High relapse incidence remains a major problem for myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) patients who have received an allogeneic hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). We retrospectively analyzed the correlations between clinical outcomes and minimal residual disease (MRD) by using mutations (MUT) and flow cytometry (FCM) analysis of 115 MDS patients with allo-HSCT. We divided 115 MDS patients into four groups based on molecular genetics and FCM MRD results at day 30 post-HSCT. There were significant differences in the 2-year progression-free survival (PFS) between the FCMhigh MUTpos and FCMlow MUTneg groups (20% vs 79%, P < 0.001). In addition, by univariate analysis, we found that an IPSS-R score ≥4 pre-HSCT (HR, 5.061; P=0.007), DNMT3A mutations (HR, 2.291; P=0.052), TP53 mutations (HR, 3.946; P=0.011), and poor and very poor revised International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS-R) cytogenetic risk (HR, 4.906; P < 0.001) were poor risk factors for PFS. In multivariate analysis, we found that an IPSS-R score ≥ 4 pre-HSCT (HR, 4.488; P=0.015), DNMT3A mutations (HR, 2.385; P=0.049), positive FCM MRD combined with persistence gene mutations at day 30 (HR, 5.198; P=0.013) were independent risk factors for disease progression. In conclusion, our data indicated that monitoring MRD by FCM combined with gene mutation clearance at day 30 could help in the prediction of disease progression for MDS patients after transplantation.
A comparison of flow cytometry detection of minimal residual disease and chimerism kinetics in chronic lymphocytic leukemia patients after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation
