ALBERT

Description: Key Points Survival of patients with primary plasma cell leukemia has improved in recent years, but is still inferior to those patients with multiple myeloma. This survival benefit appears to be mainly in patients older than 65 years of age.

Description: Key Points A continued monoclonal protein response after ASCT in the absence of further therapy is prognostic in MM patients.

Description: Background Prior studies have shown that presence of increased circulating plasma cell (PCs) identified using a slide-based immunofluorescence method is an adverse prognostic marker for overall survival in multiple myeloma (MM), and increases the risk of progression in patients with MGUS and smoldering MM. However, utility in clinical settings has been limited by the cumbersome nature of the test and lack of widespread availability. We studied the prognostic value of circulating PCs using sensitive multiparametric flow cytometry that enable us to quantitatively assess circulating PCs in patients with MM. Methods We evaluated all newly diagnosed MM patients seen at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester from 2009 to 2011 who had their peripheral blood samples evaluated by flow cytometry prior to therapy. Patients with plasma cell leukemia were excluded. Each blood sample had its peripheral blood mononuclear cells isolated by ficoll gradient and stained with antibodies to CD45, CD19, CD38, CD138 and cytoplasmic Kappa and Lambda Ig light chains. A six-color multi-parameter flow cytometer (Becton Dickinson FacsCantos II) was used to examine each sample with a target of detecting 150,000 events (cells) that was then analyzed using the Facs Diva Software. PCs were selectively analyzed through combinatorial gating using light scatter properties and CD38, CD138, CD19, and CD45. Normal PC's were then separated from clonal PCs based on the differential expression of CD45, CD19 and polytypic Ig light chains. The clonal PCs detected were reported out as the number of clonal events/150,000 collected total events. For those samples where less than 150,000 events were gated or examined, the number of final clonal events was adjusted to 150,000 events. Survival analysis was performed by the Kaplan-Meier method and differences assessed using the log rank test. Results There were 158 consecutive patients with newly diagnosed MM who had their peripheral blood evaluated via flow cytometry as part of their routine clinical evaluation. The median age of this group was 66 years (39-95) and 59% were male. At the time of this analysis, 25 patients had died and the 2-year OS rate for the cohort was 83%. The 2-year OS for the 89 (55%) patients with any circulating PCs was 76% compared with 91% for those with none (P=0.02). The median number of circulating clonal PCs was 33 (range, 0-46,413)/ 150,000 gated events. Using a ROC analysis the best cutoff predicting 1 and 2-year mortality were 435 and 376 events, respectively. Based on this, we defined 〉=400 events as a cutoff for defining patients with high-risk disease. The median time-to-next-treatment (TTNT) for patients with circulating clonal PCs 〉=400 (n=37, 23%) was 14 months compared with 26 months for those with =400 clonal events/150,000 gated mononuclear events predicts for a median TTNT of 14 months and OS of 32 months. This parameter is more powerful than the current high-risk parameters such as FISH risk status as well as traditional high-risk markers such as ISS stage and LDH levels, and is able to identify a group of patients with particularly poor outcome. Disclosures: Kumar: Celgene: Consultancy, Research Funding; Millennium: Consultancy, Research Funding; Onyx: Consultancy, Research Funding.

Description: Background The management of extramedullary relapse (EM) of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) after allogeneic stem cell transplant (allo-SCT) is not standardized. We present a single institution experience, describing the risk factors, outcomes and management of EM leukemia relapse in AML patients who underwent allo-SCT. Methods After due IRB approval, 351 patients with AML who underwent allo-SCT at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, from 1985 through 2012, were evaluated for EM relapse. All patients had BM biopsies and cytogenetic studies at diagnosis and at relapse. Extramedullary relapse was identified by clinical exams and radiological methods and confirmed where possible by biopsies and cerebrospinal analysis (CSF). Clinical, pathological and transplant related data was retrospectively abstracted. Results Of 351 patients, 26 (7%) had EM involvement at initial diagnosis (17 CNS, 9 non-CNS, 3 both). Forty-four (13%) patients had CNS disease detected prior to allo-SCT. Of these, 17 (39%) were detected at AML diagnosis due to clinical signs/symptoms, 11 (25%) were detected to have CNS involvement at the time of AML relapse and 16 (36%) were asymptomatic; diagnosed on routine pre transplant CSF studies. All patients with pretransplant EM disease received appropriate therapy prior to undergoing transplantation. After allo-SCT, 21 (6%; 12 male) of 351 patients sustained an EM relapse (11 CNS alone, 9 non-CNS, 1 both). The non-CNS EM relapse sites were cutaneous, skeletal, renal, breast, testicular, gastrointestinal tract and soft tissue. In 12 patients with CNS relapse, 8 (68%) presented with localizing signs and symptoms and 4 were asymptomatic. The median age at EM relapse was 42 years (range; 2 - 61 years) and the median time to EM relapse was 443 days (range; 90- 6069 days). Salvage therapy offered in 18 patients included, intrathecal chemotherapy (IT) alone in 2, IT + systemic chemotherapy (CTX) in 2, allo-SCT in 1, CTX alone in 6, IT + radiation therapy (XRT) in 1, CTX, IT and XRT in 1, and CTX + XRT in 5 patients, respectively. Three patients were ineligible for further therapy. Median survival after EM relapse was 136 days (18 – 819, days), with 4 patients alive at last followup. At the time of AML diagnosis; 6 (29%) of 21 patients had EM involvement (2 breast, 1 lymph node, 1 CNS and lymph node, 1 cutaneous), 8 (38%) patients had a monocytic differentiation (AML-M4/M5) and 6 of 9 tested, had CD56 expression. Three (14%), 8 (38%) and 10 (48%) patients were risk stratified based on cytogenetic and molecular status (FLT3/NPM1) into favorable, intermediate and high risk, respectively. Subsequently, all 21 patients underwent allo-SCT with 14 patients undergoing matched related donor (MRD) transplants. The transplant conditioning was myeloablative in 16 (76%) patients, of which 11 (69%) received total body irradiation (TBI). Grade II-IV acute graft versus host disease (GVHD) was noted in 11 (52%) patients, while chronic GVHD was noted in 8 (38). On univariate analysis, factors associated with shortened survival after EM relapse included; high risk karyotype at diagnosis (p=0.009), concurrent bone marrow involvement with EM relapse (p=0.01) and reduced intensity conditioning (RIC) (p=0.04). Importantly, CD56 expression (p=0.27), CNS involvement at diagnosis (p=0.76), and chronic GVHD (p=0.383) were not prognostic. On a multivariate analysis, high risk karyotype (p=0.04) and concurrent bone marrow involvement (p=0.04) retained their negative prognostic value. Conclusions Although uncommon, EM relapse after allo-SCT for AML is associated with poor outcomes. Pretransplant CSF screening identifies a significant number of asymptomatic patients with CNS disease. High risk karyotype at diagnosis and concurrent BM involvement with EM relapse are poor prognosticators. Disclosures: No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Description: Background The presence of circulating plasma cells (PCs) in multiple myeloma (MM) is a known poor prognostic marker. Prior studies have utilized a technically challenging slide-based immunofluorescence technique to detect and quantify the presence of circulating PCs which was not widely adapted in clinical practice. More recently, the routine use of flow cytometry has provided the opportunity to quantitatively assess circulating PCs in MM patients with relative ease. We report the prognostic value of quantifying circulating clonal PCs using multiparametric flow cytometry in MM patients with relapsed disease. Methods We evaluated all MM patients seen at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester from 2009 to 2011 with previous or ongoing relapsed disease and who had their peripheral blood samples evaluated by flow cytometry. Each blood sample had its peripheral blood mononuclear cells isolated by ficoll gradient and stained with antibodies to CD45, CD19, CD38, CD138 and cytoplasmic Kappa and Lambda Ig light chains. A six-color multi-parameter flow cytometer (Becton Dickinson FacsCantos II) was used to examine each sample with a target of detecting 150,000 events (cells) that was then analyzed using the Facs Diva Software. Plasma cells were selectively analyzed through combinatorial gating using light scatter properties and CD38, CD138, CD19, and CD45. Normal PC's were then separated from clonal plasma cells based on the differential expression of CD45, CD19 and polytypic Ig light chains. The clonal plasma cells detected were reported out as the number of clonal events/150,000 collected total events. For those samples where less than 150,000 events were gated or examined, the number of final clonal events was adjusted to 150,000 events. Survival analysis was performed by the Kaplan-Meier method and differences in survival assessed using the log rank test. Results There were 647 consecutive patients with a history of treated MM who had a peripheral blood flow cytometry as part of their routine clinical evaluation. The median patient age was 62 years (29-88) and 55% were male. The median time since diagnosis was 12 months (range: 1-363) and the median number of lines of treatment received was 2 (1-11). There were 81 (13%) patients with clonal circulating PCs with a median of 368 cells (4 – 133,464). The 2-year overall survival (OS) for the 81 (13%) patients with any circulating PCs was 17% compared with 65% for those with none (P

Description: Seismic hazard maps have been prepared for Northeast India based on the uniform hazard response spectra for absolute acceleration at stiff sites. An approach that is free from regionalizing the seismotectonic sources has been proposed for performing the hazard analysis. Also, a new attenuation model for pseudo-spectral velocity scaling has been developed by using 261 recorded accelerograms in Northeast India. In the present study, the entire area of Northeast India has been divided into 0.1° grid size, and the hazard level has been assessed for each node of this grid by considering the seismicity within a 300-km radius around the node. Using the past earthquake data, the seismicity for the area around each node has been evaluated by defining a and b values of the Gutenberg-Richter recurrence relationship, while accounting for the incompleteness of the earthquake catalogue. To consider the spatial distribution of seismicity around each node, a spatially smoothed probability distribution function of the observed epicentral distances has been used. Uniform hazard contours for pseudo-spectral acceleration as the hazard parameter have been obtained for an exposure time of 100 years and for 50% confidence level at different natural periods for both horizontal and vertical components of ground motion. The trends reflected by these contours are broadly consistent with the major seismotectonic features in the region.