Epigenetic Therapy and Growth Factors
Epigenetic therapy involves the use of demethylating agents, a group of drugs that can fight against myelodysplastic syndromes. A specific medication used for this purpose is azacitidine. It can be injected subcutaneously for 7 consecutive days, every 4 weeks for at least 4 to 6 cycles. Some studies have suggested that around 50 percent of high-risk patients report increased quality of life and improvements of symptoms. Another option is decitabine, which have a similar structure to azacytidine. [5]
Many people with myelodysplastic syndromes would benefit from erythropoietin stimulation agents or ESAs, a type of growth factor. Some examples include darbepoetin alfa or epoetin alfa. They should be injected into the fatty tissue to prevent with blood transfusions in several cases. If the white blood cell count gets lower due to myelodysplastic syndromes, your doctor would suggest a colony stimulating factor, such as GM-CSF or G-CSF. They can help improve the production of more white blood cells that can fight against foreign invaders. [6]
