0.05), but its cytogenetic features resembled otherwise those of 'late MDS' and 'old AML', and any significant difference disappeared when patients with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) were excluded. CMML markedly differed from other MDS subtypes in the frequency of normal (57%) and of complex karyotypes (6%). Secondary MDS/AML and AML with trilineage dysplasia shared the same cytogenetic features of 'late MDS' and 'old AML'. 'Young AML' strikingly differed from all other groups, particularly in the higher frequency of balanced translocations (29%; P<0.001) and single karyotype abnormalities (32%; P<0.02), and in the lower frequency of complex karyotypes (19%; P<0.01) and of chromosome 5 (2%; P<0.001) and 7 (9%; P<0.01) involvement. We conclude that in a population-based series of patients, the cytogenetic profile of MDS, particularly of RAEB/RAEB-T, was nearly identical to that of elderly patients with AML both in the frequency and in the type of chromosomal abnormalities. These results support the possibility that MDS and AML of elderly patients may represent the same disease seen at different stages of evolution.     

Validation of the WHO proposals for a new classification of primary myelodysplastic syndromes: a retrospective analysis of 1600 patients

In 1982, the French–American–British (FAB) cooperative group proposed a classification of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) based on morphological features in blood and bone marrow, namely on medullary and peripheral blast count, Auer rods, ring sideroblasts and the number of monocytes in the peripheral blood. This classification has been used for numerous studies regarding morphology, prognosis and treatment of MDS. Some details of this morphological classification remained unclear, and some patients were unclassifiable. A working group of the World Health Organization (WHO) recently proposed a new classification of MDS, based on a significant modification of the original FAB proposals. CMML and RAEB-T were removed from the MDS classification and RAEB was split into two groups with medullary blast counts below and above 10%. In addition, a group of patients with less than 5% medullary blasts but evidence of multilineage dysplasia was defined. MDS patients with 5q− as the sole chromosomal anomaly were also considered a separate group. The aim of the present study was to validate the new classification with respect to prognostic importance, and to correlate it with cytogenetic and hematological features in a large series of patients (n=1600) with a long-term follow up. We were able to confirm a significant difference in prognosis between RAEB I and RAEB II, as well as a difference between refractory anemia and multilineage dysplasia. Furthermore, patients with 5q− anomaly had a much better prognosis than other WHO subtypes, but this was only true for patients with a medullary blast count below 5%. In summary, the WHO classification appears to define morphological subgroups that are more homogeneous with respect to prognosis than the FAB subtypes.     

骨髓增生异常综合征患者外周血循环CD34+细胞计数的临床研究

目的 探讨骨髓增生异常综合征（MDS）患者外周血循环CD34+细胞计数在疾病分型及预后中的意义。方法 流式细胞仪测定16例健康者、40例MDS患者外周血循环CD34+细胞占有核细胞的百分比（简称CD34+细胞百分比）和绝对细胞数。依据WHO MDS诊断标准、染色体核型以及国际预后积分系统（IPSS）将MDS患者分别划分为RA／RARS／RCMD 组和RAEB Ⅰ／RAEB Ⅱ组,染色体良好组、中间组、不良组,中危Ⅰ组、中危Ⅱ组、高危组。结果MDS患者外周血循环CD34+细胞百分比、绝对数分别为0.67％和17.24个／μl,健康者分别为0.03％和1.63个／μl,两者比较差异有统计学意义（P＜0.01）。MDS患者中,RA／RARS／RCMD组CD34+细胞百分比及绝对数分别为0.05％和3.50个／μl,RAEBⅠ／RAEBⅡ组分别为3.09％和81.95个／μl（P＜0.01）;染色体良好组CD34+细胞百分比及绝对数分别为0.05％和3.50个／μl,中间组为1.29％和18.23个／μl,不良组为3.09％和133.10个／μl,随着不良核型的出现,CD34+细胞百分比及绝对数依次增高（P＜0.05）;中危Ⅰ组CD34+细胞百分比及绝对数分别为0.05％和3.50个／μl,中危Ⅱ组为1.57％和35.55个／μl,高危组为8.15％和192.05个／μl,随着IPSS分值的递增,CD34+细胞百分比及绝对数逐渐增高（P＜0.01）。结论 MDS患者外周血循环CD34+细胞计数存在异常增高现象,其计数水平的检测有助于MDS的分型和预后判断。     

Myelodysplastic Syndromes—A Population-Based Study on Transformation and Survival

A retrospective analysis was done on 113 patients (median age 73 years) with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), consecutively diagnosed at our center during a 10-year period. Patients with refractory anemia (RA) and refractory anemia with ringed sideroblasts (RARS) had significantly longer survival than patients with refractory anemia with excess blasts (RAEB), chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) or refractory anemia with excess blasts in transformation (RAEB-T). Thirty-seven patients (33%) subsequently developed acute myelogenous leukemia (AML). The percentages of AML transformation for the subgroups were: RA: 26%, RARS: 14%, RAEB: 38%, CMML: 25% and RAEB-T: 69%. A total of 9 patients received high-dose chemotherapy, 7 of them already at the time of MDS diagnosis. Six of the RAEB-T patients entered complete and two partial remission. The median age in the group of RAEB-T patients was significantly lower (62 years) than in the other MDS subgroups. It seems that high-dose chemotherapy, at least in RAEB-T, may induce complete remission and improve survival time.     

Cytogenetic studies in 32 patients with myelodysplastic syndrome: insights to specific chromosomal abnormalities and prognosis

Cytogenetic studies were performed on a group of 32 patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Five patients had refractory anemia (RA), four RA with ring sideroblasts (RARS), nine RA with excess blasts (RAEB), eight RAEB 'in transformation' (RAEB-T), three chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML) and three secondary MDS (SMDS). Two patients in the SMDS group had been treated with alkylating agents for lung cancer and polycythemia vera, respectively. The other had been exposed to thorotrast. Chromosome analyses were performed with Q and G bandings on bone marrow cells incubated for 24 hr. A clonal chromosomal abnormality was observed in the marrow cells from 19 of the 32 patients (59%). Chromosomal abnormalities of nos. 5 and/or 7 were found in five patients, and were probably specific for RAEB-T and SMDS. Among the twelve patients with solely abnormal metaphases (AA), eight (67%) progressed to acute leukemia, a higher proportion than the three from the 13 patients (23%) with solely normal metaphases (NN) (P less than 0.05). One of the seven patients (14%) with both normal and abnormal metaphases (AN) developed acute leukemia (AA v. AN, P less than 0.03). In only two of the 12 patients who progressed to acute leukemia (17%), was complete remission achieved. The median survival time was only 4.0 months for patients with karyotype AA compared with 18.0 months for AN and 24.0 months for NN (AA v. AN, P less than 0.05, AA v. NN, P less than 0.05). The absence of cytogenetically normal cells indicated a poor prognosis with frequent progression to acute leukemia which is resistant to chemotherapy. Progression to acute leukemia depended not only on chromosomal abnormalities but also on morphological subtype classified according to French-American-British co-operative group criteria. Morphological findings and karyotype combined gave a good indication of the outcome for patients with MDS.     

DNA repair gene polymorphisms and genetic predisposition to cutaneous melanoma

The incidence of cutaneous melanoma is rising rapidly in a number of countries. The key environmental risk factor is exposure to the ultraviolet (UV) component in sunlight. The nucleotide excision repair (NER) pathway deals with the main forms of UV-induced DNA damage. We have investigated the hypothesis that polymorphisms in NER genes constitute genetic susceptibility factors for melanoma. However, not all melanomas arise on sun-exposed sites and so we investigated the hypothesis that genes involved in other pathways for the repair of oxidative DNA damage may also be involved in susceptibility to melanoma. Scotland, with its high incidence of melanoma and stable homogeneous population, was ideal for this case-control study, involving 596 Scottish melanoma patients and 441 population-based controls. Significant associations were found for the NER genes ERCC1 and XPF, with the strongest associations for melanoma cases aged 50 and under [ERCC1 odds ratio (OR) 1.59, P = 0.008; XPF OR 1.69, P = 0.003]. Although an XPD haplotype was associated with melanoma, it did not contain the variant 751 Gln allele, which has been associated with melanoma in some previous studies. No associations were found for the base excision repair and DNA damage response genes investigated. An association was also found for a polymorphism in the promoter of the vitamin D receptor gene, VDR (OR 1.88, P = 0.005). The products of the two NER genes, ERCC1 and XPF, where associations with melanoma were found, act together in a rate-limiting step in the repair pathway.     

Refractory anemia with excess of blasts in transformation: analysis of reclassification according to the WHO proposals

The category of "refractory anemia with excess blasts in transformation" (RAEB-T) has been abandoned in the new WHO-classification of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). The majority of patients previously belonging to this category are now classified as acute myeloid leukaemia (AML). In the FAB-classification, patients had been assigned to the RAEB-T category if they had either (1) a medullary blast count between 20 and 30% or (2) a peripheral blast count of at least 5%, or (3) Auer rods detectable, irrespective of the blast count. We analyzed these subtypes of RAEB-T in terms of hematological characteristics, karyotype anomalies, and prognosis. Patients with more than 20% medullary blasts and patients with at least 5% peripheral blasts as the sole defining parameter for RAEB-T had a median survival of 6 months, as compared to 11 months in patients with Auer rods as the sole defining parameter. The presence of Auer rods therefore does not convey a particularly bad prognosis and does not justify placing patients in a high-risk category of MDS or even classifying them as AML. This finding supports the elimination of Auer rods as a parameter for classification in the new WHO system. On the other hand, the reclassification into RAEB II (according to WHO proposals) of previous RAEB-T patients with a peripheral blast count of at least 5% is problematic, because this feature predicts a median survival not different from that of AML patients.     

Diagnostic and prognostic values of in vitro culture growth patterns of marrow granulocyte-macrophage progenitors in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome.

The in vitro culture growth of marrow granulocyte-macrophage progenitors (CFU-GM assay) was studied in 102 consecutive patients with newly diagnosed primary myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) to determine its diagnostic utility and prognostic value. There were 18 patients with refractory anemia (RA), eight RA with ringed-sideroblast (RARS), 30 RA with excess of blasts (RAEB), 18 chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CMML), and 28 RAEB in transformation (RAEB-T). Patients with MDS had a significantly lower number of GM colonies and a significantly higher cluster to colony ratio than those of normal controls and patients with cytopenias of other causes. Six in vitro growth patterns were observed; 85% of patients with MDS showed various abnormal growth patterns, and 42% of all MDS patients exhibited a leukemic growth pattern at diagnosis. None of the 40 patients with cytopenias of other causes had a leukemic type growth. A leukemic growth pattern was rarely observed in patients with RA and RARS (4%), but was common in other subgroups (57%). The distribution of various growth patterns was not statistically different among patients with RAEB, CMML, and RAEB-T. Thirty-six patients developed acute leukemia during the follow-up period. The MDS patients with leukemic type growth were at increased risk of rapid progression to acute leukemia, and they also had a shorter survival time than patients with a non-leukemic pattern. These results showed that simply scoring the number of CFU-GM is of limited value for the diagnosis and the prediction of prognosis of MDS, whereas the in vitro marrow culture growth pattern is of prognostic significance independently of the FAB classification. It is concluded that the in vitro growth pattern of marrow CFU-GM is helpful in diagnosing patients with MDS as well as in predicting their clinical outcome.     

Relationship between Malignant Melanoma and Chromosome Damage in Human Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes

The incidence of malignant melanoma increases with age. One significiant effect of aging processes is anaccumulation of oxidative damage in the genetical material. In this study, the relationship between malignantmelanoma and damage in chromosomes and proliferative effectiveness of human peripheral lymphocytes wereinvestigated by the micronucleus (MN) technique. A total of 15 malignant melanoma patients and appropriatelymatching 15 healthy controls were involved in the study. MN frequencies and proliferative indexes (PI) afternon toxic levels of hydrogen peroxide treatment were also measured to determine damaging effect of oxidativestress in genome in addition to measuring the spontenous levels of micronuclei and PI. The patient group hada significantly higher rate of spontaneous MN than the control group (p<0.01). After treatment with H2O2, MNfrequencies in the patient group was significantly decreased (p<0.01) although there was no difference betweenthe treated and untreated results of control group (p=0.29). There was also difference (p<0.01) between the MNfrequencies of the patient and the control group either in the spontaneous levels or in the H2O2 treated groups.The same significant difference persisted when the PI values were compared between patient and control groups.Increase in the MN frequency in patients could mean the alterations in the chromosomal structure which maylead to the chromosome instability and therefore genetic susceptibility to cancer. This increased number ofmicronuclei can also be used for cytological marker in identifying high risk cases for malignant melanoma.     

肺癌患者外周血淋巴细胞微核、SCE和染色体畸变的研究

 本文分析观察14例肺癌患者和14例正常健康人外周血淋巴细胞的微核, SCE和染色体畸变。 结果发现肺癌患者的微核率、SCE频率和染色体畸变率均高于正常对照组。 经统计学分析表明两组之间差异显著, 认为染色体不稳定可能是肺癌发生的物质基础。     

Methylation status of fragile histidine triad (FHIT) gene and its clinical impact on prognosis of patients with myelodysplastic syndrome

The fragile histidine triad (FHIT) gene plays an important role in anti-cancer and the abnormal methylation of FHIT gene is found in many carcinomas. The epigenetic changes of tumor suppressor genes (TSG) are now recognized as an abnormal mechanism contributing to the development of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). To clarify the role of FHIT in MDS, we examined the methylation status of FHIT in patients with MDS. Methylation-specific polymerase (MSP) chain reaction was performed to detect the aberrant promoter methylation of FHIT gene in 55 patients with MDS. The abnormal methylation of the FHIT gene was found in 26 of 55 (47.2%) MDS cases, but it was not in normal control. No relationship was found between FHIT gene methylation and sex, hematologic parameters, chromosomal abnormalities of MDS patients. However, the significant difference was observed in the frequencies of FHIT gene hypermethylation among patients with RA/RARS (7/25, 28.0%), RAEB (11/18, 61.1%) and RAEBt (8/11, 72.7%) (chi2 value=7.938, P=0.019). Furthermore, there was a positive correlation between the frequency of FHIT gene hypermethylation and different IPSS groups (chi2 value=10.110, P=0.018). The MDS patients with FHIT gene methylation had significantly shorter survival time than those without FHIT methylation (20.0 months vs. 40.0 months, P=0.025). These results suggested that aberrant methylation of the FHIT gene might be one of molecular events involved in the disease progression of MDS and be an adverse prognostic factor in MDS.     

Prospective study of 90 children requiring treatment for juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia or myelodysplastic syndrome: a report from the Children's Cancer Group.

PURPOSE: We report the first large prospective study of children with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) treated in a uniform fashion on Children's Cancer Group protocol 2891. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Ninety children with JMML, various forms of MDS, or acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with antecedent MDS were treated with a five-drug induction regimen (standard or intensive timing). Patients achieving remission were allocated to allogeneic bone marrow transplantation (BMT) if a matched family donor was available. All other patients were randomized between autologous BMT and aggressive nonmyeloablative chemotherapy. Results were compared with patients with de novo AML. RESULTS: Patients with JMML and refractory anemia (RA) or RA-excess blasts (RAEB) exhibited high induction failure rates and overall remission of 58% and 48%, respectively. Remission rates for patients with RAEB in transformation (RAEB-T) (69%) or antecedent MDS (81%) were similar to de novo AML (77%). Actuarial survival rates at 6 years were as follows: JMML, 31% +/- 26%; RA and RAEB, 29% +/- 16%; RAEB-T, 30% +/- 18%; antecedent MDS, 50% +/- 25%; and de novo AML, 45% +/- 3%. For patients achieving remission, long-term survivors were found in those receiving either allogeneic BMT or chemotherapy. The presence of monosomy 7 had no additional adverse effect on MDS and JMML. CONCLUSION: Childhood subtypes of MDS and JMML represent distinct entities with distinct clinical outcomes. Children with a history of MDS who present with AML do well with AML-type therapy. Patients with RA or RAEB respond poorly to AML induction therapy. The optimum treatment for JMML remains unknown.     

Nucleotide Excision Repair Capacity and XPC and XPD Gene Polymorphism Modulate Colorectal Cancer Risk

Background

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is leading malignant tumors to occur mainly in industrialized countries, where it exhibits one of the highest mortality rates. Up to 80% of all CRCs characterize a chromosomal instability (CIN) phenotype. The main challenge faced by scientist is to reveal the mechanism of CIN development. An often proposed model is defects in DNA repair in terms of efficiency and genetic variations that modulate the response to stimuli from the environment. The objectives of this research were to determine whether nucleotide excision repair (NER) might affect CRC risk.

Reduced expression of FLIP SHORT in bone marrow of low risk myelodysplastic syndrome

Apoptosis is dysregulated in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and acute myelogenous leukaemia (AML). FLIP (FLICE (FAS-associated death-domain-like IL-1 beta-converting enzyme)-inhibitory protein) has been described as an anti-apoptotic protein. Here, we characterize the expression level of FLIP(LONG) and FLIP(SHORT) mRNA in bone marrow aspirates from 61 patients diagnosed with MDS or AML. FLIP(SHORT) mRNA expression was significantly lower in low risk MDS, compared to high risk MDS, according to FAB classification (RA/RARS versus RAEB/RAEBt, P=0.0127) and IPSS (low risk/intermediate-1 versus intermediate-2/high risk, P=0.0345). Furthermore, FLIP(SHORT) mRNA expression was significantly lower in low risk MDS, compared to MDS-AML/AML de novo (P=0.0006), according to FAB classification. FLIP(LONG) expression did not differ between these groups. Increased levels of FLIP(SHORT) in RAEB and AML may be related to apoptosis resistance in these diseases and to MDS progression.     

Thalidomide for the treatment of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes.

We examined the efficacy of thalidomide in 34 patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS): five RAEB-T, four RAEB, three CMML, six RARS, and 16 RA. Patients belonged to the following cytogenetic groups: 15 complex abnormal karyotypes, 12 normal karyotypes, four cases with 5q- as sole anomaly and three single aberrations. The median thalidomide dose was 400 mg/day (25/34 patients). Four patients discontinued the study after less than 5 weeks, because of fatigue (three) or skin rash (one). One patient died of heart failure after 4 weeks. In the remaining 29 patients (median follow-up: 13 months), treatment responses were classified according to the IWG criteria. Six patients (four RA, two CMML) showed progressive disease (five with transformation into AML) and four patients showed stable disease. Hematological improvement (HI) was observed in 19 patients. Nine of the responders (three RA, one RARS, two RAEB, three RAEB-T) achieved partial remission with granulocytes > or = 1500/microl, Hb > 11 g/dl and platelets > or =100,000/microl. Four patients (one RARS, one CMML, one RAEB, one RAEB-T) had a major response, with platelet and RBC transfusion independence. Six patients (five RA, one RARS) showed minor responses (three HI-E, two HI-E+HI-P, one HI-E+HI-N). Hematological improvement occurred after a median of 2 months of thalidomide treatment. Two patients (RAEB-T) relapsed after a partial remission lasting 8 and 16 months, respectively. In summary, a therapeutic benefit was achieved in 19 of 34 study patients (56%).