Published online 11 February 2009
Haematologica, Vol 94, Issue 3, 380-386 doi:10.3324/haematol.13369
Copyright © 2009 by Ferrata Storti Foundation
Translocation t(11;14) and survival of patients with light chain (AL) amyloidosis
Alan H. Bryce1,
Rhett P. Ketterling2,
Morie A. Gertz1,
Martha Lacy1,
Ryan A. Knudson2,
Steven Zeldenrust1,
Shaji Kumar1,
Suzanne Hayman1,
Francis Buadi1,
Robert A. Kyle1,
Philip R. Greipp1,
John A. Lust1,
Stephen Russell1,
S. Vincent Rajkumar1,
Rafael Fonseca3,
Angela Dispenzieri1
1 Divison of Hematology, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN;
2 Division of Laboratory Medicine and Pathology, Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Rochester, MN and
3 Department of Hematology/Oncology, Mayo Clinic, Phoenix, AZ, USA
Correspondence: Angela Dispenzieri, M.D., Mayo Clinic, 200 First Street, S.W., Rochester, MN 55905, USA. E-mail:dispenzieri.angela{at}mayo.edu

ABSTRACT
Background: Light chain amyloidosis is a rare plasma cell dyscrasia. Interphase
fluorescence
in situ hybridization (FISH) coupled to cytoplasmic
staining of specific Ig (cIg-FISH) on bone marrow plasma cells
has become well established in the initial evaluation of multiple
myeloma, a related disorder. Little, however, is known about
cytogenetic abnormalities in patients with light chain amyloidosis.
Design and Methods: We reviewed 56 patients with light chain amyloidosis who had cIg-FISH performed as part of their routine clinical testing using the standard screening panel employed in multiple myeloma at our institution.
Results: Seventy percent of patients had abnormal cIg-FISH, with the most common abnormalities being IgH translocations [48%] – including t(11;14) [39%], and t(14;16) [2%] – and del13/del13q [30%]. No t(4;14) or deletions of 17p (p53) were observed. Patients with t(11;14) had the lowest levels of clonal plasma cells, and those with del13 had the highest. The risk of death for patients harboring the t(11;14) translocation was 2.1 (CI 1.04–6.4), which on multivariate analysis was independent of therapy.
Conclusions: Although preliminary, our data would suggest that cIg-FISH testing is important in patients with light chain amyloidosis and that t(11;14) is an adverse prognostic factor in these patients.
Key words: amyloidosis, cIg-FISH, t(11;14).

Introduction
Light chain amyloidosis (AL) is a clonal plasma cell disorder
whose clinical manifestations are the result of extracellular
amyloid fibril deposition in vital organs. Despite its devastating
clinical phenotype, based on serum M-protein size and extent
of bone marrow plasma cell infiltration, AL is more akin to
monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance than to multiple
myeloma. Given the low clonal plasma cell burden and low proliferative
index in AL, little is known about cytogenetic abnormalities
in this disorder.
The first report of metaphase analysis in AL was that made by Liang et al. in 1979;1 the one patient studied had a normal karyotype. In 1985, Dewald et al.2 reported metaphase cytogenetic abnormalities in five of 11 patients tested; however, four of the five abnormalities seen were non-specific (absent Y chromosome) or treatment-related (abnormalities of chromosome 7). Only one had a specific abnormality (14q+). The first report of the application of fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) coupled to cytoplasmic staining of specific IgH (cIg-FISH) to the evaluation of amyloidosis was reported by Fonseca et al. in 1998.3 Bone marrow samples from 21 patients were studied for numerical abnormalities of chromosomes 7, 9, 11, 15, 18 and X using centromere-specific probes. Trisomies for chromosomes 7, 9, 11, and 15 were observed in one-third to one-half of the patients studied. Monosomy 18 was seen in 72% of cases. Hayman et al. demonstrated that 21 of 29 patients harbored an abnormality of 14q32, with 16 having t(11;14).4 At the same time, Perfetti et al. reported the presence of IgH/MMSET(FGFR3) hybrid transcripts – t(4;14) – in six of 42 patients (14%) with amyloidosis using a reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction assay.5 Harrison et al. were the first to report the detection of del13/del13q in amyloidosis by FISH. Ten of 32 patients had del13/del3q, and 11 had 14q32 translocation, of whom nine had t(11;14).6 No patient had t(4;14). Five of the patients with del13/del3q had a concomitant IgH translocation, of whom three had t(11;14).
Over the past 15 years, information about genetic abnormalities in myeloma has been growing exponentially, especially since the advent of FISH.7 Recurrent abnormalities of particular significance in multiple myeloma are t(4;14), t(11;14), t(14;16), del13/del13q, del17p, and hyperdiploidy. The t(11;14) carries a neutral to improved prognosis, while t(4;14), t(14;16), and del17p all portend shortened survival.8,9
The finding of del13/del13q is unfavorable when detected by metaphase cytogenetics but has a less certain significance when detected by interphase FISH.7,10 Hyperdiploidy confers an improved prognosis,11 which may merely be secondary to the association of del13/del13q and IgH translocations with non-hyper-diploidy.12,13
Because of the pathogenetic and prognostic significance of chromosomal abnormalities in multiple myeloma, we sought to define the frequency and significance of abnormalities in AL patients tested in the routine clinical laboratory. Herein, we report our analysis of 56 cases of AL by metaphase cytogenetics and a standard myeloma cIg-FISH panel.

Design and Methods
Patients
Using our Dysproteinemia database, we reviewed all cases of
AL amyloidosis seen at our institution who had had cIg-FISH
or cytogenetics performed as part of their routine clinical
testing. Clinical data were culled from the database and through
abstraction by two of the authors (AB and AD). Between March
1, 1998 and October 31, 2006, 515 AL patients were seen, 226
of whom had had their diagnosis made within 30 days of presentation
to the Mayo Clinic. During this same interval, metaphase cytogenetic
studies had been performed in 339 patients with AL, 68 of whom
also had the myeloma cIg-FISH panel ordered in the clinical
laboratory. Testing was guided by physician preference rather
than clinical picture. Patients who had clear multiple myeloma
at any point in their clinical course, as established by lytic
bone lesions or infiltrative anemia (n=10), were excluded as
were the three patients in whom cIg-FISH testing could not be
done due to insufficient plasma cells, yielding the 56 patients
who are analyzed herein. Patients whose cIg-FISH was done remote
from diagnosis (in 4 patients more than 1 year after diagnosis)
or after initiating chemotherapy were not excluded (n=14). Of
the seven patients who had more than one cIg-FISH test panel
performed, none had additional abnormalities on repeat testing.
Interphase cytogenetic analysis
The cIg-FISH test uses commercially available and in-house chromosome-specific fluorescent-labeled DNA probes for FISH. Bone marrow samples were processed to keep the cytoplasm of the leukocytes intact. Slides were prepared using a cytospin centrifuge. Each probe set was hybridized to a separate hybridization site. Plasma cells were specifically detected by using immunoglobulin staining techniques with commercially available antibodies (cIg) for
and
.
Deletions or monosomies of chromosomes 13 and 17 were detected using FISH enumeration strategies employing 13q14 (RB1) and 13q34 (LAMP1) and 17p13.1 (p53). Centromere probes were used to detect chromosomal aneusomies for chromosomes 3, 7, 9, 15 and 17 using probes D3Z1, D7Z1, D9Z1, D15Z4, and D17Z1, respectively. Translocations involving the immunoglobulin heavy chain locus (IGH) were investigated using probes for 14q32 (IGH-XT) and 14q32 (5'IGH,3'IGH). Partner translocations for chromosomes 4p16.3 (FGFR3), 11 (CCND1) or 16q23 (c-MAF) were detected by double fusion FISH strategies.
For each probe set, 100 plasma cells (if possible) were scored. For translocations, at least three abnormal cells had to be present for the sample to be considered positive. For trisomies, at least five cells needed to contain the trisomy to be scored positive. Finally, for monosomies, the number of affected cells required for a positive score depended on the number of probes used for the given chromosome. If two probes were used, as was the case for chromosomes 13 and 14, then only three cells with the monosomy were required for a positive score. In contrast, five cells containing the abnormality were required for all other chromosomes tested to be scored as containing a monosomy. For the purposes of analysis, less than 1% plasma cells in the bone marrow were considered insufficient numbers for testing. This probe set and scoring system constitute the standard screening panel used in multiple myeloma at our institution.
Statistical analyses
Qualitative differences were analyzed by the
2 and Fishers exact tests. p<0.05 was used to indicate statistical significance. Survival was estimated from the time of diagnosis to last follow-up or death. Survival curves were generated with the Kaplan-Meier method and differences analyzed with the log-rank test. A Cox proportional hazards model was used to analyze the interaction of all potential patients characteristics with survival. All analyses were performed on JMP statistical software (SAS Institute Inc. Cary, NC, USA).

Results
Patients
The baseline characteristics of the patients are shown in
Table 1.
The median age of the cohort was 61 years old, with approximately
two thirds being men. As defined by standard criteria,
14 at
diagnosis 33 patients had cardiac involvement. 26 had renal
involvement, and 7 had liver involvement. There was no measurable
serum M spike by serum electrophoresis in the majority of patients;
rather, the presence of a monoclonal protein was detected by
immunofixation and/or serum immunoglobulin free light chains.
Forty-six patients had a monoclonal

clone. The median bone
marrow plasma cell percentage of patients was 8.0 (2.0–65.0).
The median plasma cell labeling index (PCLI) was low (0%) in
the 48 patients in whom it was measured.
Chromosome analysis and interphase cytogenetics
Of the 56 patients who underwent cIg-FISH analysis, 50 had also
undergone productive conventional metaphase chromosome karyotyping,
only two of whom had abnormal karyotypes. One patient had t(11;14)
in one of 30 metaphases, and one patient had a single (non-clonal)
complex abnormal karyotype.
In contrast, 39 patients had abnormal cIg-FISH results (Tables 1 and 2). The abnormalities demonstrated by cIg-FISH included IgH translocations in 27 patients, including 22 with t(11;14) and one with t(14;16), and del13/del13q in 17 patients. No patients had a del17/del17p or t(4;14). More than one cIg-FISH abnormality was detected in 18 patients (Figure 1). Eight patients had del13/del13q with an IgH translocation, with seven of these having t(11;14). The one patient with t(14;16) also had del13/del13q. Twenty of 22 patients with t(11;14) had a third cIg-FISH signal for 11q23 (CCND1).
Survival
As of July 8, 2008, the median follow-up of surviving patients
was 24 months (range, 0.2 to 69 months). Eighteen of 39 patients
with abnormal cIg-FISH results had died, as opposed to three
of 17 in whom cIg-FISH did not reveal abnormalities (
p=0.03)
(
Figure 2A). Similarly, there was a significant survival disadvantage
(HR 2.1, 95% CI 1.04–6.39,
p=0.04) for patients harboring
the t(11;14) translocation (
Figure 2B), but not for those patients
with del13/del13q (
data not shown). On univariate analysis,
survival was also related to cardiac involvement (HR 2.1, 95%
CI 0.83–6.1,
p=0.11), and there was a trend toward significance
for treatment administered, that is, standard chemotherapy versus
high dose chemotherapy with peripheral blood stem cell transplant
(HR 2.4, 95% CI 0.92–7.07,
p=0.07). On Cox multivariate
modeling the t(11;14) translocation retained its significance
despite the addition of treatment administered.
Treatment
Despite the fact that the prognostic significance of the presence
of t(11;14) was independent of treatment on multivariate analysis,
we carefully scrutinized the interventions patients received.
Three patients were deemed to ill to tolerate any therapy, 22
received chemotherapy alone, and 28 underwent autologous stem
cell transplantation. The patients who underwent chemotherapy
alone received a combination of melphalan and steroids with
or without thalidomide. The patients who underwent transplantation
either had no treatment or a short course of corticosteroids
plus or minus melphalan prior to stem cell collection. Overall,
of the patients with t(11;14), eight received chemotherapy alone,
12 underwent stem cell transplantation, and two died without
receiving any therapy. Among the patients without the t(11;14)
translocation, 17 received chemotherapy alone, 16 underwent
stem cell transplantation, and one died without receiving therapy.
The difference in treatments between patients with or without
t(11;14) was not significant (
p=0.41)
Relationship of cIg-FISH results to plasma cell burden and other known high risk features
We evaluated whether there was any relationship between bone marrow plasmacytosis and FISH abnormalities (Figure 3). Patients with abnormal FISH results were more likely to have more bone marrow plasma cells (p=0.0007). Among patients with FISH abnormalities, those with t(11;14) had the lowest levels of bone marrow infiltration. Patients with del13 appeared to have the highest bone marrow plasma cell counts. Of the 33 patients seen at the Mayo clinic within 100 days of their diagnosis and in whom the PCLI (a measure of proliferative rate) was evaluated, one patient had a high PCLI, and nine had intermediate PCLI levels. None of these patients had normal FISH. Six had t(11;14), four del13 (three of whom also had an IgH translocation), and three had non-t(11;14) IgH translocations. The relative percentages of elevated PCLI were different across the groups.
The frequency of organ involvement and abnormal cardiac biomarkers
was analyzed according to cytogenetic category. There was no
significant difference in organ involvement or the levels of
either brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) or N-terminal probrain
natriuretic peptide (NT-BNP) between patients with normal versus
abnormal cytogenetics, with the exception of t(11;14). Among
the 36 patients seen within 100 days of amyloid diagnosis, and
in whom troponin measurements were performed, there was an association
between elevated troponin (greater than 0.035 pg/mL) and t(11;14)
(
p=0.04). Patients with t(11;14) were more likely to have cardiac
involvement with 17/22 having cardiac involvement versus 16/34
patients without the translocation (
p=0.02). Renal involvement
and liver involvement were not related to the presence of t(11;14).

Discussion
In a cohort of 56 patients with AL whose bone marrow plasma
cells were subjected to routine cIg-FISH testing in the clinical
laboratory, we demonstrated that 70% of patients harbor the
same cytogenetic abnormalities found in myeloma patients. Forty-eight
percent of patients had an IgH abnormality, 39% of patients
had the t(11;14) translocation, and 30% of patients had del13.
The most important finding of this study is the potentially
negative prognostic impact that translocation t(11;14) had on
survival. On multivariate analysis, the hazard ratio for death
for patients with this abnormality was 2.5 times that of the
other patients without this abnormality. This finding is distinct
from what has been shown for patients with multiple myeloma
in whom t(11;14) has been considered either a neutral or favorable
prognostic factor. The importance of this finding is mitigated
by the retrospective nature of the study, which may introduce
unintended bias; however, this observation is novel, and should
be investigated in a larger, prospectively collected cohort
for confirmation.
Our cytogenetic findings in AL are similar to those previously published4–6,15,16 (Table 3). Some of the minor differences in results between studies may be explained by different techniques and scoring methodologies used. Considering the distribution of cytogenetic abnormalities among AL patients relative to that among patients with other plasma cell disorders, the most striking differences as compared to multiple myeloma are as follows: hyperdiploidy, 4% versus 50%; t(11;14), 39% versus 15%; del17p, 0% versus 11%; and t(4;14), 0% versus 10–15%.7–9,17–21 The distribution of FISH abnormalities observed in AL is more akin to that seen in patients with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance with the exception of t(11;14), which appears to be more common in AL than in monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (incidence of 15–30%).
It is unclear whether the apparent gain of 11q13 (
CCND1) in
association with t(11;14) observed in the present series is
a true dose effect, or merely a function of a complex three-way
translocation generating the double fusion FISH pattern of 2R2G1F.
In this case the total number of 11q13 signals is three, with
two by themselves and one involved in a fusion. Regardless of
whether it is a true gain of all or part of chromosome 11q or
merely heightened expression of
CCND1 due to apposition to the
IgH promoter,
CCND1 has been shown to be significantly upregulated
in patients with amyloidosis as compared to in those with multiple
myeloma both by gene expression profiling and by confirmatory
polymerase chain reaction analysis.
22 One could postulate that
if pathogenic, this heightened expression of cyclin D1 in AL
may manifest in terms of transcription factor regulation or
cell cycle promotion.
16 Although patients with t(11;14) had
the lowest levels of bone marrow plasmacytosis among the group
with abnormal FISH findings, they were no more or less likely
to have elevated rates of proliferation.
Given the fact that the poor survival experienced by AL patients is the result of end organ damage from relatively low levels of light chain intermediates and fibrils23,24 rather than tumor burden, it is not immediately obvious how differences in plasma cell biology result in worse outcomes. One can speculate that the indolent nature of the t(11;14) clones – and perhaps their relative resistance to chemotherapeutic intervention –may explain our findings. However, only prospective studies will be able to clarify and substantiate our results.

Footnotes
Funding: this research was supported in part by the Hematologic
Malignancies Fund of the Mayo Clinic and CA062242.
Authorship and Disclosures
AD, RKP, and AHB designed the research. AHB and RK performed research and collected data. AHB analyzed and interpreted data, performed the statistical analysis, and drafted the manuscript. AD and RKP reviewed the analysis and developed the manuscript. ML, MAG, RF, RAK, PRG, SRZ, JAL, SJR, SR, SRH, and FB reviewed the data and manuscript.
The authors reported no potential conflicts of interest.
Received for publication May 19, 2008.
Revision received October 17, 2008.
Accepted for publication October 21, 2008.

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