A recent study of myelodysplastic syndromes patients who received a donor stem cell transplant showed that the percentage of donor versus patient stem cells in the bone marrow or blood may be able to predict relapse.

Stem cell transplants for myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) patients are usually performed by giving the patient stem cells from a healthy donor. This is the only known cure for MDS.

Ideally, the patient’s blood-forming stem cells are destroyed and replaced by the donor’s healthy stem…

Several important myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) studies were presented at the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting on June 7. The meeting was held June 4 to 8 in Chicago.

Monday, June 7

As part of Monday’s morning session about leukemia, myelodysplasia, and transplantation, two important studies were presented and then discussed.

The first study, which looked at Vidaza (azacitidine) treatment in high-risk patients, was presented by Dr. Alan List of the Lee Moffitt Cancer Center…

Results from several important studies about myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) were presented at the annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) annual meeting June 4 to 8. No MDS sessions were held on the first or last day of the conference. Presentations from June 5 and 6 are summarized below, and presentations from June 7 will be summarized in a later Beacon article.

Saturday, June 5

During a poster session held on Saturday morning, researchers presented 16 MDS studies in the…

Scientists have found that the prognosis of a subset of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) patients may be affected by activation of the gene RPS14. Low levels of activation of this gene were linked to prolonged survival in patients with intermediate-1 risk MDS and without deletion 5q syndrome. The scientists at Heinrich-Heine-University in Dusseldorf, Germany published their findings in the journal Haematologica.

Patients missing part of chromosome 5, which is known as deletion 5q syndrome, have a better prognosis than most other…