title: Azacytidine for the treatment of retrospective analysis from the Gruppo Laziale for the study of Ph-negative MPN.
abstract: To highlight the role of azacytidine (AZA) in patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms developing blast phase (MPN-BP), we evaluated retrospectively 19 patients [M/F 15/4, median age 71.3 years, interquartile range (IQR) 64.5-77.7] reported in the database of our cooperative group. Median time from diagnosis to BP evolution was 52.7 months (IQR 11.2-181.8). All patients were treated with AZA at the standard dosage of 75 mg/m(2). Two patients died early after 5-AZA initiation from pulmonary fungal infection and respiratory failure respectively, 4 patients had a disease progression, 4 patients a stable disease, 3 patients had an hematological improvement, 1 patient a partial response and 5 pts (26.3%) a complete response (CR) after 4, 4, 4, 5, and 12 months. The median cumulative survival from BP evolution was 9.9 months (95%CI 6.6-13.1): the comparison with an historical cohort of 72 patients with MPN-BP treated with approaches other than AZA (median cumulative survival 3.1 months, 95%CI 1.1-5.0) showed a significant advantage for patients treated with AZA (p=0.02). Our data confirm the relative efficacy and safety of AZA in this group of patients with otherwise dismal prognosis, underlining the possible achievement of long-lasting responses in a sizeable portion of them.
authors.affiliation: UOSA di Ematologia, Ospedale Nuovo Regina Margherita, Roma, Italy. Electronic address: alessandro.andriani1@tin.it.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Andriani
authors.affiliation: UOC di Ematologia, ASL VT, Viterbo, Italy.
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Montanaro
authors.affiliation: Cattedra di Ematologia, Università Cattolica, Policlinico Gemelli, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Teresa
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Voso
authors.affiliation: UOSA di Ematologia, Ospedale Nuovo Regina Margherita, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Nicoletta
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Villivà
authors.affiliation: UOC di Ematologia, Ospedale S. Maria Goretti, Latina, Italy.
authors.forename: Fabrizio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ciccone
authors.affiliation: UOS di Ematologia, Ospedale Santo Spirito, Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Cristina
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Andrizzi
authors.affiliation: UOC di Ematologia, ASL VT, Viterbo, Italy.
authors.forename: Cinzia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: De Gregoris
authors.affiliation: Cattedra di Ematologia, Università "Tor Vergata", Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Ambra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Di Veroli
authors.affiliation: Cattedra di Ematologia, Università "Tor Vergata", Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Maurillo
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di ematologia e biotecnologie, Università "La Sapienza", Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuliana
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Alimena
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di ematologia e biotecnologie, Università "La Sapienza", Roma, Italy.
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Latagliata
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001374:Azacitidine / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001752:Blast Crisis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D054438:Leukemia, Myeloid, Chronic, Atypical, BCR-ABL Negative / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D020360:Neoadjuvant Therapy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000964:Antimetabolites, Antineoplastic; D001374:Azacitidine
keywords: Azacytidine; Blastic phase; MPN