Biological characteristics of myelodysplastic syndrome patients who demonstrated high versus no intramedullary apoptosis

: Spontaneous intramedullary apoptosis was measured in bone marrow (BM) biopsies of 175 patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) using in situ end‐labeling (ISEL) of fragmented DNA. Two groups of high (n = 71) versus low (n = 43) levels of apoptosis were identified while 61 patients were ISEL‐negative. Semiquantitative assessment of 3 cytokines, the number of macrophages and in vivo labeling indices (LI) were also determined from consecutive sections of the biopsy. Patients with high apoptosis levels tended to have a high LI (p = 0.013), more macrophages in their BM biopsies (p = 0.006) and higher tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF‐α) levels (not significant) compared to patients with no apoptosis. In addition, low risk MDS patients had significantly lower rates of apoptosis (p = 0.047) and lower levels of TNF‐α (p = 0.055) compared to high‐risk MDS patients. We conclude that the genesis of cytopenias in MDS is of multifactorial origin and that cytokine‐associated apoptosis clearly identifies a distinct biological subgroup of patients who may benefit selectively by use of anti‐cytokine therapies.