Considering the beneficial effect of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) in acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), it has been speculated that ATRA might also be useful for treating other hematologic malignancies. To test this hypothesis, we performed a dose-escalating 3-month-trial of ATRA in 15 patients with primary or secondary myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Morphologic diagnoses were refractory a...

Essential thrombocythemia (ET) is a clonal disorder of the myeloid stem cell that causes pathologic expansion of the megakaryocytic elements in the bone marrow, with a persistent increase in the platelet count. In order to avoid the mutagenic effects of radioactive phosphorous and alkylating agents, various European clinicians use pipobroman rather than hydroxyurea as single chemotherapeutic tr...

The World Health Organization (WHO) classification contributes to refined classification and prognostication of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDSs). Flow cytometry might add significantly to diagnostic and prognostic criteria. Our analysis of bone marrow samples from 50 patients with MDS showed aberrant expression of differentiation antigens in the myelomonocytic lineage. This also accounted for r...

We studied the nature of blast cells in 41 patients with acute leukemia following a previous primary myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) by a combined multiparameter analysis including morphologic, immunophenotypic, and molecular genetic (Igs, T-cell receptor (TCR)-beta, -gamma, and -delta and the major breakpoint cluster region [M-bcr]) investigations. In addition, the clinical and hematologic char...

The present study provides immunobiochemical and molecular data on the differentiation-linked expression of the bcl-2 proto-oncogene in normal and neoplastic myeloid cells. Using a recently developed monoclonal antibody (MoAb) to the bcl-2 molecule, staining of normal bone marrow myeloblasts, promyelocytes, and myelocytes, but neither monocytes nor most polymorphonuclear cells, was demonstrated...

Although a minor population of paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH)-type blood cells is often detected in patients with aplastic anemia (AA) and refractory anemia (RA), the significance of such cells in the pathophysiology of bone marrow (BM) failure remains obscure. We therefore examined clonality in peripheral blood granulocytes from 118 female patients with AA or myelodysplastic syndrom...

BACKGROUND In recent years, epidemiologic studies have reported controversial results relating cigarette smoking to myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) risk. A meta-analysis was performed to assess such potential relationship between cigarette smoking and incidence of MDS. METHODS A search of literature published before October 2012 for observational studies evaluating the association between cig...

Previous studies have shown that approximately 40% of patients with myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and anaemia respond to treatment with human recombinant granulocyte-CSF (G-CSF) plus erythropoietin (epo). The present study was designed to investigate pre-treatment variables for their ability to predict erythroid responses to this treatment. 98 patients with MDS (30 RA, 31 RARS, 32 RAEB, five R...