A research group from the Veneto Institute of Molecular Medicine (VIMM) and the University of Padua, coordinated by Prof. Renato Zambello and Prof. Gianpietro Semenzato, recently released the results of a multicentre Italian study, carried out in collaboration with Prof. Valeria Santini (University of Florence), President of the scientific committee of the Italian Myelodysplastic Syndrome Foundation (FISiM).

The results of the study, published in the prestigious journal Leukemia, show useful characteristics to improve the stratification of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes. The first authors of the article are Dr. Giulia Calabretto (VIMM and Department of Medicine of the University of Padua) and Dr. Enrico Attardi (University of Florence).

Myelodysplastic syndromes include a large and heterogeneous group of haematological diseases, characterized by a high risk of evolution to acute leukemia. Researchers studied the largest reported case history of “hypocellulated” myelodysplastic syndromes, which represented a rare subgroup of MDS. They thus identified the clinical features and molecular markers associated with a longer life expectancy in patients with this disease.

“The discovery opens up important perspectives for the treatment of these patients, as the therapy could be customized according to the disease subgroup – concludes the Scientific Director of the VIMM, Gianpietro Semenzato – At the same time, an accurate and preliminary classification of patients becomes essential”.