DNA methylation of WT1 gene and Vidaza

[Birgitta-A]

Hi All,
Perhaps they have at last found a "test" that can indicate if a patient will respond to treatment with Vidaza (azacitidine or AZA) before the treatment is started.

"We have identified a DNA methylation signature that correlates with Overall Survival in the unpurified pre-treatment BoneMarrow aspirate samples of AZA-treated higher-risk MDS patients. We have also demonstrated that DNA methylation of WT1 loci alone was predictive of Overall Survival. As these markers could be used to make therapeutic choices for patients with MDS, their predictive values warrant further validation in a larger independent data set."

http://ash.confex.com/ash/2011/webprogram/Paper41576.html
Kind regards
Birgitta-A

[Neil Cuadra]

That's amazing news. I hope they start a larger study immediately.

[Birgitta-A]

Hi Neil,
Yes, since the study was done at Johns Hopkins - a top hospital - they are hopefully already trying to validate the preliminary results.
Kind regards
Birgitta-A

[cathybee1]

This is really big news, Birgitta. Thank you, as always, for helping us stay aware of all these new developments.

[Birgitta-A]

Hi Catherine,
Thank you for the kind words!

You know when I looked for MDS there should be 466 abstracts at the conference but many of them are sessions without papers, that we can read. In any case we can be sure that they are doing a lot of reseach about our disease :).

Since dx I have been looking for the very important issue - what treatment is the best for the individual patient - and this is the first interesting new about Vidaza. For ATG and Revlimid they have found the criteria for best response several years ago.
Kind regards
Birgitta-A