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Activity of sirolimus in patients with myelodysplastic syndrome--results of a pilot study.

Platzbecker U, Haase M, Herbst R, Hänel A, Voigtmann K, Thiede CH, Mohr B, Schleyer E, Leopold T, Orth M, Hänel M, Ehninger G, Bornhäuser M

Medizinische Klinik und Poliklinik I des Universitätsklinikum Carl Gustav Carus Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany. uwe.platzbecker@uniklinikum-dresden.de

The pathophysiology of the myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) involves disturbed regulation of angiogenesis, apoptosis, proliferation and differentiation as well as immune surveillance. Increasing data suggest that sirolimus might affect these pathways positively, thus being of possible therapeutic benefit in patients with this disease. Nineteen patients (n = 19) with a median age of 72 years (range 54-80 years) diagnosed with MDS received sirolimus orally with a target blood concentration of 3-12 ng/ml. Sirolimus was administered for a median of 3.7 months (range 0.3-11 months). Three patients [1 x refractory anaemia with excess blasts (RAEB)-2, 1 x RAEB-1, 1 x refractory cytopenia with multilineage dysplasia] showed either a major (1 x platelet, 1 x neutrophil) or a minor (1 x erythroid, 2 x platelet) haematological response according to International Working Group criteria. Major side-effects were hyperlipidaemia (n = 4), stomatitis (n = 3), thrombocytopenia (n = 2) and urinary tract infection (n = 1). These data suggest that sirolimus has activity in a subset of patients with more advanced MDS.

Published 23 February 2005 in Br J Haematol, 128(5): 625-30.
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