Hypomethylating Agent Therapy in Myelodysplastic Syndromes With Chromosome 3 Abnormalities

Abnormalities of chromosome 3 in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), that is, inversion 3 (inv[3]), translocation 3q (t[3q]), or deletion 3q (del[3q]), are defined as poor-risk karyotypes in the Revised International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS-R). The objective of this study was to further define the outcomes of patients with MDS with chromosome 3 abnormalities and address the impact of hypomethylating agent (HMA) therapy on this patient subset.

Through the MDS Clinical Research Consortium, we identified 411 patients with chromosome 3 abnormalities and MDS or oligoblastic acute myeloid leukemia (20%-30% blasts).

Specific chromosome 3 aberrations and cytogenetic complexity were predictive of survival; patients with t(3q) and isolated chromosome 3 had improved overall survival (OS), albeit still poor, whereas patients with complex cytogenetics, including those with 3p abnormalities, had inferior OS. Overall response rates to HMAs among this patient population were similar to those of patients with nonchromosome 3-MDS (52%, with a 25% complete remission rate), although with higher response rates in decitabine-treated patients (69% vs. 45%, P = .008). HMA therapy improved the OS of patients with higher-risk MDS compared with intensive chemotherapy (median OS of 15.5 vs. 8.2 months; P  =  .017). This improvement remained significant in multivariate analyses (hazard ratio, 0.60; P  =  .018); however, there were no chromosome 3 aberrations among this subgroup predictive of improved response rates to or survival from HMAs.

Patients with MDS with chromosome 3 abnormalities represent a cytogenetic cohort with poor OS, and there is an urgent need for novel therapeutic strategies.