Bernimoulin M et al. - This study provides evidence that colony-forming unit cells (CFU-C) assays have a significant predictive value in addition to established prognostic factors in myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Leukemic growth identifies a subpopulation of MDS patients with poor prognosis. Methods
Precursor cell cultures, CFU-C were studied to provide an insight into the growth potential of malignant myeloid cells
73 untreated MDS pts were assessed to see whether CFU-C growth patterns were of prognostic value in addition to established criteria
Abnormalities were classified as qualitative (leukemic cluster growth) or quantitative (strongly reduced/absent growth)
Results
53% of pts showed leukemic growth, 36% had strongly reduced/absent colony growth, and 12 pts showed both
Presence of leukemic growth was associated with strongly reduced survival, and a high incidence of transformation to AML
Leukemic growth was a strong and independent predictor of early death and transformation to AML
Quantitative abnormalities had no significant impact on the disease course
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