Management of iron overload in adult myelodysplastic syndrome

The clinical benefits of iron overload (IOL) management in hereditary anemias, including organ preservation and dramatically improved overall survival (OS), are widely accepted. Adult myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) patients are older and may have comorbidities, treatments to extend OS are limited, and the clinical benefits of IOL management have been more challenging to demonstrate due to little prospective data in this population. However, current prognostic systems identify MDS patients with reasonable life expectancy who may benefit from IOL management. Half of MDS patients ultimately become dependent on red blood cell transfusion and develop transfusional IOL. Considerable preclinical and clinical data have accumulated indicating the adverse impact of IOL on multiple cellular and clinical end points and a clinical benefit to IOL management in MDS, which should be considered in some patients. Here we provide an overview of salient data in the usual (nonhematopoietic stem cell transplant) clinical MDS setting, summarize mechanisms of iron toxicity including increased radiologically detectable organ stores and redox-active iron-mediated tissue damage, furnish strategies for the identification of IOL, and suggest a framework for IOL severity and IOL reduction. We review which patients are appropriate for IOL management, recommend an appropriate time to intervene, discuss evidence supporting a clinical benefit to IOL management, and recommend how to off-load iron. We identify data gaps for future study and forecast future tools that may become available to minimize IOL toxicity in MDS.