title: More cell death in refractory anemia with excess blasts in transformation than in acute myeloid leukemia.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Hematopathology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Y O
authors.initials: YO
authors.lastname: Huh
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Jilani
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Estey
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Giles
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kantarjian
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Freireich
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Albitar
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000754:Anemia, Refractory, with Excess of Blasts / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D017304:Annexin A5 / Q000378:metabolism; D018952:Antigens, CD34 / Q000378:metabolism; D017209:Apoptosis; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000473:pathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D006801:Humans; D007951:Leukemia, Myeloid / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology*; D008564:Membrane Potentials; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000378:metabolism; D009190:Myelodysplastic Syndromes / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D011446:Prospective Studies
chemical_list: D017304:Annexin A5; D018952:Antigens, CD34