p53 is associated with high-risk and pinpointsTP53missense mutations in mantle cell lymphoma

Survival for patients diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) has improved drastically in recent years. However, patients carrying mutations in tumour protein p53 (TP53) do not benefit from modern chemotherapy-based treatments and have poor prognosis. Thus, there is a clinical need to identify missense mutations through routine analysis to enable patient stratification. Sequencing is not widely implemented in clinical practice for MCL, and immunohistochemistry (IHC) is a feasible alternative to identify high-risk patients. The aim of the present study was to investigate the accuracy of p53 as a tool to identify patients withTP53missense mutations and the prognostic impact of overexpression and mutations in a Swedish population-based cohort. In total, 317 cases were investigated using IHC and 255 cases were sequenced, enabling analysis of p53 andTP53status among 137 cases divided over the two-cohort investigated. The accuracy of predicting missense mutations from protein expression was 82%, with sensitivity at 82% and specificity at 100% in paired samples. We further show the impact of p53 expression andTP53mutations on survival (hazard ratio of 3 center dot 1 in univariate analysis for both), and the association to risk factors, such as high MCL International Prognostic Index, blastoid morphology and proliferation, in a population-based setting.Peer reviewe

Molecular Monitoring after Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation and Preemptive Rituximab Treatment of Molecular Relapse; Results from the Nordic Mantle Cell Lymphoma Studies (MCL2 and MCL3) with Median Follow-Up of 8.5 Years

The main objectives of the present study were to monitor minimal residual disease (MRD) in the bone marrow of patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) to predict clinical relapse and guide preemptive treatment with rituximab. Among the patients enrolled in 2 prospective trials by the Nordic Lymphoma Group, 183 who had completed autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) and in whom an MRD marker had been obtained were included in our analysis. Fresh samples of bone marrow were analyzed for MRD by a combined standard nested and quantitative real-time PCR assay for Bcl-1/immunoglobulin heavy chain gene (IgH) and clonal IgH rear-rangements. Significantly shorter progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) was demonstrated for patients who were MRD positive pre-ASCT (54 patients) or in the first analysis post-ASCT (23 patients). The median PFS was only 20 months in those who were MRD-positive in the first sample post-ASCT, compared with 142 months in the MRD-negative group (PPeer reviewe

15-year follow-up of the Second Nordic Mantle Cell Lymphoma trial (MCL2) : prolonged remissions without survival plateau

In recent decades, the prognosis of Mantle Cell Lymphoma (MCL) has been significantly improved by intensified first-line regimens containing cytarabine, rituximab and consolidation with high-dose-therapy and autologous stem cell transplantation. One such strategy is the Nordic MCL2 regimen, developed by the Nordic Lymphoma Group. We here present the 15-year updated results of the Nordic MCL2 study after a median follow-up of 114years: For all patients on an intent-to-treat basis, the median overall and progression-free survival was 127 and 85years, respectively. The MCL International Prognostic Index (MIPI), biological MIPI, including Ki67 expression (MIPI-B) and the MIPI-B including mIR-18b expression (MIPI-B-miR), in particular, significantly divided patients into distinct risk groups. Despite very long response durations of the low and intermediate risk groups, we observed a continuous pattern of relapse and the survival curves never reached a plateau. In conclusion, despite half of the patients being still alive and 40% in first remission after more than 12years, we still see an excess disease-related mortality, even among patients experiencing long remissions. Even though we consider the Nordic regimen as a very good choice of regimen, we recommend inclusion in prospective studies to explore the benefit of novel agents in the frontline treatment of MCL.Peer reviewe

Localized Relapse of Primary Plasma Cell Leukaemia in the Central Nervous System

Primary plasma cell leukaemia (pPCL) is a rare and aggressive form of plasma cell malignancies with a very poor prognosis. Compared to other plasma cell malignancies the tendency to extramedullary spread is increased; however central nervous system (CNS) involvement is rare and only reported in few cases. We report the case of a 61-year-old man who was diagnosed with pPCL and achieved a complete remission after autologous stem cell transplantation but had a relapse in the CNS without systemic disease

Exploring new prognostic biomarkers in Mantle Cell Lymphoma : a comparison of the circSCORE and the MCL35 score

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is a biologically and clinically heterogeneous disease, emphasizing the need for prognostic biomarkers. In this study we aimed at comparing the prognostic value of two RNA-based risk scores, circSCORE and MCL35, in 149 patients from the MCL2 (ISRCTN87866680) and MCL3 (NCT00514475) patient cohorts. Both risk scores provided significant stratification of high versus low risk for progression free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). The circSCORE retained significant prognostic value in adjusted multivariable Cox regressions for PFS, but not for OS. Furthermore, circSCORE added significant prognostic value to MIPI in the pooled cohort (MCL2 and MCL3) for PFS and OS, and for PFS in MCL3 alone, outperforming Ki67 and MCL35. We suggest a new, combined MIPI-circSCORE with improved prognostic value, and with potential for future clinical implementation, if validated in a larger, independent cohort

Expression patterns and prognostic potential of circular RNAs in mantle cell lymphoma : a study of younger patients from the MCL2 and MCL3 clinical trials

Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is characterized by marked differences in outcome, emphasizing the need for strong prognostic biomarkers. Here, we explore expression patterns and prognostic relevance of circular RNAs (circRNAs), a group of endogenous non-coding RNA molecules, in MCL. We profiled the circRNA expression landscape using RNA-sequencing and explored the prognostic potential of 40 abundant circRNAs in samples from the Nordic MCL2 and MCL3 clinical trials, using NanoString nCounter Technology. We report a circRNA-based signature (circSCORE) developed in the training cohort MCL2 that is highly predictive of time to progression (TTP) and lymphoma-specific survival (LSS). The dismal outcome observed in the large proportion of patients assigned to the circSCORE high-risk group was confirmed in the independent validation cohort MCL3, both in terms of TTP (HR 3.0; P = 0.0004) and LSS (HR 3.6; P = 0.001). In Cox multiple regression analysis incorporating MIPI, Ki67 index, blastoid morphology and presence of TP53 mutations, circSCORE retained prognostic significance for TTP (HR 3.2; P = 0.01) and LSS (HR 4.6; P = 0.01). In conclusion, circRNAs are promising prognostic biomarkers in MCL and circSCORE improves identification of high-risk disease among younger patients treated with cytarabine-containing chemoimmunotherapy and autologous stem cell transplant

TP53 mutations identify younger mantle cell lymphoma patients who do not benefit from intensive chemoimmunotherapy

Despite recent advances in lymphoma treatment, mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) remains incurable, and we are still unable to identify patients who will not benefit from the current standard of care. Here, we explore the prognostic value of recurrent genetic aberrations in diagnostic bone marrow (BM) specimens from 183 younger patients with MCL from the Nordic MCL2 and MCL3 trials, which represent current standard-of-care regimens. In the univariate model, mutations of TP53 (11%) and NOTCH1 (4%), and deletions of TP53 (16%) andCDKN2A(20%),weresignificantly associatedwithinferioroutcomes(togetherwithMIPI, MIPI-c, blastoidmorphology, and Ki67 > 30%); however, inmultivariate analyses, only TP53 mutations (HR, 6.2; P 30%, blastoid morphology, MIPI high-risk, and inferior responses to both induction- and high-dose chemotherapy. In conclusion, we show that TP53mutations identify a phenotypically distinct and highly aggressive form of MCL with poor or no response to regimens including cytarabine, rituximab, and autologous stem-cell transplant (ASCT). We suggest patients with MCL should be stratified according to TP53 status, and that patients with TP53 mutations should be considered for experimental frontline trials exploring novel agents