Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hematol. Feb 6, 2016; 5(1): 1-22
Published online Feb 6, 2016. doi: 10.5315/wjh.v5.i1.1
Insights into myelodysplastic syndromes from current preclinical models
Shuh Ying Tan, Monique F Smeets, Alistair M Chalk, Harshal Nandurkar, Carl R Walkley, Louise E Purton, Meaghan Wall
Shuh Ying Tan, Monique F Smeets, Alistair M Chalk, Carl R Walkley, Louise E Purton, Stem Cell Regulation Unit, St. Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research, Fitzroy 3065, Victoria, Australia
Shuh Ying Tan, Harshal Nandurkar, Carl R Walkley, Louise E Purton, Meaghan Wall, Department of Medicine, St. Vincent’s Hospital, Fitzroy 3065, Victoria, Australia
Shuh Ying Tan, Harshal Nandurkar, Department of Hematology, St. Vincent’s Hospital, Fitzroy 3065, Victoria, Australia
Meaghan Wall, Victorian Cancer Cytogenetics Service, St. Vincent’s Hospital, Fitzroy 3065, Victoria, Australia
Author contributions: Tan SY, Purton LE and Wall M conceived the paper; Tan SY performed the literature review; all authors contributed to the writing of the paper and gave the final approval for the submission of the paper.
Supported by The Leukemia Foundation and NHMRC, the Victorian State Government Operational Infrastructure Support Scheme.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no potential conflicts of interest. Shuh Ying Tan is the recipient of the Leukemia Foundation Clinical PhD Scholarship supported by Andrew Cadigan in honor of Chris Simpson. Carl Walkley was the Philip Desbrow Senior Research Fellow of the Leukemia Foundation. Louise Purton is a Senior Research Fellow of the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Meaghan Wall, MBBS, PhD, Victorian Cancer Cytogenetics Service, St. Vincent’s Hospital, 41 Victoria Parade, Fitzroy 3065, Victoria, Australia. meaghan.wall@svha.org.au
Telephone: +61-3-92314154 Fax: +61-3-92314155
Received: September 27, 2015
Peer-review started: October 3, 2015
First decision: October 27, 2015
Revised: November 17, 2015
Accepted: December 13, 2015
Article in press: December 14, 2015
Published online: February 6, 2016
Abstract

In recent years, there has been significant progress made in our understanding of the molecular genetics of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). Using massively parallel sequencing techniques, recurring mutations are identified in up to 80% of MDS cases, including many with a normal karyotype. The differential role of some of these mutations in the initiation and progression of MDS is starting to be elucidated. Engineering candidate genes in mice to model MDS has contributed to recent insights into this complex disease. In this review, we examine currently available mouse models, with detailed discussion of selected models. Finally, we highlight some advances made in our understanding of MDS biology, and conclude with discussions of questions that remain unanswered.

Keywords: Myelodysplastic syndromes, Mouse models, Genetic mutations

Core tip: Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are a heterogeneous group of clonal hematopoietic disorders. In recent years, we have witnessed a rapidly expanding catalog of MDS candidate genes. Mirroring this, there has been an increased number of candidate genes employed to model MDS. Here, we aim to review currently available mouse models of MDS, highlighting models that are robust and well-characterized phenotypically with a particular focus on models that demonstrate close resemblance to the human disease.