Aberrant expression of CD54 detected by flow cytometry is a characteristic of B-lymphoma cells in bone marrow specimens

BMC Cancer

Wenqing Hu¹  Yan Li¹  Bin Jiang¹  Linjun Zhao²  Di Mei²  Wei Wang³  Haval Ali³ 

[1] Department of Hematology, Peking University International Hospital, Zhong-Guan-Cun Life Science Park Road, Beijing, China;Department of Lymphoma, Peking University International Hospital, Zhong-Guan-Cun Life Science Park Road, Beijing, China;Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, 6431 Fannin Street, Houston, TX, USA;

关键词: CD54;    Flow cytometry;    B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma;    Bone marrow involvement;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12885-021-09061-3

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundFlow cytometry (FC) is a popular method to detect bone marrow (BM) involvement in patients with B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma (B-NHL). The majority of screen panels of FC still rely on finding monoclonal B-cells, e.g., B-cells with immunoglobin (Ig) light-chain restriction, which has many limitations. Therefore, exploring new markers is warranted.MethodsA total of 52 cases of B-NHL with BM involvement were collected. The median age was 60 years. Out of these 52 cases, 34 were male, and 18 were female. A 10-color FC panel was used to detect the expression of CD54 on lymphoma cells. The expression of CD54 was calculated as the mean fluorescence index ratio (MFIR) and was described as the mean ± standard error of the mean (SEM).ResultsUp to 18/52 (34.62%) of BM specimens abnormally expressed an increased level of CD54, including 1/10 cases of chronic lymphocytic leukemia/small lymphocytic lymphoma (CLL/SLL), 9/13 cases of mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), 2/14 cases of follicular lymphoma (FL), 5/9 cases of marginal zone lymphoma (MZL), and 1/3 cases of high-grade B-NHL (HG B-NHL). The expression level of CD54 was significantly increased in MCL cases (53.41 ± 11.04) compared with CLL/SLL cases (11.66 ± 2.79) and FL cases (13.49 ± 2.81). The lowest percentage of CD54-positive B-cells attained 0.13%. In 5/9 cases of MZL and 1/3 cases of HG B-NHL, increased expression of CD54 was the only abnormal immunophenotype detected besides Ig light-chain restriction. No aberrant CD54 expression was identified by FC in lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma (LPL) (0/2) and Burkitt lymphoma (BL) (0/1) cases. Aberrant expression of CD54 was not related to plasma cell differentiation.ConclusionLymphoma cells, especially in MCL and MZL cases, frequently show increased expression of CD54. Such aberrant expression is not related to plasma cell differentiation. We highly recommend adding CD54 to the FC screening panel to detect BM involvement in patients with B-NHL.

【 授权许可】

CC BY