Oncostatin M silence and neopeptide: the value of exploring patients with rare inherited bone marrow failure

Inherited bone marrow failure syndromes (IBMFSs) encompass a diverse group of hematological disorders characterized by a progressive single-lineage cytopenia or pancytopenia. Despite their heterogeneity, these syndromes often result from genetic errors affecting key biological mechanisms, including telomere maintenance, DNA repair and chromosomal stability, and ribosome assembly, generally leading to accelerated apoptosis of hematopoietic cells. Nevertheless, a genetic diagnosis remains elusive in more than half of the cases. The increased risk of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), acute leukemia, and solid tumors associated with IBMFS frequently prompts early hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT). In this issue of the JCI, Garrigue, Kermasson, and colleagues identified a homozygous variant in Oncostatin M (OSM) in 3 children from a consanguineous family presenting with IBMFS characterized by profound anemia, thrombocytopenia, and neutropenia. The findings suggest that the loss-of-function OSM variant affected hematopoietic stem cell function through changes to the bone marrow microenvironment (BMM).