Prognostic Irrelevance of Ring Sideroblast Percentage in World Health Organization Defined Myelodysplastic Syndromes without Excess Blasts,

Ring sideroblasts (RS) represent abnormal mitochondrial iron deposits that are commonly present in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). The presence of ≥15% RS, by definition (World Health Organization-WHO) is necessary for a diagnosis of a MDS-RS; with refractory anemia with ring sideroblasts (RARS) being a specific morphologic category. RS can also be seen with other morphologic categories such as; refractory cytopenias with multilineage dysplasia (RCMD), MDS-unclassifiable (MDS-U) and refractory anemia with excess blasts (RAEB-1/2). Amongst these categories, RARS is generally believed to have the best survival rate with the lowest risk of leukemic transformation and this has been attributed to the absence of associated dysplasia in more than one lineage. However, it has not been systematically shown whether or not the exact percentage of RS provides additional prognostic information in the context of an accurate morphologic categorization and risk stratification by karyotype or the revised IPSS (IPSS-R).

200 patients with primary MDS without excess blasts and ≥1% RS were seen at the Mayo Clinic from 1997 through 2007. All patients underwent bone marrow (BM) examination and cytogenetic evaluation at diagnosis and the pathology slides, including iron stains, were centrally re-reviewed to accurately quantify bone marrow (BM) RS percentage and to confirm WHO morphologic categories. Molecular profiling included analysis for IDH1, IDH2, JAK2 and MPL mutations. For the purposes of this study patients were divided into 4 categories based on the RS percentage; <5%, 5–14%, 15–50% and >50%. In addition, each patient was assigned IPSS and IPSS-R prognostic scores at diagnosis and risk stratified by karyotype according to the IPSS-R cytogenetic risk categories. Cox proportional regression method was used for multivariable analysis.

Of the overall 200 study patients, 140 (70%) were male and median age was 71 years (range, 17–90 years). At presentation, 34 (17%) patients were red cell transfusion-dependent. There were 56 (28%) patients with <5% RS (RCMD-52, MDS-U-14), 32 (16%) with 5–14% RS (RCMD-29, MDS-U-3), 79 (39%) with 15–50% RS (RARS-43, RCMD-29, MDS-U-2) and 33 (16%) with >50% RS (RARS-13, RCMD-17, MDS-U-3). Three patients (2%) were IDH1 mutant (RARS-1, RCMD-2), 17 (8%) IDH2 mutant (RARS-1, RCMD-14, MDS-U-2), 5 JAK2 V617F (3%) mutant (RARS-2, RCMD-3) and one patient with RCMD had the MPL W515L mutation. At a median follow-up of 33 months, 156 (73%) deaths and 24 (12%) leukemic transformations were documented. Median survivals were 63 months for MDS with >50% RS, 43 months for MDS with 15–50% RS, 35 months for MDS with 5–14% RS, and 14 months for MDS with <5% RS (p=0.005). In univariate analysis, additional risk factors included decreased hemoglobin, decreased platelet count, increased circulating blasts, WHO morphologic categories, red cell transfusion need, IPSS, IPSS-R and cytogenetic risk categories per IPSS-R. On a multivariable analysis only the IPSS-R prognostic score (p<0.0001) and the WHO morphologic categories (p=0.02 for RARS) retained significance. Univariate analysis disclosed significantly inferior leukemia-free survival (LFS) in patients with RCMD, thrombocytopenia, increased circulating blasts, and poor IPSS and IPSS-R prognostic scores. On multivariable analysis once again only the IPSS-R prognostic scores (p=0.02) and WHO morphologic categories (p=0.02) retained their significance. In other words, RS percentage, independent of WHO classification, as a continuous or categorical variable (i.e.: <5%, 5–14%, 15–50% & >50%) did not affect either overall survival or LFS.

In MDS without excess blasts, once an accurate WHO morphologic categorization is made based on the presence or absence of multi-lineage dysplasia, there is no additional prognostic value for quantifying bone marrow ring sideroblasts. WHO classification and IPSS-R prognostic scores remain the most important factors in assessing patients with MDS.

No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.