Block M, Jacobson LO, Bethard WF.

Preleukemic Acute Human Leukemia.
Journal of the American Medical Association 1953; 152: 1018-1028.
Description: This case series of 12 patients provided evidence of a preleukemic period characterized by indolent bone marrow failure with progressive cytopenias and morphological marrow changes.
PubMed citation number: 13052490

Greenberg PL, Nichols W, Schrier SL.

Granulopoiesis in Acute Myeloid Leukemia and Preleukemia.
New England Journal of Medicine 1971; 284:1225-1231.
Description: Bridging basic research and clinical disease, this paper described differential in vitro hematopoietic growth regulation between preleukemia and AML.
PubMed citation number: 5280338

van den Berghe H, Cassiman J-J, Fryns J-P, Michaux J-L, Sokal G.

Distinct Haematological Disorder with Deletion of the Long Arm of No. 5 Chromosome.
Nature 1974; 251: 437-438.
Description: In the setting of previously described association of CML with the Philadelphia chromosome, this case series of 3 patients with refractory anemia and a novel karyotypic abnormality (5q-) reinforced the theory that acquired clonal cytogenetic abnormalities are associated with distinct clinical and pathological phenotypes and spurred the discovery of hematopoietic growth regulators on the long arm of chromosome 5.
PubMed citation number: 4421285

Bennett JM, Catovsky D, Daniel MT, Flandrin G, Galton DAG, Gralnick HR, Sultan C, the French-American-British (FAB) Cooperative Group.

Proposals for the Classification of the Myelodysplastic Syndromes.
British Journal of Haematology 1982; 51: 189-199.
Description: This systematic and straight-forward morphologic classification of MDS created diagnostic criteria and established the prognostic significance of MDS subtypes; this framework facilitated further clinical and basic research based on the distinctions among the subtypes.
PubMed citation number: 6952920

Kantarjian HM, Keating MJ, Walters RS, Smith TL, Cork A, McCredie KB, Freireich EJ.

Therapy-related Leukemia and Myelodysplastic Syndrome: Clinical, Cytogenetic, and Prognostic Features.
Journal of Clinical Oncology 1986; 4: 1748-1757.
Description: This study helped to define the distinct clinical and biological features of secondary MDS/AML, facilitating changes in oncology practices to reduce the risk of secondary MDS/AML while highlighting the need for earlier consideration of experimental therapy given the particularly poor prognosis of secondary MDS/AML.
PubMed citation number: 3783201

Janssen JWG, Buschle M, Layton M, Drexler HG, Lyons J, van den Berghe H, Heimpel H, Kubanek B, Kleihauer E, Mufti GJ, Bartram CR.

Clonal Analysis of Myelodysplastic Syndromes: Evidence of Multipotent Stem Cell Origin.
Blood 1989;73; 248-254.
Description: Using RFLP and X-inactivation analysis, this report demonstrated that MDS is a clonal disorder arising from a multipotent myeloid-lymphoid stem cell. Techniques assessing clonality in MDS have applications in prognostication research into the genetic lesions responsible for leukemogenesis.
PubMed citation number: 2562924

Negrin RS, Haeuber DH, Nagler A, Kobayashi Y, Sklar J, Donlon T, Vincent M, Greenberg PL.

Maintenance Treatment of Patients with Myelodysplatic Syndromes Using Recombinant Human Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor.
Blood 1990; 76: 36-43.
Description: This study was the first to establish the tolerability, efficacy and mechanism (differentiation of the abnormal clone) of long-term subcutaneous GCSF administration for improving neutropenia in MDS patients and prompted further investigations into the long-term use of G-CSF.
PubMed citation number: 1694702

Anderson JE, Appelbaum FR, Fisher LD, Schoch G, Shulman H, Anasetti C, Bensinger WI, Bryant E, Buckner CD, Doney K, Martin PJ, Sanders JE, Sulllivan KM, Thomas ED, Witherspoon RP, Hansen JA, Storb R.

Allogeneic Bone Marrow Transplantation for 93 Patients with Myelodysplastic Syndrome.
Blood 1993; 82: 677-681.
Description: This relatively large study (93 patients) confirmed that allogeneic BMT is associated with a long-term remission in approximately 40% of eligible MDS patients. Additional follow-up currently available has been useful for establishing prognostic factors for MDS patients receiving allogeneic BMT.
PubMed citation number: 8329721

Raza A, Gezer S, Mundle S, Gao X-Z, Alvi S, Borok R, Rifkin S Iftikhar A, Shetty V, Parcharidou A, LoewJ, Marcus B, Khan Z, Chaney C, Showel J, Gregory S, Preisler H.

Apoptosis in Bone Marrow Biopsy Samples Involving Stromal and Hematopoietic Cells in 50 Patients with Myelodysplastic Syndromes.
Blood 1995; 86: 268-276.
Description: This paper describes the high incidence of intramedullary apoptosis in MDS, providing an explanation for the observed “ineffective hematopoiesis” of MDS, where peripheral cytopenias may paradoxically coexist with normal or hypercellular marrows.
PubMed citation number: 7795232

Greenberg P, Cox C, LeBeau MM, Fenaux P, Morel P, Sanz G, Sanz M, Vallespi T, Hamblin T, Oscier D, Ohyashiki K, Toyama K, Aul C, Mufti G, Bennett J.

International Scoring System for Evaluating Prognosis in Myelodysplastic Syndromes.
Blood 1997; 89: 2079-2088
Description: The IPSS improved on the prognostic ability of the FAB classification of MDS, allowing for more accurate design and interpretation of clinical trials as well as risk-based treatment strategies.
PubMed citation number: 9058730

Hellstrom-Lindberg E, Gulbrandsen N, Lindberg G, Ahlgren T, Dahl IM, Dybedal I, Grimfors G, Hesse-Sundin E, Hjorth M, Kanter-Lewensohn L, Linder O, Luthman M, Lofvenberg E, Oberg G, Porwit-MacDonald A, Radlund A, Samuelsson J, Tangen JM, Winquist I, Wisloff F; Scandinavian MDS Group.

A validated decision model for treating the anaemia of myelodysplastic syndromes with erythropoietin + granulocyte colony-stimulating factor: significant effects on quality of life.
British Journal of Haematology 2003 Mar;120(6):1037-46.
Description: This paper validates a previously developed decision model for treatment of anemia in MDS based on both quality of life and laboratory measurements of improvement.
PubMed citation number: 12648074

Reviews

Steensma DP, Tefferi A

The myelodysplastic syndrome(s): a perspective and review highlighting current controversies.
Leuk Res. 2003 Feb; 27(2): 95-120
Description: Discusses recent developments and controversies in MDS, including the WHO re-classification proposal.
PubMed citation number: 12526916

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