More cell death in refractory anemia with excess blasts in transformation than in acute myeloid leukemia

• Published in: Leukemia Vol. 16; no. 11; pp. 2249 - 2252
• Main Authors: HUH, Y. O, JILANI, I, ESTEY, E, GILES, F, KANTARJIAN, H, FREIREICH, E, ALBITAR, M
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing 01.11.2002; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: Acute Disease; Acute myeloid leukemia; Anemia; Anemia, Refractory, with Excess of Blasts - metabolism; Anemia, Refractory, with Excess of Blasts - pathology; Annexin A5 - metabolism; Annexin V; Antigens, CD34 - metabolism; Apoptosis; Biological and medical sciences; Blast cells; Bone marrow; Bone Marrow - pathology; Case-Control Studies; Cell death; Flow Cytometry; Hematologic and hematopoietic diseases; Humans; Leukemia; Leukemia, Myeloid - metabolism; Leukemia, Myeloid - pathology; Leukemias. Malignant lymphomas. Malignant reticulosis. Myelofibrosis; Medical sciences; Membrane Potentials; Mitochondria; Mitochondria - metabolism; Myelodysplastic syndrome; Myelodysplastic syndromes; Myelodysplastic Syndromes - metabolism; Myelodysplastic Syndromes - pathology; Prospective Studies; Refractory anemia; Subgroups; Human; Pathophysiology; Cell death; Acute; Malignant hemopathy; Blast transformation; Comparative study; Myelodysplastic syndrome; Refractory anemia with excess blasts; Apoptosis; Acute myelocytic leukemia
• ISSN: 0887-6924; 1476-5551
• DOI: 10.1038/sj.leu.2402704

Refractory anemia with excess blasts in transformation (RAEB-T) is a subgroup of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) in which the bone marrow blast count ranges from 20% to 30%. The recently proposed World Health Organization Classification of Hematologic Malignancies eliminated this category from MDS by lowering the blast count cutoff for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) from 30% to 20%. However, MDS is distinguished from AML by a significant increase in apoptosis. To investigate the difference in apoptosis between RAEB-T, AML, and other categories of MDS, we prospectively analyzed fresh bone marrow samples using the Annexin V and mitochondrial potential assays. There was a significantly higher level of apoptosis in RAEB-T than in AML according to both assays, while no significant differences between RAEB-T and other categories of MDS were noted. The data suggest that RAEB-T is more likely to be an advanced stage of MDS and biologically different from AML.