Prognostic impact of peripheral blood WT1-mRNA expression in patients with MDS

• DOI: 10.1038/s41408-019-0248-y
• Publication Date: 2019-11-12T13:03:03Z
• Authors: Christina Rautenberg; Ulrich Germing; Sabrina Pechtel; Marius Lamers; Carolin Fischermanns; Paul Jäger; Stefanie Geyh; Rainer Haas; Guido Kobbe; Thomas Schroeder
• Keywords: Univariate analysis; Hematology

Few reports suggested a prognostic impact of Wilms'Tumor-1 (WT1)-mRNA overexpression in MDS, but translation into clinical routine was hampered by limited patients numbers, differing sample sources, non-standardized methods/cut-offs. To evaluate whether WT1-mRNA expression yields additional information, we measured peripheral blood (PB) 94 MDS using standardized assay offering validated cut-off to discriminate between normal and overexpression. Overall, 54 (57%) showed overexpression, while 40 (43%) had expression. This enabled discrimination both healthy controls non-MDS cytopenias. Furthermore, correlated with WHO 2016 subcategories IPSS-R as indicated mean frequency overexpressing within respective subgroups. Regarding the entire group, PB associated prognosis, those showing higher risk for disease progression AML transformation accordingly shorter progression-free, leukemia-free overall survival univariate analysis. In multivariate analysis, status independent more precise prediction PFS, not OS, very low/low intermediate groups. measuring appears valuable support diagnostics refine prognostication provided IPSS-R.