The MDS Beacon™

Using tobacco products has a negative impact on the prognosis of patients with lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes, according to a recent U. S. study. The study investigators did not observe this impact in higher-risk patients.

Based on their findings, the researchers concluded that tobacco use may influence the biology of the disease and suggested that lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) patients may improve their outcomes if they discontinue any tobacco use.

The study results were presented during a poster session at the 2011 American Society of Hematology meeting last month.

Previous studies…

Researchers from the United States and Spain recently found that lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes patients may benefit from early treatment with a certain kind of stem cell transplant.

Specifically, the patients benefited from donor stem cell transplants without T-cells, a type of white blood cell.

Over 60 percent of patients experienced survival times greater than five years, and the rate of graft-versus-host disease, a common transplant-related complication, was low.

According to the researchers, these findings support the use of transplantation without T-cells in lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) patients.

The findings were…

A combination of the drugs Velcade and belinostat may be active in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes, according to results of a small Phase 1 clinical trial.

These results were presented during a poster session at the 2011 American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting last month.

Velcade (bortezomib) is currently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of multiple myeloma and mantle cell lymphoma.

Belinostat (PXD 101), which is being developed jointly by the American company Spectrum Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: SPPI) and the Danish company TopoTarget, belongs…

Results of a recent, small French study indicate that it may be possible for myelodysplastic syndromes patients to receive Vidaza treatment at home instead of at a doctor’s office or hospital.

The findings were presented at the 2011 American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting in San Diego last month.

In France, chemotherapy is typically administered in a hospital. However, the French National Health Service allows home administration of some chemo­therapy treatments after the first treatment cycle.

A group of French researchers, therefore, sought to investigate if Vidaza (azacitidine) could…

Results of a small French study suggest that the use of Vidaza and Revlimid as a first-line therapy in higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes patients with several chromosomal abnormalities is effective and tolerable.

The most common side effects were low blood cell counts, which required close monitoring. However, the study authors concluded from these results that the side effects were acceptable when compared to conventional chemotherapy, which is often ineffective and intolerable in high-risk patients.

Previous research has shown that the combination therapy of Vidaza (azacitidine) and Revlimid (lenalidomide) is…