What are MDS treatment options?

What are MDS treatment options? For somebody with lower risk MDS, we really guide our treatment options depending on which of the blood counts is most abnormal and causing a person the most trouble at that time. So for example, somebody who has anemia, we might start hormonal therapy in the form of erythropoietin and that can be in the form of recombinant humanized erythropoietin or darbopoietin. Somebody who has anemia with a specific genetic abnormality, the deletion 5q abnormality, we might start the drug lenalidomide. Somebody who has myelodysplastic syndrome with what we call ring sideroblasts, which if you look under a microscope, these cells have these beautiful rings around them almost like they're Saturn, or who has a specific genetic mutation called the SF3B1 mutation, we might start the drug loose patercept to improve that anemia. And somebody who has multiple cell counts that are abnormal, we might start a form of low dose chemotherapy called azacytidine or dcytidine in those folks. Somebody who has higher risk MDS, we often start immediately with that low dose chemotherapy, the azacytidine or dcytidine, and we'll often talk about a bone marrow transplant in those patients. Bone marrow transplant represents the only form of cure for myelodysplastic syndromes. We really offer it to people who have higher risk MDS because it is a procedure that has associated risks with it.