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MDS

Clinical and cytogenetic features of 508 Chinese patients with myelodysplastic syndrome and comparison with those in Western countries

Leukemia volume 19, pages 767–775 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is a clonal hematopoietic stem cell disorder characterized by ineffective hematopoiesis and leukemia progression. Racial differences may exist on clinical pictures and the molecular events leading to MDS, which are heterogeneous. To better define the clinical and cytogenetic features in Chinese patients, a retrospective multicentric study was performed in 508 MDS cases. Compared with Western countries, Chinese patients showed younger age (median: 49 vs 65–73 years), lower percentages of RARS (2.8 vs 6.6–15.3%), and CMML (5.2 vs 11.7–30.6%). Cytogenetically, among 367 cases with evaluable data, abnormal karyotypes were found in 136 cases, including 56 numerical and 80 structural changes. Incidences of single chromosome 5 and 7 abnormalities were lower than those in Western countries (2.2 vs 17.8–42.5%). However, complex cytogenetic aberrations and chromosome translocations were frequently observed and related to poor prognosis. Both multiple chromosome deletions and translocations were detected in advanced subtypes (RAEB and RAEB-T). Analysis of 200 cases revealed a higher incidence of hepatitis-B-virus infection than that in non-MDS population (21.00 vs 9.75%). This study further confirmed: (1) different genetic/environmental backgrounds between Asian and Western MDS populations; (2) a strong predictive value of cytogenetic abnormalities on disease outcome and involvement of genomic instability in leukemia clone development.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported in part by the National High Tech Program (863), the Chinese National Key program for Basic Research (973), National Natural Science Foundation of China, Shanghai Commission for Science and Technology, Shanghai Leading Academic Discipline and the Samuel Waxman Cancer Research Foundation. We thank Ting-Xi Liu for helpful suggestions of the manuscript, Min Zhang, Li-Quan Fan for technical assistance, and Yu Liu, Zhao-Jun Wen for illustrations.

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Author notes

  1. B Chen, W-L Zhao, J Jin, Y-Q Xue and X Cheng: These authors contributed equally to this work.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Lab for Medical Genomics, Shanghai Institute of Hematology, Rui Jin Hospital, Shanghai Second Medical University, Shanghai, China

    B Chen, W-L Zhao, X-T Chen, J Cui, Q Cao, G Yang, Y Yao, H-L Xia, J-H Tong, J-M Li, J Chen, S-M Xiong, Z-X Shen, Z Chen & S-J Chen

  2. Zhejiang Institute of Hematology, The First Hospital Affiliated to Zhejiang University, Medical School of Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

    J Jin & Z-M Chen

  3. Jiangsu Institute of Hematology, Leukemia Research Unit, The First Hospital Affiliated to Suzhou University, Medical School of Suzhou University, Suzhou, China

    Y-Q Xue

  4. Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology, The Mount Sinai Medical Center, New York, USA

    X Cheng & S Waxman

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  1. B Chen
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Correspondence to S-J Chen.

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Chen, B., Zhao, WL., Jin, J. et al. Clinical and cytogenetic features of 508 Chinese patients with myelodysplastic syndrome and comparison with those in Western countries. Leukemia 19, 767–775 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2403688

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