Myelodysplastic syndrome is characterized by cytopenia and hematopoietic failure, and in severe cases, it can develop into myeloid leukemia. Myelodysplastic syndrome is characterized by cytopenia and hematopoietic failure, and in severe cases, it can develop into myeloid leukemia. This disease is more common in middle-aged and elderly people. Bone marrow transplantation is an effective method to treat the disease, but it is easy to cause complications and is often not suitable for elderly patients.

The use of azacytidine is another treatment. Azacytidine can effectively promote the hematopoietic function of patients and reduce the risk of the disease developing into leukemia. However, in clinic, about half of patients have no therapeutic effect after injection of azacytidine, and it takes 4 to 6 months to confirm that the drug is ineffective, which delays valuable treatment time.

In view of this situation, researchers from the University of New South Wales, Australia and the University of Technology, Sydney have developed a method for detecting N-cytidine by mass spectrometry. The new method can quantitatively detect the amount of azacytidine in patients' cells and quickly judge whether the drug is effective.

Ashwin Unikrishnan, who participated in the study, explained that his team had previously found that after taking azacytidine, the number of azacytidine in cells would decrease. So they developed this method on this basis. The new method can accurately measure the content of azacytidine in cells, and patients need only take it for a short time to determine whether the drug is effective without waiting for months.