ALBERT

Description: Introduction: Myeloid malignant disorders are clonal diseases arising in hematopoietic stem or progenitor cells. Several somatic mutations involved in these diseases are currently known and routine molecular testing involves screening genes of therapeutic and prognostic significance. Mutational analysis of FLT3 in combination with NPM1 can be used to predict outcome and direct therapy in normal karyotype acute myeloid leukemia (AML). JAK2, MPL and CALR mutation detection complements the molecular diagnostic testing menu for myeloproliferative neoplasm’s (MPN): polycytemia vera (PV), essential thrombocythemia (ET) and primary myelofibrosis (PMF). In addition, these molecular markers are utilized for minimal residual disease (MRD) detection, e.g. following stem cell transplants. Little is currently known about the lineage-specific distribution of some of these markers. In this study we aimed to assess the distribution of common genetic mutations in multiple lineages (lymphoid, myeloid, monocyte, multipotent progenitors, myeloblast and erythroid) of MPN and AML utilizing fluorescent activated cell sorting (FACS). Method: Different cell lineage fractions (lymphoid (CD3+), mature (CD16+) and immature (CD16dim) granulocytes, monocyte (CD14+), erythroid(CD36+), multipotent progenitors (34+) and/ or myeloblasts (CD117+) of unseparated bone marrow and peripheral blood specimens of myeloid disorders were sorted on a BD Aria 2. The patient specimens selected were positive for either JAK2V617F, MPLW515L or CALR Exon9 insertion/ deletion (MPN’s) or for NPM1 and/or FLT3 mutations (AML; diagnostic, relapse and minimal residual disease (MRD)). Fractions were subsequently analyzed for the presence of the respective mutation by PCR and/ or bi- directional sequencing. Results: All FACS purified CD34+ progenitors, myeloid and erythroid cell fractions of MPL W515L (3) or CALR exon9 (12) positive MPN specimens demonstrated the presence of mutations, respectively. Interestingly, JAK2V617F was present in the sorted erythroid cell fraction in 5/6 MPN cases tested. However, the granulocyte cell and blast cell fraction of one polycythemia vera specimen tested negative for the presence of Jak2V617F. All lymphoid CD3+ T-cell fractions were negative. The NPM1 exon 12 mutation was uniformly detected in progenitors and all myeloid cell fractions of 3/3 diagnostic, 2/2 relapse and 1/8 MRD AML specimens. For 5/8 MRD cases all lineages tested negative. Surprisingly, for two MRD cases the mutation was observed only in the unseparated and myeloid lineages but not in CD34+ blast fraction. Similar to the above findings, FLT3 mutations were detected in multipotent progenitors, and/ or myeloblasts collections of 4/4 diagnostic specimens. However, the mutation was absent in the granulocyte and monocyte fraction of one case. No detectable signals were observed in the cell fractions of 5 MRD specimens and in the CD3+ lymphoid cell fractions of all AML cases. Conclusion: We conclude that CALR and MPL mutations are uniformly detectable in the unseparated bone marrow specimens of MPN’s as well as separated progenitor, erythroid, granulocyte and monocyte fractions. Interestingly, JAK2 mutations can be exclusively found in the erythroid lineage in PV, whereas it can be absent in the granulocyte and blast compartment. This finding may have implications on specimen processing to ensure that erythroids are retained for clinical Jak2 testing. In addition, our results support the hypothesis that CALR Exon9 mutations are early event driver mutations in comparison to JAK2V167F. Both NPM1 and FLT3 mutations, in AML, were detected in unseparated specimens as well as in the multipotent progenitors or myeloblasts at diagnosis and relapse. However, the NPM1 mutation was observed in unseparated specimens and granulocyte cell fractions of 2 residual disease cases, whereas it was surprisingly absent in the CD34+ cell lineage fractions. Conversely, FLT3-ITD was exclusively found in the progenitor cells and absent in the granulocyte lineage of one case at diagnosis. Our findings reported here may be able to assist assay development efforts for diagnostic and residual disease mutation detection in myeloid disorders. In addition, flow cytometric assessment of monitoring specimens prior to molecular analysis may be beneficial to decide if cell enrichment steps can give additional evidence for the presence of residual disease. Disclosures Burnworth: HematoLogics Inc.: Employment. Bennington:HematoLogics Inc.: Employment. Fritschle:HematoLogics Inc.: Employment. Nguyen:HematoLogics Inc.: Employment. Verkamp:HematoLogics Inc.: Employment. Angela:Hematologics: Employment. Wentzel:HematoLogics Inc.: Employment. Broderson:HematoLogics Inc.: Employment. Loken:Hematologics: Employment, Equity Ownership. Wells:HematoLogics Inc.: Employment, Equity Ownership. Zehentner:HematoLogics Inc.: Employment, Equity Ownership.

Description: Background: Waldenström's macroglobulinemia (WM) and lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma (LPL) are lymphoproliferative disorders with bone marrow infiltration by clonal lymphoplasmacytic cells (Treon et al., 2003, 2005). The somatic point mutation L265P in the myeloid differentiation primary response gene 88 (MYD88) has been reported in more than 90% of WM patients (Treon et al., 2012). Therefore MYD88 mutation analysis has been implemented in clinical practice to support the diagnosis of LPL/WM. After the implementation of MYD88 L265P assays with increased detection sensitivity, a substantial portion of patients with IgM monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (IgM-MGUS) was also reported MYD88 L265P positive. Splenic marginal zone lymphoma (SMZL), B-cell chronic lymphoproliferative disorders (B-CLPD) and diffused large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) have been found positive with much lower incidence rates (Varettoni et al., 2013; Xu et al., 2013). Hence the remaining need to differentiate WM/LPL from other lymphoproliferative disorders with co-occurring plasma cells with high confidence. Patients and Methods: In this study, flow cytometric cell sorting was utilized to isolate clonal plasma and B lymphoid cell fractions as previously described (Zehentner et al., 2011). 69 patient specimen fractions with a clinical history of WM /LPL, multiple myeloma, CLL and lymphoma were analyzed for MYD88 L265P mutation using Sanger sequencing. Furthermore, the Biomed-2 primer sets for the immunoglobulin heavy (IgH) and/or the immunoglobulin kappa light chain region (IgK) were used to compare B cell clonality profiles in the lymphoid versus plasma cell compartments. Results: MYD88 L265P mutation was detected in all specimens with confirmed Waldenström's macroglobulinemia (17/17, 100%). Of these 16/17 (94%) revealed MYD88 L265P as well as identical monoclonality profile by gene rearrangement analysis in both the plasma and the B lymphoid cell collections. In 47% (8/17), the mutation was only detected in the plasma and B cell fractions, but not in the whole bone marrow specimens. 21 patient specimens with a known clinical history of LPL and co-occurring clonal plasma cells were tested. 9 of 21 (43%) were categorized with identical B cell clonality profile when comparing plasma and B lymphoid cells; whereas 12 (57%) had unrelated clonality profiles. 7 of the 9 (78%) specimens in the identical clonality group tested positive for MYD88 L265P in both the plasma and B lymphoid clone. None of the unrelated clonality group specimens carried the mutation in both cell fractions; for 7/12 (58%) MYD88 L265P was found in either the plasma (2) or the B-cell fraction (5) whereas 5/12 (42%) tested negative. 11 bone marrow aspirate specimen with known presence of lymphoma (including splenic marginal zone (SMZL), mantle cell and marginal zone) were analyzed. 10/11 (90%) tested negative for MYD88 L265P, with the exception of one SMZL specimen. Furthermore, 12 known myeloma, 5 CLL and 3 healthy donor specimens were analyzed, all tested negative. Conclusions: In this study, we developed and tested a novel approach to assess MYD88 L265P mutation status in order to assist WM/LPL diagnosis. Flow cytometric cell sorting for clonal plasma and B cell populations was combined with molecular analysis. Subsequently, MYD88 L265P mutation as well as B-cell clonality profile was compared in both cell fractions. Our study postulates a significant improvement in sensitivity and most importantly specificity when applying MYD88 L265P mutation status in combination with cell sorting for WM/LPL diagnostic decisions. 47% WM patients (8/17) and 44% LPL patients (4/9) were positive for the MYD88 mutation exclusively in both flow cytometry sorted cell fractions but not in whole bone marrow specimens. 94% (16/17) WM as well as 78% (7/9) LPL specimens with identical plasma and B-cell clonality profile revealed the presence of the MYD88 L265P mutation in both the plasma cell and the B lymphoid cell clones. Whereas LPL specimens with unrelated clonality profile of the plasma and lymphoid cell fractions as well as other control specimens (lymphoma, myeloma, CLL and healthy) either tested negative or positive only in one of the sorted cell fractions. We therefore conclude that confirming the presence of MYD88 L265P in both B-lymphoid and plasma cell fraction is an important prerequisite to distinguish LPL/WM from related disorders with high confidence. Disclosures Wang: HematoLogics Inc.: Employment. Fritschle:HematoLogics Inc.: Employment. Bennington:HematoLogics Inc.: Employment. Burnworth:HematoLogics Inc.: Employment. Bennington:HematoLogics Inc.: Employment. Wentzel:HematoLogics Inc.: Employment. Verkamp:HematoLogics Inc.: Employment. Nguyen:HematoLogics Inc.: Employment. Ghirardelli:HematoLogics Inc.: Employment. Broderson:HematoLogics Inc.: Employment. Wells:HematoLogics Inc.: Employment, Equity Ownership. Loken:HematoLogics Inc.: Employment, Equity Ownership. Zehentner:HematoLogics Inc.: Employment, Equity Ownership.

Description: Background: Myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) are associated with cytogenetic clones. To follow the maturation sequence of original clones and evolved subclones with additional cytogenetic abnormalities, progenitor cells, immature and mature myeloid cells were sorted by flow cytometry and analyzed separately by fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and comparative genomic hybridization (CGH). Methods: Flow cytometry sorted cell fractions from bone marrows for sixteen patients with MDS-associated cytogenetic abnormalities were evaluated by FISH. Flow cytometric cell sorting was based on CD34+/low side scatter (SS) for progenitors, CD13+/CD16-/high SS for immature myeloid cells, and CD13+/CD16+/high SS for mature myeloid cells. Customized color labeling (spectrum orange, green and aqua) of FISH probe combinations were designed to detect and to analyze clonal evolution for each patient based on their known cytogenetic abnormalities and clonal evolution patterns. Three marrow aspirates were sorted for analysis by SNP/CGH microarray. Results: The 16 bone marrow specimens evaluated by FISH were categorized into three groups: (1) eight patients with a single, good-to-intermediate cytogenetic abnormality; (2) four patients with monosomy 7; and (3) four patients with more than one chromosome abnormality with evidence of clonal evolution by conventional cytogenetic analysis, excluding monosomy 7. The Group-1 abnormalities included deletion 20q (n=4), trisomy 8 (n=2), deletion 5q (n=1), and trisomy 11 (n=1). All specimens from this group showed FISH abnormalities in equal proportions in myeloid progenitors, immature and mature myeloid cells. Group-2 had four patients with monosomy 7. All four had monosomy 7 concentrated in the progenitor cells (45-79%) compared to immature and mature myeloid compartments (less than 9-36%). For Group-3, known original clones with single cytogenetic abnormalities (deletion 20q, monosomy 3, deletion 7q or 5q) were monitored by FISH analysis. Using customized FISH panels, the presence of subclones with additional cytogenetic aberrations (trisomy 8 in three patients and gain of a marker chromosome characterized by the centromere of chromosome 4 in a fourth patient) was assessed using single-cell resolution. The progenitor and immature myeloid compartments had the original founding clones containing a single cytogenetic abnormality at 15-34% and the subclones with the additional aberrations at 23-76%. In contrast, the mature myeloid cells were comprised of the original clone at 20-40%, but the subclones with additional aberrations were absent in the mature myeloid compartment in three patients and reduced by more than half in a fourth. For three patients sorted bone-marrow fractions were analyzed by SNP/CGH microarray. In one patient with trisomy 8 as the sole abnormality, the same aberration was observed in both the immature and mature myeloid compartments. In two other patients, additional abnormalities not seen in the mature myeloid cells were detected in the progenitor and immature myeloid compartments. Conclusions: These data show two main patterns for the distribution of clonal cytogenetic abnormalities among myeloid cells in MDS: 1) A continuous distribution at all stages of maturation was found for single aberrations with good-to-intermediate prognostic associations (Group 1) and 2) A disrupted distribution pattern with accumulation of the cytogenetic aberrations in the progenitor compartment as compared to the immature and mature myeloid compartments for specimens characterized by monosomy 7 (Group 2). Similarly, subclones characterized by additional cytogenetic abnormalities (Group 3) were sequestered in the progenitor and immature myeloid compartments while the original founding clone was evenly distributed throughout maturation. These data demonstrate that specific cytogenetic abnormalities associated with poor prognosis (e.g. monosomy 7) as well as acquired cytogenetic abnormalities as a result of clonal evolution can cause disruption of myeloid cell maturation in MDS. Disclosures Zehentner: HematoLogics Inc.: Employment, Equity Ownership. Hartmann:Hematologics Inc.: Employment. Johnson:Hematologics Inc.: Employment. Bennington:HematoLogics Inc.: Employment. Fritschle:HematoLogics Inc.: Employment. Ghirardelli:HematoLogics Inc.: Employment. Broderson:HematoLogics Inc.: Employment. Chapman:Hematologics Inc.: Employment. Stephenson:Hematologics Inc.: Employment. de Baca:Hematologics Inc.: Employment. Singleton:Hematologics Inc.: Employment. Wells:HematoLogics Inc.: Employment, Equity Ownership. Loken:Hematologics: Employment, Equity Ownership.