Myelodysplasia Syndrome, Clonal Hematopoiesis and Cardiovascular Disease

Abstract

The development of myelodysplasia syndromes (MDS) is multiphasic and can be driven by a plethora of genetic mutations and/or abnormalities. MDS is characterized by a hematopoietic differentiation block, evidenced by increased immature hematopoietic cells, termed blast cells and decreased mature circulating leukocytes in at least one lineage (i.e., cytopenia). Clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP) is a recently described phenomenon preceding MDS development that is driven by somatic mutations in hemopoietic stem cells (HSCs). These mutant HSCs have a competitive advantage over healthy cells, resulting in an expansion of these clonal mutated leukocytes. In this review, we disc..