These observations emphasize the coordination of mitochondrial and CD71 clearance in erythroid terminal maturation and offer new insights into a role for mitochondrial degeneration in the pathogenesis of some MDS-associated anemia.
Multivariate logistic regression analysis performed in the learning cohort revealed that analysis of expression of CD36 and CD71 (expressed as coefficient of variation), in combination with CD71 fluorescence intensity and the percentage of CD117<sup>+</sup> erythroid progenitors provided the best discrimination between myelodysplastic syndromes and non-clonal cytopenias (specificity 90%; 95% confidence interval: 84-94%).
Changes in peripheral blood are reflected in alterations in cell kinetics, transferrin receptor expression and markedly increased apoptosis and cell death in the bone marrow indicating that TNF-alpha may contribute to myelodysplasia in ACD.