Dissertation committee:
Καψιμάλη-Βαιοπούλου Βιολέττα, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Παπαγεωργίου Ευστάθιος, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Τσιριγώτης Παναγιώτης, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Παππά Βασιλική, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Τσαντές Αργύριος, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Ράπτης Αθανάσιος, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Κοκόρη Στυλιανή, Επίκουρη Καθηγήτρια, Ιατρική, ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
In our study, we prospectively examined the correlation between NKcytotoxic activity, Myeloid-derived Suppressor cells (MDSCs) and TRegulatory cells (Tregs), with the duration of response (DOR) and the overall survival (OS) of patients with high-risk myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and oligoblastic acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) treated with 5-Αzacytidine (AZA), with the aim to identify early biomarkers predictive of the final outcome. Patients enrolled at the study had already received at least three cycles of 5-Αzacytidine treatment. Peripheral blood NKcytotoxicity at completion of chemotherapy is predictive of DOR and OS;
AZA-treated patients with high NK-cytotoxicity survived longer and response to treatment was sustained for a longer period than patients with low NK-cytotoxicity. In contrast, numbers of MDSCs and Tregs in the peripheral blood (PB) of patients after a short exposure to 5-Αzacytidine were not significantly different from normal donors. The results of our study suggest that the therapeutic activity of 5-Αzacytidine is at least partly mediated by an immunomodulatory effect. To our knowledge, this is the first study that shows a positive correlation between NK-cytotoxicity and OS of AZA-treated patients.
Keywords:
Natural killer cell, NK-cytotoxicity, 5-Αzacytidine, Myelodysplastic syndrome, Acute Myeloid Leukaemia
