Upon grouping MDS patients according to the PI of BM cells (Table 4), a clear association was observed between a lower PI of non-lymphoid CD34+ precursors (PI: <10% vs ≥10%) and other relevant features of the disease such as anemia (p = 0.006), thrombocytopenia (p = 0.004) and multiple (≥2) cytopenias (p = 0.007), transfusion dependency (p<0.001), increased serum LDH (p = 0.004), intermediate/poor cytogenetics (p<0.001) and transformation to acute leukemia (AL) (p = 0.009). The gene discussed is CD34; the disease is acute leukemia.