Myelodysplastic syndrome and autoimmune disorders: two sides of the same coin?
Systemic inflammatory and autoimmune diseases and myelodysplastic syndromes have been linked in individual patients and in larger case series for at least 25 years. These associations frequently include thyroid disease, neutrophilic dermatoses, polyarthritis, connective tissue diseases, vasculitis, and autoimmune cytopenias. Studies have found that autoimmune disease (or its therapy) is a risk factor for the development of myelodysplastic syndromes, but such syndromes might also be an instigator of autoimmune disease.