Spontaneous remission in a patient with therapy-related myelodysplastic syndrome (t-MDS) with monosomy 7

Abstract

We describe a case of spontaneously reversible refractory anaemia, a subtype of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), with monosomy 7 secondary to chronic treatment with azathioprine (AZA) in a young renal transplant recipient. AZA was stopped after that conventional cytogenetics and fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) had demonstrated the existence of a monosomy 7 clone. 4 months later, haematological values had considerably improved and the karyotypic examination as well as the FISH analysis were normal. The spontaneous remission of this MDS with monosomy 7, which is usually associated with a particularly poor prognosis. could be due to the recovery of a better immunosurveillance following the withdrawal of AZA.