CD34-Positive Blast Count and p53 Expression in Bone Marrow Biopsies of Patients with Low-Risk Myelodysplastic Syndromes: Potential Predictive Tools of Response to Erythropoietin Stimulating Agents

Abstract

Introduction: The first-line therapy for patients with low-risk myelodysplastic syndromes (MDSs) commonly consists of erythropoietin stimulating agents (ESAs), with a response rate ranging from 34 to 62%. For nonresponder patients, outside clinical trials, blood transfusions are the most frequent therapeutic option, with detrimental effect on the quality of life and with risks of iron-overload. Since no studies have been yet conducted on this topic, we investigated the potential predictive role of bone marrow (BM) histological evaluation in patients treated with ESAs. Materials and Methods: We performed a morphological and immunohistochemical retrospective analysis of BM biopsies of 96 patients with low-risk MDSs subsequently treated with ESAs. Results: In our series, substantial morphological overlap was found between responder and nonresponder patients. On the contrary, patients with a percentage of CD34-positive blasts >3% or with p53 protein expression Conclusions: Our study reinforces the role of BM biopsy as diagnostic tool in MDSs, being also able to supply information related to response to ESAs and to its loss over time.