Inositide-specific phospholipase c β1 gene deletion in the progression of myelodysplastic syndrome to acute myeloid leukemia

Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is an adult hematological disease that evolves into acute myeloid leukemia (AML) in about 30% of the cases. The availability of a highly specific probe moved us to perform in patients affected with MDS/AML, associated with normal karyotype, painting and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis aimed to check the inositide-specific phospholipase C (PI-PLC) β1 gene, a player in the control of some checkpoints of the cell cycle. Here we present a preliminary observation in which FISH analysis disclosed in a small group of MDS/AML patients with normal karyotype the monoallelic deletion of the PI-PLCβ1 gene. On the contrary, PI-PLC β4, another gene coding for a signaling molecule, located on 20p12.3 at a distance as far as less than 1Mb from PI-PLCβ1, is unaffected in MDS patients with the deletion of PI-PLC β1 gene, hinting at an interstitial deletion. The MDS patients, bearing the deletion, rapidly evolved to AML. The data suggest the possible involvement of PI-PLCβ1 in the progression of the disease and pave the way for a larger investigation aimed at identifying a possible high-risk group among MDS patients with a normal karyotype.