Predictive factors for anemia response to erythropoiesis-stimulating agents in myelofibrosis.

Objective: Erythropoiesis-stimulating agents (ESAs) are commonly used to treat the anemia of myelofibrosis (MF), but information on the predictors of response is limited.

Methods: Results of ESA therapy were analyzed in 163 MF patients with severe anemia, most of whom had inadequate erythropoietin (EPO) levels (<125 U/L) at treatment start.

Results: According to the revised criteria of the International Working Group for Myelofibrosis Treatment and Research, anemia response was achieved in 86 patients (53%).

Risk of thrombosis according to need of phlebotomies in patients with polycythemia vera treated with hydroxyurea.

Hematocrit control below 45% is associated with a lower rate of thrombosis in polycythemia vera. In patients receiving hydroxyurea, this target can be achieved with hydroxyurea alone or with the combination of hydroxyurea plus phlebotomies. However, the clinical implications of phlebotomy requirement under hydroxyurea therapy are unknown.

The proliferation index of specific bone marrow cell compartments from myelodysplastic syndromes is associated with the diagnostic and patient outcome.

Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are clonal stem cell disorders which frequently show a hypercellular dysplastic bone marrow (BM) associated with inefficient hematopoiesis and peripheral cytopenias due to increased apoptosis and maturation blockades. Currently, little is known about the role of cell proliferation in compensating for the BM failure syndrome and in determining patient outcome. Here, we analyzed the proliferation index (PI) of different compartments of BM hematopoietic cells in 106 MDS patients compared to both normal/reactive BM (n = 94) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML; n = 30 cases) using multiparameter flow cytometry.

Cell-cycle distribution of different cell compartments in normal versus reactive bone marrow: a frame of reference for the study of dysplastic hematopoiesis.

Limited information is currently available about the proliferation activity and cell-cycle distribution of different bone marrow (BM) cell subsets defined according to their lineage and maturation stage in normal versus cytopenia-associated reactive BM samples. Here, we report a three-color flow cytometry approach to investigate the cell-cycle distribution of different BM cell compartments-CD34(+) hematopoietic progenitor and precursor cells (HPC), maturing neutrophils and monocytic cells, mature lymphocytes, eosinophils, and nucleated red blood cell precursors (NRBC)-from normal (n = 47) versus cytopenia-associated reactive (n = 47) BM samples. Highly similar proliferation profiles were detected in normal versus reactive BM, with a higher proliferation index (PI) for the more immature CD34(+) HPC, CD11b(-) maturing neutrophils and NRBC versus other BM cell compartments.