High-throughput DNA sequencing significantly contributed to diagnosis and prognostication in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). We determined the biological and prognostic significance of genetic aberrations in MDS. In total, 944 patients with various MDS subtypes were screened for known/putative mutations/deletions in 104 genes using targeted deep sequencing and array-based genomic hybridization. In total, 845/944 patients (89.5%) harbored at least one mutation (median, 3 per patient; range, 0–12). Forty-seven genes were significantly mutated with TET2, SF3B1, ASXL1, SRSF2, DNMT3A, and RUNX1 mutated in >10% of cases. Many mutations were associated with higher risk groups and/or blast elevation. Survival was investigated in 875 patients. By univariate analysis, 25/48 genes (resulting from 47 genes tested significantly plus PRPF8) affected survival (P<0.05). The status of 14 genes combined with conventional factors revealed a novel prognostic model (‘Model-1') separating patients into four risk groups (‘low', ‘intermediate', ‘high', ‘very high risk') with 3-year survival of 95.2, 69.3, 32.8, and 5.3% (P<0.001). Subsequently, a ‘gene-only model' (‘Model-2') was constructed based on 14 genes also yielding four significant risk groups (P<0.001). Both models were reproducible in the validation cohort (n=175 patients; P<0.001 each). Thus, large-scale genetic and molecular profiling of multiple target genes is invaluable for subclassification and prognostication in MDS patients.

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Steroid refractory chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) is associated with a significant morbidity and mortality. Although first-line treatment of cGVHD is based on controlled trials, second-line treatment is almost solely based on phase II trials or retrospective analyses. The consensus conference on clinical practice in cGVHD held in Regensburg aimed to achieve a consensus on the current evidence of treatment options as well as to provide guidelines for daily clinical practice. Treatment modalities are the use of steroids and calcineurin inhibitors as well as immunomodulating modalities (photopheresis, mTOR-inhibitors, thalidomide, hydroxychloroquine, vitamin A analogs, clofazimine), and cytostatic agents (mycophenolate mofetil, methotrexate, cyclophosphamide, pentostatin). Recent reports showed some efficacy of rituximab, alemtuzumab, and etanercept in selected patients. Moreover, tyrosine kinase inihibitors such as imatinib came into the field because of their ability to interfere with the platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF-R) pathway involved in fibrosis. An other treatment option is low-dose thoracoabdominal irradiation. Although different treatment options are available, the "trial-and-error system" remains the only way to identify the drug effective in the individual patient, and valid biomarkers are eagerly needed to identify the likelihood of response to a drug in advance. Moreover, the sparse evidence for most treatment entities indicates the urgent need for systematic evaluation of second-line treatment options in cGVHD.

We analyzed 2502 patients with acute myeloid leukemia at diagnosis for NRAS mutations around the hot spots at codons 12, 13, and 61 and correlated the results to cytomorphology, cytogenetics, other molecular markers, and prognostic relevance of these mutations. Two hundred fifty-seven (10.3%) of 2502 patients had NRAS mutations (NRAS mut ). Most mutations (112 of 257; 43.6%) were found at codon 12, mostly resulting in changes from glycine to asparagine. The history of AML did not differ significantly in association with NRAS mutations. The subgroups with inv(16)/t(16;16) and inv(3)/ t(3;3) showed a significantly higher frequency of NRAS mut (50 of 133, 37.6% [P < .001], and 11 of 41, 26.8% [P ‫؍‬ .004], respectively) than the total cohort. In addition, in these 2 subgroups, mutations of codon 61 were significantly overrepresented (both P < .001). In contrast, NRAS mutations were significantly underrepresented in t(15;17) (2 of 102; 2%; P ‫؍‬ .005) in the subgroup with MLL/11q23 rearrangements (3 of 77; 3.9%; P ‫؍‬ .061) and in the complex aberrant karyotype (4 of 258; 1.6%; P < .001). Overall, we did not find a significant prognostic impact of NRAS mut for overall survival, event-free survival, and disease-free survival. However, there was a trend to better survival in most subgroups, especially when other molecular markers (FLT3-LM, MLL-PTD, and NPM) were taken into account. (Blood. 2006;107:3847-3853)

After relapse from allogeneic HSCT1, HSCT2 can induce 2-year OS in approximately 25% of patients. Unrelated HSCT2 is feasible after related and unrelated HSCT1. Donor change for HSCT2 is a valid option. However, a clear advantage in terms of OS could not be demonstrated.