Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0026986 (myelodysplastic syndrome)
 14,926 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

WHAT IS HYPOPLASTIC ANEMIA? Aplastic anemia is a hematological disease characterized by pancytopenia and bone marrow hypoplasia. Acquired cases of aplastic anemia are almost all idiopathic and arise from unknown causes. Other cases of aplastic anemia are secondary and are caused by radiation, chemicals or viruses. PATHOPHYSIOLOGY: Aplastic anemia is manifested as a marked reduction in the number of pluripotent hematopoietic stem cells, but why this occurs is still uncertain. Some of the proposed causes include abnormalities of the hematopoietic stem cells, abnormalities in the hematopoietic microenvironment, and immunologically mediated damage to the hematopoietic stem cells (Figure 1). ABNORMALTIES OF THE HEMATOPOIETIC STEM CELLS: Patients with aplastic anemia, and long-term survivors in particular, are at increased risk of developing paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), or acute myelocytic leukemia. This suggests that, in at least some of these patients, the hematopoietic stem cells themselves are abnormal. It also suggests that in some of these patients the blood cells are clonal (that is, all the blood cells are derived from a single pluripotent stem cell). In short, what these findings imply is that aplastic anemia may be caused by the emergence of an abnormal clone. Clonal hematopoiesis, however, can also be considered nothing more than a consequence. In other words, it is possible that hematopoiesis in this kind of patient is performed by a lone pluripotent stem cell that somehow managed to survive eradication. No definitive interpretation of clonal hematopoiesis has been agreed upon, and it is still a topic for future research. ABNORMAL HEMATOPOIETIC MICROENVIRONMENT: The presence of stromal cells, which form the microenvironment of bone marrow, is very important in hematopoiesis. Hematopoietic stem cells proliferate and differentiate either by adhering to stromal cells or by being stimulated by the various hematopoietic factors that stromal cells produce. Therefore, it is quite possible that aplastic anemia is caused by abnormalities in the hematopoietic microenvironment. However, many separate studies have demonstrated that the hematopoietic microenvironment in the vast majority of aplastic anemia cases is normal. IMMUNE MECHANISMS: Immunosuppressive agents are often effective in treating aplastic anemia, and therefore it is believed that immunological mechanisms contribute to the disease in more than half the cases. The following mechanisms have been proposed as causes for the onset of immunologically mediated aplastic anemia: * Decreases in Hematopoietic Factors Produced by Monocytes and Lymphocytes. Some patients with aplastic anemia show decreased production of interleukin 1 (IL-1) by peripheral blood monocytes, and it is possible that a drop in the concentration of this factor is linked to the onset of the disease [1]. It is also possible, however, that decreased IL-1 production by monocytes is not a cause of the disease, but merely a consequence. Moreover, no cases have been reported that exhibit reduced production of hematopoietic factors produced by lymphocytes such as GM-CSF, IL-3, or IL-6. * Damage by Cytokines that Suppress Hematopoiesis. It has been reported that increased levels of interferon &ggr; (IFN-&ggr;), which is produced by lymphocytes, and tumor necrosis factor &agr; (TNF-&agr;), which is produced by monocytes and macrophages, are found in the bone marrow and peripheral blood of aplastic anemia patients [2, 3]. These two factors act as suppressors of hematopoiesis, and it is possible that they contribute to the disease. The increase of these inflammatory cytokines in the bone marrow strongly suggests the presence of either specific or non-specific destruction of the hematopoietic stem cells by immunoregulatory cells. * Suppression of Hematopoiesis by Cytotoxic T Cells (Killer T Cells). Cases have been reported in which cytotoxic T cell clones that damage the autologous hematopoietic precursor cells are present [4]. Therefore, we can easily conceive of a mechanism in which these cytotoxic T cells specifically destroy the hematopoietic stem cells and cause aplastic anemia. * Suppression of Hematopoiesis by Natural Killer (NK) Cells. NK activity of aplastic anemia patients is depressed, and, generally speaking, it is highly unlikely that NK cells contribute to this condition. However, it has been reported that clonal NK cells are thought to cause the disease in patients exhibiting pancytopenia and bone marrow hypoplasia. Therefore, when this disease is diagnosed, a peripheral blood granular lymphocyte count and NK cell surface marker analysis should always be performed. DIAGNOSIS: A necessary condition for the diagnosis of aplastic anemia is the presence of pancytopenia. Moreover, it is necessary to rule out all other causes of pancytopenia. It is especially important in differential diagnosis to look for PNH and MDS. In cases of aplastic anemia there are patients that exhibit PNH during the course of the disease, and this condition is called aplastic anemia-PNH syndrome. It has recently been shown that bone marrow and peripheral blood cells in some patients diagnosed with aplastic anemia are partially lacking GPI anchor proteins (CD16, CD55, and CD59) [5]. Whether such patients become to exhibit aplastic anemia-PNH syndrome in the future remains to be elucidated. In MDS the bone marrow generally exhibits normoplasia or hyperplasia, and only in rare cases does it exhibit hypoplasia. This condition is referred to as hypoplastic MDS. Hypoplastic MDS can be differentiated from aplastic anemia by the presence of abnormal cell morphology that is sometimes accompanied by chromosomal abnormalities. TREATMENT:Aplastic anemia is treated with androgens, high-dose methylprednisolone, cyclosporin A (CyA), antithymocyte globulin (ATG), antilymphocyte globulin (ALG), hematopoietic growth factors such as G-CSF, and bone marrow transplantation. Interestingly, patients who require continuous CyA administration to maintain stable hematopoiesis have a specific HLA class II haplotype (DRB1*1501-DQA1*0102-DQB1*0602) [6]. Recent reports from EBMT SAA Working Party showed the excellent therapeutic result (response rate 82%) when severe cases were treated with ALG, CyA and G-CSF in combination [7].
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PMID:Special Education: Aplastic Anemia. 1038 86

Increased intramedullary apoptotic death of hematopoietic cells is thought to contribute to the ineffective hematopoiesis in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Furthermore, high amounts of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha) have previously been correlated with apoptosis in MDS marrows. The present studies were undertaken to examine the status of two key downstream effectors of TNF alpha signaling, i.e. Caspase 1 and Caspase 3 enzymes, using a fluorometric assay in the bone marrow aspirate mononuclear cells (BMMNC) in relation to apoptotic DNA fragmentation detected by in situ end-labeling (ISEL) of DNA and with localization of TNF alpha in the corresponding biopsies from 14 MDS patients. Both Caspase 1 and 3 were detectable in freshly harvested BMMNC, albeit median Caspase 3 levels (47.5 units/mg protein) being almost 10 times higher than Caspase 1 (4.0 units/mg protein). Upon short-term culture for 4 h in a serum-supplemented medium in vitro a significant increase was seen in Caspase 3 activity (58.8 +/- 13.9 at 0 h vs. 177.8 +/- 55.2 units/mg protein at 4 h, n = 14, P = 0.017) and in percent cells labeled by ISEL (apoptotic index or AI%: 0.76% +/- 0.25% vs. 3.99% +/- 1.1%, n = 14, P = 0.004, respectively). Caspase 1 activity increased after 15 min in culture. Interestingly, TNF alpha levels measured by immunohistochemistry correlated with the net increase in Caspase 3 activity after 4 h (p = 0.517, n = 13, P = 0.07) and the starting levels of Caspase 1 at 0 h correlated with the Caspase 3 levels attained at 4 h (p = 0.593, n = 13, P = 0.033). Additionally when TNF alpha-positive bone marrows (8/14) were compared with the negative marrows (6/14) the Caspase 3 levels were significantly higher in the TNF alpha-positive marrows (189.6 +/- 66.2 vs. 25.0 +/- 14.6 units/mg protein, respectively, P = 0.043). The increase in AI%, though not statistically significant, was also higher in the TNF alpha-positive marrows. Finally in HL60 cells the effects of different Caspase inhibitors and pentoxifylline (PTX) (interferes with lipid signaling of cytokines) on TNF alpha-induced apoptosis were evaluated. TNF alpha treatment significantly increased AI% (P < 0.003) as compared to the untreated controls. A co-treatment with three Caspase inhibitors, zVAD.FMK (inhibitor of Caspases 1 and 3, 10 microM/l), Ac.YVAD.FMK (Caspase 1 inhibitor, 1 microM/l), Ac.DEVD.FMK (Caspase 3 inhibitor, 10 microM/l) as well as PTX (250 microM/l) significantly curtailed the AI% induced by TNF alpha. The present studies thus identify the downstream effectors of TNF alpha-inducible apoptosis in MDS and so also the suppressors of TNF alpha apoptotic signaling. These results may have significant clinical implications in the therapy of MDS in the future.
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PMID:Correlation of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha) with high Caspase 3-like activity in myelodysplastic syndromes. 1040 60

An attempt has been made in this article to summarize the state-of-the-art clinical experience with the use of anti-TNF therapies in four diseased states with special emphasis on myelodysplastic syndromes. Given the central role of TNF-alpha in initiating and perpetuating the chronic damage produced in the diseased organs by controlling a cascade of pro-inflammatory cytokines, as well as its acute role in sepsis, theoretically speaking, neutralization of this peptide was a natural therapeutic choice. Results of the initial clinical trials appear encouraging and sometimes dramatic in their efficacy. The mechanism of response however, is interesting in that even when TNF-alpha is directly targeted by a monoclonal antibody, the resulting benefits can frequently not be attributed to TNF suppression alone. Rather, it appears that a more general effect on the T-lymphocytes is also contributing to the responses being seen. This raises the new possibility of combining anti-cytokine and anti-T-cell strategies to treat at least the more chronic diseases such as Crohn's disease and myelodysplastic syndromes. Continued clinical trials testing these strategies are clearly warranted.
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PMID:Anti-TNF therapies in rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, sepsis, and myelodysplastic syndromes. 1089 88

TNF alpha is a highly active cytokine which plays an important role in the regulation of apoptotic cell death, a mechanism involved in the pathophysiology of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). In this study we investigated the expression of TNF alpha on the bone marrow trephine biopsies by immunohistochemical method and the TNF alpha production of peripheral blood mononuclear cells by ELISA method in 15 patients affected by MDS. Five of seven patients without excess of blasts showed high or intermediate TNF alpha expression in the bone marrow biopsies, whereas two patients with excess of blasts were negative and one had low expression. The five CMML patients revealed low or intermediate expression. The production of TNF alpha by the PBMC was analysed in 10 patients, four patients with RA and two with CMML produced higher level of TNF alpha which increased after stimulation with phorbol myristic acetate, but none of the RAEB patients revealed increase in TNF alpha production. In conclusion we suppose that increased TNF alpha expression and production by PBMC may be a further indirect evidence of the role of increased apoptosis in low risk MDS patients, in the course of progression the cytokine expression and production decreases.
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PMID:[The role of TNF-alpha in myelodysplastic syndrome: immunoserologic and immunohistochemical studies] . 1097 9

Apoptosis (programmed cell death) ensures under physiological conditions cell homeostasis. Under pathological conditions excessive apoptosis, premature apoptosis or delayed or infinite apoptosis of cell is a sign of various serious diseases. Due to intensive research in this field it proved possible to assess nowadays at a molecular level a number of pro- and anti-apoptotic factors and their function in the process of apoptosis. Apoptosis proceeds by external as well as internal pathway. Factors involved in apoptosis are studied from the aspect of their possible therapeutic application in tissue cultures, experimental animals, and there are already some initial reports from human pathology. Delayed or infinite apoptosis is a typical property of tumor cells. So far most attention was paid to two ways of apoptosis induction of tumor cells: suppressed translation of the antiapoptic factor Bcl 2 by means of an antisense nucleotide and induction of apoptosis by TRAIL (TNF related apoptosis inducing ligand). Conversely a delay of premature apoptosis gives hope for hitherto untreatable neurodegenerative diseases, myelodysplastic syndromes, ischaemic events and some severe infections. This is achieved by means of peptides inhibiting caspases. Provided that modulation of cell apoptosis will not be associated with unacceptable side-effects, it will become a new therapeutic approach in hitherto inadequately curable diseases.
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PMID:[Will knowledge of the mechanisms of apoptosis lead to new therapeutic procedures?]. 1156 66

Laboratory observations suggest that, in some myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), immune mechanisms may contribute to the impaired blood cell production. Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), a potent inhibitor of haematopoiesis, has been hypothesized to mediate suppressive effects in MDS: TNF-alpha levels are elevated and correlated with marrow apoptosis and cytopenia. Inhibition of TNF-alpha production using the soluble TNF receptor (Enbrel) has been successful in rheumatoid arthritis, and we have now applied the same principle to MDS. We determined spontaneous TNF-alpha production by marrow cells in MDS; TNF-alpha production was elevated (> mean + 2 x SD of controls) in > 1/3 of patients, but did not correlate with clinical parameters. Sixteen patients participated in a 3-month pilot study of Enbrel. The drug was well tolerated and 15 patients were evaluable. Of these, one became temporarily (14 weeks) transfusion independent. In another patient, absolute neutrophil count (ANC) rose from 0.5 x 10(9)/l to 0.84 x 10(9)/l. Serious infections were seen in two out of six neutropenic patients. Progression to refractory anaemia with excess blasts in transformation (RAEBt) or leukaemia was observed in three patients. When the effects of Enbrel on haematopoietic colony formation were studied, no significant increase was seen in MDS and there was no correlation with TNF-alpha levels. Although anti-TNF therapy with Enbrel was well tolerated at the dosages used in MDS, its efficacy as a single agent appears low.
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PMID:A pilot study of the recombinant soluble human tumour necrosis factor receptor (p75)-Fc fusion protein in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome. 1191 41

In low risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), increased apoptosis of marrow cells is a reproducible finding. Cytokines may drive this apoptosis. Several studies have demonstrated elevated levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in MDS. Soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR:Fc) can eliminate biologically active TNF in vivo. This data provided the rationale for a clinical trial of TNFR:Fc in low risk MDS. Eligibility was limited to cytopenic MDS patients with < 10% marrow blasts. Secondary MDS was an exclusion. The study design was to administer 25mg TNFR:Fc twice a week for 10 weeks. Toxicity did not exceed grade 1. No responses were observed in the 10 treated patients and one had disease progression. At this dosing schedule, TNFR:Fc is unlikely to ameliorate cytopenias in low risk MDS.
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PMID:Pilot study of recombinant human soluble tumor necrosis factor receptor (TNFR:Fc) in patients with low risk myelodysplastic syndrome. 1219 63

LIGHT is a recently cloned novel cytokine belonging to the TNF family that is selectively expressed on immature dendritic cells (iDCs) generated from monocytes isolated from human PBMCs. In these studies, we demonstrate that exogenous soluble LIGHT or soluble CD40 ligand (CD40L) can promote monocyte-derived dendritic cell maturation in vitro by the up-regulation of CD86, CD80, CD83, and HLA-DR antigen expression. Immature dendritic cells differentiated from monocytes of MDS patients displayed lower levels of costimulatory and HLA-DR molecules compared with iDCs differentiated from monocytes of normal subjects. However, upon induction of maturation by LIGHT or CD40L, the expression of costimulatory and HLA-DR molecules is comparable between DCs from MDS and normal subjects. Exogenous LIGHT- and CD40L-stimulated mature DCs (mDCs) also displayed increased antigen presentation to autologous T lymphocytes (tetanus toxin) or allogeneic T lymphocytes in mixed lymphocyte reactions. DCs matured by LIGHT showed increased secretion of IL-6, IL-12p75, and TNF-alpha, but not IL-1beta. We conclude that both LIGHT and CD40L are immunoregulating factors that induce monocyte-derived iDCs from MDS patients to undergo maturation resulting in increased antigen presentation and T-cell activation. Monocyte-derived DCs can be stimulated to undergo phenotypic and functional changes with LIGHT that might be applied in the development of a DC-based vaccine for MDS treatment.
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PMID:The effect of LIGHT in inducing maturation of monocyte-derived dendritic cells from MDS patients. 1510 4

Recent progress in understanding the pathobiology of the myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) have led to the development of various immunologically oriented therapies for these diseases. The existence of elevated levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) in bone marrow during early stages of MDS, and the possibility that TNF- proportional, variant suppresses normal hematopoiesis led to studies of attempts to block the activity of TNF-alpha. An anti-TNF monoclonal antibody and an antibody comprised of the soluble extracellular ligand-binding portion of the TNF receptor have both been evaluated recently in several small pilot studies. The recognition that marrow suppression in MDS may, in part, be a T-cell mediated autoimmune process has stimulated various trials of antithymocyte globulin and other similar agents. Gemtuzumab ozogamicin, an antibody against CD33 conjugated to the cytotoxic agent calicheamicin, is approved for use in AML and is currently being investigated as a potential therapeutic agent in MDS. Clinical trials were conducted as either monotherapy or in combination with cytokines such as IL-11 and chemotherapeutic agents including idarubicin, fludarabine, and/or cytarabine. Other antibodies are being developed as immunoconjugates with radioisotopes as part of conditioning regimens prior to bone marrow transplantation for AML or MDS. These include (131)I-anti-CD45 antibody (BC8), (131)I anti-CD33 antibody (p67), (213)Bi-M195 antibody, and (188)Re-labeled anti-CD66 antibody. The clearest example of successful immunotherapy for MDS (and AML) is the use of the graft-versus-tumor effect associated with allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation. Recently, nonmyeloablative transplants have been explored with encouraging results. Vaccines using overexposed self-antigens such as WT1 and PR1 are other attempts to induce a T-cell mediated response against MDS.
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PMID:Immunobiologic therapies for myelodysplastic syndrome. 1549 1

Accumulating evidence indicates tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-a) as a key cytokine in the pathogenesis of the myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). The identification of TNF-a as a regulator of apoptosis and the increased susceptibility of MDS cells to this cytokine provided the basis for several clinical trials of TNF inhibitors. Infliximab is an IgG1 chimeric anti-TNF-a monoclonal antibody composed of human constant and murine variable regions that bind specifically to both soluble and membrane-bound TNF-a. To date, only 2 studies have investigated the use of infliximab in patients with low-risk MDS. In both reports the drug showed a limited but significant activity and a favorable side-effect profile. In some patients, hematopoietic response was associated with decreased apoptosis as well as a decrease in abnormal metaphases by 50%. Further studies are currently underway and should provide useful information to define the more responsive subtypes of MDS, the patient characteristics, and the proper dosing regimen.
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PMID:Infliximab chimeric antitumor necrosis factor-a monoclonal antibody as potential treatment for myelodysplastic syndromes. 1601 78


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