Shiseki M, Ishii M, Miyazaki M, et al. - Researchers investigated if there is a role of reduced PLCG1 expression due to haploinsufficiency by del(20q) [deletion of the long arm of chromosome 20] in the molecular pathogenesis of myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS). In 116 MDS patients with or without del(20q), they assessed PLCG1 expression in bone marrow mononuclear cells at diagnosis by means of quantitative RT-PCR in order to assess its clinical significance. MDS patients with del(20q) as well as those without del(20q) exhibited a significantly lower expression level of PLCG1 vs that of the controls, this indicates that decreased PLCG1 expression represents a common molecular event in MDS. A link of reduced PLCG1 expression with lower overall survival (OS) was suggested in univariate and multivariate analysis, this implies that decreased PLCG1 expression represents an independent prognostic factor for OS. Overall, the level of PLCG1 expression at time of diagnosis was identified as a prognostic biomarker for MDS.