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Myelodysplasias

Comparison of hypoplastic myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) with normo-/hypercellular MDS by International Prognostic Scoring System, cytogenetic and genetic studies

Abstract

The differences in clinical features and prognosis between hypoplastic myelodysplastic syndrome (h-MDS) and normo-/hypercellular MDS (NH-MDS) remain unsettled. In this study, the characteristics of 37 h-MDS patients and 152 NH-MDS patients were compared. Peripheral-blood white blood cell counts and bone marrow blast percentage were lower in h-MDS patients than in NH-MDS patients (P=0.012 and 0.016, respectively). Refractory anemia (RA) was predominant (56.8%) in h-MDS, whereas RA with excess of blast (RAEB) was most common (44.7%) in NH-MDS. Chromosomal abnormalities −7/7q− occurred less frequently in h-MDS patients than in NH-MDS patients (0 vs 18.3%, P=0.022). There was no significant difference in the prevalence of mutations of RAS, AML1, JAK2, PTPN11, FLT3/ITD, and hypermethylation of SOCS1 and SHP1 between these two groups. International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS) was ideal for predicting prognoses in h-MDS patients (P=0.002). In low- or intermediate-1 (Int-1)-risk MDS patients, h-MDS patients had a superior survival than NH-MDS patients (P=0.01). In conclusion, distinct from NH-MDS, h-MDS patients have different patterns of hemogram, distribution of French–American–British subtypes, cytogenetic changes and prognoses. IPSS is applicable in h-MDS as in NH-MDS. In patients with low- or Int-1-risk MDS, h-MDS patients have a better prognosis than NH-MDS patients.

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Acknowledgements

This work was sponsored in part by grants from the National Science Council of Taiwan NSC 94-2314-B-002-143 and 95-2314-B-002-042. We are grateful to Ms Fen-Yu Lee and Ms Min-Chih Liu for their help in chromosome study.

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Correspondence to H-F Tien.

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Huang, TC., Ko, BS., Tang, JL. et al. Comparison of hypoplastic myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) with normo-/hypercellular MDS by International Prognostic Scoring System, cytogenetic and genetic studies. Leukemia 22, 544–550 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2405076

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