Gene expression profiling in myelodysplastic syndrome patients treated with deferasirox

Deferasirox (DFX) is an oral iron chelator used to reduce iron overload caused by frequent red blood cell transfusions in anemic myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) patients. To study molecular mechanisms by which DFX improves outcome in MDS, we analyzed gene expression patterns in MDS patients before and after DFX therapy. Total RNA was isolated from bone marrow CD34+ cells obtained from MDS patients before and after DXF treatment. Gene expression profiles were assayed using Illumina Human HT-12 v. 4 microarrays and the data were validated by RT-qPCR.