Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter to the Editor
  • Published:

Reply to ‘Autologous stem cell transplantation for therapy-related acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome’

  • N Kröger1
  • on behalf of the MDS subcommittee of the Chronic Leukemia Working Party of the EBMT

Bone Marrow Transplantation volume 39, pages 509–510 (2007)Cite this article

The analysis of autologous stem cell transplantation in patients with therapy-related myelodysplastic syndrome (t-MDS)/therapy-related acute myeloid leukemia (t-AML) was restricted to those patients who were reported to the European Group for Blood and Marrow Transplantation (EBMT) between 1991 and 2000. Therefore, the patients are highly selected by the physician who performed the transplant and no data are available about the reasons and about HLA donor availability. Registry studies can not replace prospective studies, but they are useful, because they represent the current practice. The relative low number of patients (n=65) registered in Europe over a 10-year time period and the high number of t-AML (n=55) in comparison to t-MDS (n=10) highlighted the selection bias. It is well-known that t-AML without preceded MDS are mainly induced by topoisomerase II targeted drugs and cytogenetic analysis showed a high frequency of rearrangements of chromosome band 11q23, t(8;21), t(15;17), inv (16) or t(8;16).1 Patients with t-AML and favorable cytogenetic features have a significantly better survival than those with unfavorable cytogenetics.2

Therefore, this retrospective study is in line with other studies suggesting major impact of cytogenetic features in outcome of treatment related AML/MDS.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

References

  1. Pedersen-Bjergaard J, Andersen MK, Johannsson B . Balanced chromosome aberrations in leukemias following chemotherapy with DNA-topoisomerase II inhibitors. J Clin Oncol 1998; 16: 1897–1898.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Kern W, Haferlach T, Schnittger S, Hiddemann W, Schoch C . Prognosis in therapy related acute myeloid leukemia and impact of karyotype. J Clin Oncol 2004; 22: 2510–2511.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Bone Marrow Transplantation, University Medical Center Hamburg, Martinistrasse, Hamburg, Germany. E-mail: nkroeger@uke.uni-hamburg.de,

    N Kröger

Authors
  1. N Kröger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Consortia

on behalf of the MDS subcommittee of the Chronic Leukemia Working Party of the EBMT

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kröger, N., on behalf of the MDS subcommittee of the Chronic Leukemia Working Party of the EBMT. Reply to ‘Autologous stem cell transplantation for therapy-related acute myeloid leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome’. Bone Marrow Transplant 39, 509–510 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1705607

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bmt.1705607

Search

Advanced search

Quick links