Co-existent de novo myelodysplastic syndrome and T-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma: a common origin or not?

Case Report: Effects of multiple myeloma therapy on essential thrombocythemia and vice versa: a case of synchronous dual hematological malignancy

Background

Dual hematological malignancies, asynchronous or synchronous, are underrecognized entities and are usually suspected when clinical, hematological, or biochemical features cannot be explained by the primary malignancy alone. We present a case of synchronous dual hematological malignancies (SDHMs), where the patient was diagnosed with symptomatic multiple myeloma (MM) and essential thrombocythemia (ET), when excessive thrombocytosis occurred following initiation of MPV (melphalan-prednisone-bortezomib) antimyeloma therapy.

Case description

An 86-year-old woman presented to the emergency in May 2016 with confusion, hypercalcemia, and acute kidney injury. She was diagnosed with free light chain (FLC) lambda and Immunoglobulin G (IgG) lambda MM and started MPV (standard of care at that time) treatment with darbopoietin support. At diagnosis, she had normal platelet count since the ET was likely masked by bone marrow suppression due to active MM. After she reached stringent complete remission with no MP detected on serum protein electrophoresis or immunofixation, we noticed that her platelet counts increased to 1,518,000 × 10⁹/L. She was tested positive for mutation in exon 9 of calreticulin (CALR). We concluded that she had concomitant CALR-positive ET. After bone marrow recovery from MM, the ET became clinically apparent. We started hydroxyurea for ET. Treatment for MM with MPV did not affect the course of ET. Presence of concomitant ET did not decrease the efficacy of sequential antimyeloma therapies in our elderly and frail patient.

Conclusion

The possible mechanism underlying the occurrence of SDHMs is unclear but is likely due to stem cell differentiation defects. SDHMs can be challenging to treat and warrant several considerations. In the absence of clear guidelines on how to manage SDHMs, management decisions depend on several factors including disease aggressiveness, age, frailty, and comorbidities.

The miRNA Profile in Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma Patients with Secondary Myelodysplasia

Myelodysplastic syndromes are a group of clonal diseases of hematopoietic stem cells and are characterized by multilineage dysplasia, ineffective hematopoiesis, peripheral blood cytopenias, genetic instability and a risk of transformation to acute myeloid leukemia. Some patients with non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHLs) may have developed secondary myelodysplasia before therapy. Bone marrow (BM) hematopoiesis is regulated by a spectrum of epigenetic factors, among which microRNAs (miRNAs) are special. The aim of this work is to profile miRNA expression in BM cells in untreated NHL patients with secondary myelodysplasia. A comparative analysis of miRNA expression levels between the NHL and non-cancer blood disorders samples revealed that let-7a-5p was upregulated, and miR-26a-5p, miR-199b-5p, miR-145-5p and miR-150-5p were downregulated in NHL with myelodysplasia (p < 0.05). We for the first time developed a profile of miRNA expression in BM samples in untreated NHL patients with secondary myelodysplasia. It can be assumed that the differential diagnosis for blood cancers and secondary BM conditions based on miRNA expression profiles will improve the accuracy and relevance of the early diagnosis of cancerous and precancerous lesions in BM.

Prognostic Markers of Myelodysplastic Syndromes

Myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) is a clonal disease characterized by multilineage dysplasia, peripheral blood cytopenias, and a high risk of transformation to acute myeloid leukemia. In theory, from clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential to hematologic malignancies, there is a complex interplay between genetic and epigenetic factors, including miRNA. In practice, karyotype analysis assigns patients to different prognostic groups, and mutations are often associated with a particular disease phenotype. Among myeloproliferative disorders, secondary MDS is a group of special entities with a typical spectrum of genetic mutations and cytogenetic rearrangements resembling those in de novo MDS. This overview analyzes the present prognostic systems of MDS and the most recent efforts in the search for genetic and epigenetic markers for the diagnosis and prognosis of MDS.

Synchronous dual hematological malignancies: new or underreported entity?

BACKGROUND

Patients with a single hematological malignancy may be unexpectedly diagnosed with a clonally unrelated synchronous dual hematological malignancy (SDHM). The presence of a secondary hematological malignancy may be overlooked and only identified in situations presenting with discordant clinical or laboratory findings. Clinical management of these patients can be challenging, in part due to the relatively unknown etiopathology of SDHM and the impact of therapy on the secondary malignancy.

OBJECTIVES

To assess, characterize patients with synchronous double hematological malignancies and share our experience with this challenging group of patients.

METHODS

We performed a retrospective chart review of 3036 patients with hematological malignancy at our cancer center between February 2013 and July 2017.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

We identified 46 patients with SDHM, a prevalence of 1.51% among patients diagnosed with any hematological malignancy. We identify several heterogeneous combinations of SDHM comprised of myeloid and/or lymphoid lineages and provide our experience with managing patients with these underreported conditions.

CONCLUSION

SDHMs are not uncommon and should be suspected in situations presenting with unusual or unexpected findings.

Simultaneous and sequential concurrent myeloproliferative and lymphoproliferative neoplasms

Concurrent manifestation of two chronic-stage myeloid and lymphoid/plasmacytoid neoplasms in one patient is rare and occurs in ≤1% of patients. There has been no systematic analysis of which combinations are frequent/infrequent and whether two concurrent diseases in one patient are clonally related or represent independent diseases. We therefore characterised a series of cases from our own archive (n = 65) and collected a large number of previously reported cases of patients in whom myeloid and lymphoid/plasmacytoid neoplasms co-occurred (n = 185). The most frequent combination was Philadelphia chromosome-negative myeloproliferative neoplasm with concurrent B cell chronic lymphocytic leukaemia, accounting for approximately 50% of double-disease patients. We compared the quantity of unsorted bone marrow cell-derived JAK2(V617F) and KIT(D816V) alleles with the quantity of the lymphoid/plasmacytoid compartment and analysed a subfraction of cases with fluorescence in situ hybridisation. Although a common aberrant progenitor has been reported in some cases in the literature, we found evidence of two independent chronic-stage myeloid and lymphoid/plasmacytoid neoplasms.

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma with concurrent gastric adenocarcinoma: case report and literature review

The simultaneous occurrence of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) and gastric carcinoma is rare. The present case report describes a 61-year-old man with DLBCL at the ileocaecal junction with several metastatic lymph nodes and concurrent gastric intramucosal adenocarcinoma. Both tumours, together with the enlarged lymph nodes, were successfully removed by surgery. At 1 month postoperatively, the patient received chemotherapy consisting of rituximab, cyclophosphamide, vindesine, epirubicin hydrochloride and dexamethasone; he responded well to treatment. Reports published in the literature between January 2006 and March 2011 of other cases of DLBCL combined with concurrent non-haematological malignancies in immunocompetent patients were reviewed. The identification of common factors is important for clarification of the mechanisms of lymphomagenesis and carcinogenesis, as well as the creation of preventive and therapeutic strategies. Such cases highlight the need routinely to perform preoperative imaging studies to exclude other synchronous tumours and, if possible, to biopsy any such masses in order to offer timely and appropriate therapy.

Leukemic presentation of ALK-negative anaplastic large cell lymphoma in a patient with myelodysplastic syndrome

A 50-year-old woman with a history of aplastic anemia developed cervical lymphadenopathy and atypical lymphocytosis. Atypical cells of lymph nodes were positive for CD3 and CD30 but negative for anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK). Bone marrow examination showed trilineage myelodysplasia. She was diagnosed with ALK-negative anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) with leukemic transformation and myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) which presumably developed from aplastic anemia. The lymphoma was resistant to intensive chemotherapies, ultimately leading to death. Leukemic presentation of ALK-negative ALCL as an initial manifestation is extremely rare, and the progression of the disease may be influenced by MDS through alteration of immune functions.