Myelodysplastic Disorders, 5q-Syndrome

The myelodysplastic syndromes (MDSs) are characterized by ineffective erythropoie‐ sis and progressive cytopenia and ultimately affected patients develop acute myeloid leukemia (AML) or die from advanced bone marrow (BM) failure. Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) with isolated del (5q) is a common type of MDS with specific pathological and clinical manifestations including refractory anemia. It is usually treated by (1) supportive measures including blood transfusions that may cause iron overload that requires iron chelation therapy, (2) targeted therapies such as the immunomodulatory drug lenalidomide, and (3) hematopoietic stem cell transplanta‐ tion (HSCT) in transplant eligible individuals. The establishment of the various prognostic systems, the discovery of the new genetic mutations, and the identification of new targets, in MDSs in general and in 5q-syndrome in particular, will hopefully translate into more pinpointed targeted therapies that will further improve the outcomes of patients having these disorders.