Acute Myeloid Leukemia Arising from Myelodysplastic Syndromes

Myelodysplastic syndromes Myelodysplastic syndromes: (my-eh-lo-diss-PLASS-tik SIN-dromez) A group of disorders where the bone marrow does not work well, and the bone marrow cells fail to make enough healthy blood cells. Myelo refers to the bone marrow. Dysplastic means abnormal growth or development. People with MDS have low blood cell count for at… (MDS) are a group of myeloid neoplasms characterized by clonal hematopoiesis hematopoiesis: (hi-mat-uh-poy-EE-suss) The process of making blood cells in the bone marrow. and abnormal maturation of hematopoietic cells, resulting in cytopenias. The transformation of MDS to acute myeloid leukemia acute myeloid leukemia: (uh-KYOOT my-uh-LOYD loo-KEE-mee-uh) A cancer of the blood cells. It happens when very young white blood cells (blasts) in the bone marrow fail to mature. The blast cells stay in the bone marrow and become to numerous. This slows production of red blood cells and platelets. Some cases of MDS become… (AML) reflects a progressive increase in blasts blasts: See Blast Cells. due to impaired maturation of the malignant clone clone: To make copies. Bone marrow stem cells clone themselves all the time. The cloned stem cells eventually become mature blood cells that leave the bone marrow and enter the bloodstream. , and thus MDS and many AML subtypes form a biological continuum rather than representing two distinct diseases. Recent data suggest that, in addition to previously described translocations, NPM1 mutations and KMT2A rearrangements are also AML-defining genetic alterations that lead to rapid disease progression, even if they present initially with less than 20% blasts. While some adult patients <20% blasts can be treated effectively with intensive AML-type chemotherapy chemotherapy: (kee-moe-THER-uh-pee) The use of medicines that kill cells (cytotoxic agents). People with high-risk or intermediate-2 risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) may be given chemotherapy to kill bone marrow cells that have an abnormal size, shape, or look. Chemotherapy hurts healthy cells along with… , in the future, treatment of individual patients in this MDS/AML group will likely be dictated by genetic, biological, and patient-related factors rather than an arbitrary blast percentage.