High frequency of identical clonal immunoglobulin DNA in pre-treatment tumor and plasma from untreated patients with HIV-associated lymphoma: prospective multicenter trial of the AIDS malignancies consortium (AMC 064)

Abstract

Patients with HIV are at increased risk for developing B-cell lymphomas likely due in part to chronic antigen stimulation leading to clonal immunoglobulin (Ig) gene rearrangements. Next-generation sequencing (NGS)-based identification of circulating Ig clonotypes has not been well-characterized in HIV-related lymphomas. The AIDS Malignancies Consortium (AMC) enrolled 51 untreated patients with HIV-related B-cell lymphomas and analyzed paired tumor/plasma specimens for Ig clonotypes using an NGS approach (AMC064, NCT00981097). Lymphoma-specific clonotypes (>5% frequency) were identified in 83% (33/40) of tumor specimens. Results from paired tumor/plasma specimens showed identical circulating clonotypes in the plasma from 97% (32/33) of patients. High International Prognostic Index (IPI) scores of 3–4 among patients with B-cell lymphoma correlated with higher lymphoma molecules/million diploid genomes in the plasma compared with lower IPI scores of 0–2, median 77335 vs. 6876, p = .005. Further studies are merited to determine whether plasma clonal Ig DNA is prognostic in HIV-related lymphomas.

Keywords:

• Lymphoma
• clones
• Immunoglobulin
• DNA
• HIV

Acknowledgements

The authors thank the AIDS Malignancy Consortium Investigators. This study was supported by UM1 CA121947.

Potential conflict of interest

Disclosure forms provided by the authors are available with the full text of this article online at http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10428194.2017.1317095.

Additional information

Funding

The authors thank the AIDS Malignancy Consortium Investigators. This study was supported by UM1 CA121947.