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The role of somatic mutations in the pathogenesis of myelodysplastic syndrome
Minařík, Ľubomír ; Stopka, Tomáš (advisor) ; Žák, Pavel (referee) ; Beličková, Monika (referee)
9 Abstract: Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a set of severe hematological diseases characterized by ineffective clonal hematopoiesis in the bone marrow, leading to cytopenia in the peripheral blood, the development of transfusion dependence and a high risk of progression to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The disease is caused by genetic and epigenetic changes leading to the development of pathological stem cells that are unable to mature sufficiently in the bone marrow into blood elements. These changes vary widely between patients, which is reflected in different clinical manifestations, response to treatment, overall survival and, last but not least, this heterogeneity represents a challenge for the study of this disease. The present dissertation is aimed at studying the pathophysiological manifestations and consequences of selected genetic alterations, especially somatic mutations of key genes and other functional units of the genome, in relation to the clinical course of MDS and transformation to AML. Therapy of high-risk MDS is currently based on hypomethylating drugs including 5- azacytidine (AZA). Treatment leads to prolongation of disease progression to AML, but this fate is irreversible for the vast majority of patients whose prognosis becomes hopeless at this point. Results of genetic analysis...
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