Authors: Massimo Breccia Giuliana Alimena
Publish Date: 2013/02/17
Volume: 92, Issue: 7, Pages: 863-870
Abstract
Transfusion dependence in myelodysplastic syndrome MDS patients may lead to organ damage due to accumulation of nontransferrinbound iron with consequent increased oxidative stress Iron chelation has been reported in retrospective studies to improve overall survival in lowrisk MDS patients but this information needs to be validated in prospective trials The oral iron chelator deferasirox has been shown to reduce serum ferritin levels in chelation naïve and pretreated patients and to reduce labile plasma iron independently from the efficacy on iron overload Deferasirox is a potent NFkB inhibitor tested in vivo and on acute myeloid leukemia and MDS cell lines and this effect may explain in part the phenomenon of hematological improvements reported in case reports and in different clinical trials The drug has an acceptable safety profile with the most common side effects reported being nonprogressive change in serum creatinine level gastrointestinal disturbances and skin rash In this review we report the results of different studies testing safety and efficacy of deferasirox in MDS patients side effects associated with the drug and suggested management of iron overload
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