Long-Term Response in a Patient with del(5q) Myelodysplastic Syndrome Who Discontinued Lenalidomide and Obtained a Good Response and Tolerance to Rechallenge

BACKGROUND: The introduction of the immunomodulatory drug lenalidomide has revolutionized the treatment of patients with myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and deletion of the long arm of chromosome 5. Treatment with lenalidomide results in transfusion independence in the majority of patients, but some questions remain unresolved, among them the duration of treatment. Moreover, a number of unexpected long-term remissions in patients who stopped lenalidomide for various reasons have been observed. CASE REPORT: We report the case of a 60-year-old Caucasian male with deletion of the long arm of chromosome 5 and International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS)-defined low-risk MDS who was treated with lenalidomide, achieving complete cytogenetic remission and erythroid response. After tapering off and interrupting the treatment, the patient relapsed and showed a new response by lenalidomide retreatment. Six years after the initial treatment, we registered a durable erythroid long-term response and good tolerance, but there was no evidence of a very profound cytogenetic response compared to using lenalidomide as a first-line treatment. Cytogenetic and fluorescence in situ hybridization together with hemoglobin level, mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and vitamin B(12) level helped us to monitor the patient response; during the various phases of lenalidomide treatment, MCV and vitamin B(12) normalization correlated with good response. CONCLUSION: Lenalidomide interruption and rechallenge in some 5q– MDS patients, with low risk according to the IPSS, is safe and feasible but does not result in a profound cytogenetic response.