Genome-wide DNA methylation analysis pre- and post-lenalidomide treatment in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome with isolated deletion (5q)

In this study, we aimed to investigate whether global DNA methylation patterns could predict response to lenalidomide. Genome-wide DNA methylation analysis using Illumina 450k methylation arrays was performed onn=51 patients with MDS del5q who were uniformly treated with lenalidomide in a prospective multicenter trial of the German MDS study group. To study potential direct effects of lenalidomide on DNA methylation, 17 paired samples pre- and post-treatment were analyzed. Our results revealed no relevant effect of lenalidomide on methylation status. Furthermore, methylation patterns prior to therapy could not predict lenalidomide response. However, methylation clustering identified a group of patients with a trend towards inferior overall survival. These patients showed hypermethylation of several interesting target genes, including genes of relevant signaling pathways, potentially indicating the evaluation of novel therapeutic targets.
Source: Annals of Hematology - Category: Hematology Source Type: research