ALBERT

Description: Introduction: Peripheral T-cell lymphomas (PTCL) are a rare subset of non-Hodgkin lymphomas with an overall response rate to CHOP-based therapy of 80% but 5-year survival ranges between 20-40%. (Ellin et al Blood 2014) While response by PET/CT is prognostic (Mehta-Shah Blood Advances 2019), the high rate of relapse after complete response suggests that more sensitive determinants of minimal residual disease may have prognostic and even therapeutic importance. T-cell receptor gene rearrangement (TCR) by next generation sequencing is able to detect a known TCR clonotype at 10-5. (Shah et al AMP 2017) Therefore, in a prospective multi-institutional study, we sought to evaluate the utility of peripheral blood TCR by next generation sequencing in quantifying minimal residual disease in peripheral T-cell lymphoma. (NCT03297697) Here we report the results of TCR evaluation at the end of CHOP-based therapy. Methods: Patients with previously untreated PTCL (PTCL-NOS: peripheral T-cell lymphoma, NOS; angioimmunoblastic T-cell lymphoma: AITL; anaplastic large cell lymphoma: ALCL;, monomorphic epitheliotropic intestinal T-cell lymphoma: MEITL) treated with anthracycline based therapy for curative intent were eligible for the study. TCR (TCR gamma, TRG, or TCR beta, TRB) clonotype was established from baseline diagnostic tumor tissue. Peripheral blood (10cc) was collected in Streck tubes for TCR clonotype at each cycle of therapy, after completion of CHOP-based therapy, every 6 months for two years, at progression and in the stem cell product (if collected). TCR clonality was assessed and tracked using the LymphoTrack® TRG/TRB Assays-MiSeq® (Invivoscribe, San Diego, CA). Results: 39 patients were enrolled in the study (16 PTCL-NOS, 10 AITL, 7 ALK- ALCL, 5 ALK+ ALCL, 1 MEITL). One patient was enrolled with PTCL-NOS but was withdrawn after confirming a diagnosis of T-ALL. One patient with ALK- ALCL withdrew consent prior to sample collection. 19 patients have completed frontline therapy and have end of treatment TCR analysis available. The remaining 18 patients either have not yet completed treatment or did not have samples analyzed at the time of submission. Patients received CHOEP (n=10), BV-CHP (n=4), CHOP (n=32), CEOP (n=1) and CHOP+azacitidine (n=1). Median age was 61 (range: 22-80). Sixteen completed 6 cycles of therapy and of these, 7 underwent consolidation with an autologous transplant. One stopped due to intolerance after 5 cycles and remains in complete remission. 2 had progression of disease prior to completion of 6 cycles of therapy. At end of treatment evaluation by PET/CT, 13/19 (68%) had complete remission, 1/19 (5%) had partial remission and 5/19 (26%) had progressive disease. Of the 19 patients, 15 (78.9%), including 1 with leukemic disease, had TCR clonotype identifiable in the baseline diagnostic tissue, and 4 (21.1%) did not have a TCR clonotype identified (3 PTCL NOS, 1 ALK+ ALCL) in tumor tissues at baseline. Two of 15 patients had undetectable TCR clonotype in the blood at end of treatment and neither of them has relapsed. Thirteen of the 15 patients had detectable TCR clonotype at end of treatment. Of the 10 patients in complete remission by PET/CT at the end of treatment with known clonotype, 8 had a detectable TCR clonotype and 2 had undetectable TCR at the end of CHOP-based therapy. Five of 6 patients with PD or PR at end of treatment had detectable TCR clonotype in the blood and 1 lacked clonotype in baseline samples. At a median follow up of 13.1 months, only one patient has relapsed and this patient had positive peripheral blood TCR at end of treatment despite PET CR. We will present the end of treatment evaluation for all patients on the study at the time of the meeting. Conclusions: Measurement of peripheral blood TCR at the end of treatment is feasible in PTCL using next generation sequencing with a known tumor clonotype. Lack of radiographic CR was highly correlated with detectable TCR, but detectable TCR was also frequently seen in complete remission by PET/CT. Longer follow up, including analysis of TCR following autologous transplant, is required to determine if TCR clonotype at the end of CHOP-based therapy predicts likelihood of relapse and to evaluate the dynamics of TCR clonotype during and after completion of treatment. This study was supported by the Lymphoma Research Foundation and T-cell Leukemia/Lymphoma Society. Disclosures Mehta-Shah: Bristol Myers-Squibb: Research Funding; Celgene: Research Funding; Kyowa Hakko Kirin: Consultancy; C4 Therapeutics: Consultancy; Verastem: Research Funding; Karyopharm Therapeutics: Consultancy; Corvus: Research Funding; Innate Pharmaceuticals: Research Funding; Genetech/Roche: Research Funding. Fehniger:Indapta: Consultancy; Nkarta: Consultancy; Kiadis: Consultancy; HCW Biologics: Research Funding; Compass Therapeutics: Research Funding; ImmunityBio: Research Funding; Orca Biosystems: Consultancy; Wugen: Consultancy. Jacobsen:Takeda: Honoraria; Acerta: Consultancy; Astra-Zeneca: Consultancy; Merck: Consultancy; F. Hoffmann-LaRoche: Research Funding; Novartis: Research Funding; Pharmacyclics: Research Funding. Kahl:AbbVie: Consultancy; BeiGene: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Janssen: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Celgene Corporation: Consultancy; AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Roche Laboratories Inc: Consultancy; Genentech: Consultancy; Pharmacyclics LLC: Consultancy; Acerta: Consultancy, Research Funding; ADC Therapeutics: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding. Bartlett:Seattle Genetics: Consultancy, Research Funding; Millennium: Research Funding; Seattle Genetics: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Merck: Research Funding; Acerta: Consultancy; Affimed Therapeutics: Research Funding; BTG: Consultancy; Janssen: Research Funding; BMS/Celgene: Research Funding; Immune Design: Research Funding; Kite, a Gilead Company: Research Funding; Forty Seven: Research Funding; ADC Therapeutics: Consultancy; Pfizer: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Pharmacyclics: Research Funding; Roche/Genentech: Consultancy, Research Funding; Autolus: Research Funding. Ghobadi:Amgen: Consultancy, Research Funding; WuGen: Consultancy; EUSA: Consultancy; Bristol Myers Squibb: Consultancy; Kite: Consultancy, Research Funding. Moskowitz:Merck: Research Funding; Seattle Genetics: Consultancy; Imbrium Therapeutics, L.P.: Consultancy; Miragen Therapeutics: Consultancy; Incyte: Research Funding; Seattle Genetics: Research Funding; Bristol-Myers Squibb: Research Funding; Merck: Consultancy. Huang:Invivoscribe: Current Employment. Hutt:Invivoscribe: Current Employment. Vigil:Invivoscribe: Current Employment. Olson:Invivoscribe: Current Employment. Jacobsen:Invivoscribe: Current Employment. Horwitz:GlaxoSmithKline: Consultancy; Daiichi Sankyo: Research Funding; Myeloid Therapeutics: Consultancy; Innate Pharma: Consultancy; Mundipharma: Consultancy; Beigene: Consultancy; Portola: Consultancy, Research Funding; Corvus: Consultancy; Trillium: Consultancy, Research Funding; Seattle Genetics: Consultancy, Research Funding; Millenium/Takeda: Consultancy, Research Funding; Kyowa Hakka Kirin: Consultancy, Research Funding; Infinity/Verastem: Research Funding; Forty Seven: Consultancy, Research Funding; Celgene: Consultancy, Research Funding; Aileron: Consultancy, Research Funding; ADCT Therapeutics: Consultancy, Research Funding; ASTEX: Consultancy; Affirmed: Consultancy; Miragen: Consultancy; Kura Oncology: Consultancy; Janssen: Consultancy; Vividion Therapeutics: Consultancy; Verastem: Consultancy, Research Funding; C4 Therapeutics: Consultancy.

Description: An overview is provided of studies on hypertrophic phytoplankton in order to explore the subject and to suggest uncovered areas of research in this increasingly important theme. The authors restrict themselves to stagnant environments, using a community criterion to define hypertrophic environments. They are defined as those whose yearly average of phytoplankton chlorophyll is equal to or higher than 100 mg per cubic metre of water. The paper deals with species composition, diversity, biomass, primary production, losses and seasonal succession of hypertrophic phytoplankton. Other topics, such as population dynamics and ecophysiological issues, either lack enough information to be considered or are well known, e.g. Microcystis and Oscillatoria ecophysiology.

Description: A literature review was conducted to locate information on the flow of energy from primary producers to the fishery stocks of the Puerto Rican-Virgin Islands insular shelf. This report uses site-specific information to describe the major ecological subsystems, or habitats, of the region, toidentify the more common species and the subsystems in which they occur, to quantify productivity and biomass, and to outline trophic relationships. Discussions on each topic and subsystem vary in substance and detail, being limited by the availability and accessibility of information. (PDF contains 189 pages)Seven distinct subsystems are described: mangrove estuary, seagrass bed, coral reef, algal plain, sand/mud bottom, shelf break, and overlying pelagic. Over 50 tables provide lists of species found in each habitat on various surveys dating back to 1956. Estimates of density, relative abundance, and productivity are provided when possible.We evaluated whether sufficient information exists to support an analysis of the energy basis of fishery production in the area, beginning with the design and development of an ecosystem model. Data needs in three categories - species lists, biomass, and trophic relations - were examined for each subsystem and for each of three species groups - primary producers, invertebrates, and fish.We concluded that adequate data, sufficient for modeling purposes, are available in 16 (25%) of 64 categories; limited data, those requiring greater extrapolation, are available in 35 (55%) categories; and no data are available in 13 (20%) categories. The best-studied subsystems are seagrass beds and coral reefs, with at least limited data in all categories. Invertebrates, the intermediate link in the food web between primary producers and fishes, are the least quantified group in the region. Primary production and fishes, however, are relatively well-studied, providing sufficient data to support an ecosystem-level analysis and to initiate a modeling effort.

Description: A. Y. Cantillo, Editor

Description: Early silicate differentiation events for the terrestrial planets can be traced with the short-lived146Sm-142Nd system (∼100-My half-life). Resulting early Earth-produced142Nd/144Nd variations are an excellent tracer of the rate of mantle mixing and thus a potential tracer of plate tectonics through time. Evidence for early silicate differentiation in the Hadean (4.6 to 4.0 Ga) has been provided by142Nd/144Nd measurements of rocks that show both higher and lower (±20 ppm) values than the present-day mantle, demonstrating major silicate Earth differentiation within the first 100 My of solar system formation. We have obtained an external 2σ uncertainty at 1.7 ppm for142Nd/144Nd measurements to constrain its homogeneity/heterogeneity in the mantle for the last 2 Ga. We report that most modern-day mid-ocean ridge basalt and ocean island basalt samples as well as continental crustal rocks going back to 2 Ga are within 1.7 ppm of the average Earth142Nd/144Nd value. Considering mafic and ultramafic compositions, we use a mantle-mixing model to show that this trend is consistent with a mantle stirring time of about 400 My since the early Hadean. Such a fast mantle stirring rate supports the notion that Earth’s thermal and chemical evolution is likely to have been largely regulated by plate tectonics for most of its history. Some young rocks have142Nd/144Nd signatures marginally resolved (∼3 ppm), suggesting that the entire mantle is not equally well homogenized and that some silicate mantle signatures from an early differentiated mantle (〉4.1 Ga ago) are preserved in the modern mantle.

Description: Glaciers are important drivers of environmental heterogeneity and biological diversity across mountain landscapes. Worldwide, glaciers are receding rapidly due to climate change, with important consequences for biodiversity in mountain ecosystems. However, the effects of glacier loss on biodiversity have never been quantified across a mountainous region, primarily due to a lack of adequate data at large spatial and temporal scales. Here, we combine high-resolution biological and glacier change (ca. 1850–2015) datasets for Glacier National Park, USA, to test the prediction that glacier retreat reduces biodiversity in mountain ecosystems through the loss of uniquely adapted meltwater stream species. We identified a specialized cold-water invertebrate community restricted to the highest elevation streams primarily below glaciers, but also snowfields and groundwater springs. We show that this community and endemic species have unexpectedly persisted in cold, high-elevation sites, even in catchments that have not been glaciated in ∼170 y. Future projections suggest substantial declines in suitable habitat, but not necessarily loss of this community with the complete disappearance of glaciers. Our findings demonstrate that high-elevation streams fed by snow and other cold-water sources continue to serve as critical climate refugia for mountain biodiversity even after glaciers disappear.