Patients With a 17p Deletion: Understanding Disease Behavior and Treatment Options

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Andrew Schorr:

Dr. Furman, so you mentioned it earlier and we've heard about a lot of programs, the 17p deletion and I almost think of it as the dreaded 17p deletion, but is that necessarily true?  Pam wrote in, she said, I have the 17p deletion.  What are my options?  So first of all, are all 17ps alike, and then what are the options? 

Dr. Furman:

So the thing that's most important to keep in mind when we talk about prognostic markers is they're really just surrogates for clinical behavior.  And so the answer always is going to be if you have historical data that's always going to trump the prognostic marker. 

So someone who is 17p deleted and their disease has remained stable for the last five years, their disease is stable, and the 17p deletion is not going to be what drives the prognosis.  I think that's very important because when you look at a curve you're going to see some people doing well and coming off the curve late and some people doing poorly coming off the curve early.  You know, where they are on the curve we have no idea how to predict.  All we know is that they're on a particular curve.  So prognostic markers tell us about the population, never about the individual. 

Now, with that being said, we do know 17p deletion a lot of it, the percentage of the deletion if you're above 20 or below 20 does have an impact on how you do overall.  So 20 percent and below, they—patients seem to have a better prognostic outcome than the patients who have 20 percent and above. 

With that being said, I do have patients who have 17p deletion in 70 percent of their cells and they're just hanging out doing quite nicely.  So clinical behavior does trump everything else. 

Please remember the opinions expressed on Patient Power are not necessarily the views of our sponsors, contributors, partners or Patient Power. Our discussions are not a substitute for seeking medical advice or care from your own doctor. That’s how you’ll get care that’s most appropriate for you.