Hematologic improvements in a myelodysplastic syndromes with myelofibrosis (MDS-F) patient treated with azacitidine

Myelodysplastic syndromes with myelofibrosis (MDS-F) is a poor prognostic hematopoietic disorder. Azacitidine was shown to prolong survival of high-risk MDS patients. However, the effects of azacitidine on MDS-F have yet to be elucidated. Azacitidine was administered to a 74-year-old man with MDS-F at a dose of 75 mg/m2/daily subcutaneously for 7 days every 28 days. Hematologic improvements were observed according to the International Working Group 2006 criteria after 8 cycles of the azacitidine treatment, and complete remission was achieved after 14 cycles. The grade of myelofibrosis was also improved. The therapeutic activity of azacitidine was confirmed in our MDS-F patient

Prognostic impact of peripheral blood Wilms’ tumour 1 mRNA expression levels in response to azacytidine in MDS: A single-centre analysis

To determine the impact of peripheral blood (PB) Wilms’ tumour 1 (WT-1) mRNA levels in patients with primary myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), we analysed the relationships between several clinical variables at the time of diagnosis and the haematological response of patients treated with azacytidine. We observed overall responses in 20 (63%) patients; there were no significant differences in clinical variables, including bone marrow blast counts, IPSS scores and IPSS-R risk scores, between responders and non-responders. The responders’ PB WT-1 mRNA levels were significantly lower than those of non-responders (P = 0.03). PB WT-1 mRNA expression could be a marker for predicting the response to azacytidine in patients with de novo MDS