Automated pattern-guided principal component analysis vs expert-based immunophenotypic classification of B-cell chronic lymphoproliferative disorders: a step forward in the standardization of clinical immunophenotyping

• Published in: Leukemia Vol. 24; no. 11; pp. 1927 - 1933
• Main Authors: Costa, E S, Pedreira, C E, Barrena, S, Lecrevisse, Q, Flores, J, Quijano, S, Almeida, J, del Carmen García- Macias, M, Bottcher, S, Van Dongen, J J M, Orfao, A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01.11.2010; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/1647/664; 692/699/249/1623; Adult; Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Antibodies; Antigens, CD - immunology; Automation; B cells; B-Lymphocytes - immunology; B-Lymphocytes - pathology; Biological and medical sciences; Cancer; Cancer Research; Care and treatment; Critical Care Medicine; Diagnosis; Female; Flow Cytometry - methods; Genetic aspects; Hematologic and hematopoietic diseases; Hematology; Histology; Humans; Immunoglobulin A - immunology; Immunophenotyping - methods; Intensive; Internal Medicine; Laboratories; Leukemia; Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell - immunology; Leukemia, Lymphocytic, Chronic, B-Cell - pathology; Leukemias. Malignant lymphomas. Malignant reticulosis. Myelofibrosis; Lymphocytes; Lymphoma; Lymphoma - immunology; Lymphoma - pathology; Lymphoma, Follicular - immunology; Lymphoma, Follicular - pathology; Lymphoma, Mantle-Cell - immunology; Lymphoma, Mantle-Cell - pathology; Lymphomas; Male; Medical sciences; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Middle Aged; Oncology; Original; original-article; Predictive Value of Tests; Principal components analysis; Properties; Spain; Brazil; Rio de Janeiro Brazil; haematological malignancies; flow cytometry; FCS data; immunophenotyping; B-cell chronic lymphoproliferative disorders; principal component analysis; Flow cytometry; Hematology; Immunophenotype; Standardization; Malignant hemopathy; B-Lymphocyte; Guidance; Chronic; Lymphoproliferative syndrome; Classification; Pattern analysis; Comparative study; Cancer
• ISSN: 0887-6924; 1476-5551
• DOI: 10.1038/leu.2010.160

Immunophenotypic characterization of B-cell chronic lymphoproliferative disorders (B-CLPD) is becoming increasingly complex due to usage of progressively larger panels of reagents and a high number of World Health Organization (WHO) entities. Typically, data analysis is performed separately for each stained aliquot of a sample; subsequently, an expert interprets the overall immunophenotypic profile (IP) of neoplastic B-cells and assigns it to specific diagnostic categories. We constructed a principal component analysis (PCA)-based tool to guide immunophenotypic classification of B-CLPD. Three reference groups of immunophenotypic data files—B-cell chronic lymphocytic leukemias (B-CLL; n =10), mantle cell (MCL; n =10) and follicular lymphomas (FL; n =10)—were built. Subsequently, each of the 175 cases studied was evaluated and assigned to either one of the three reference groups or to none of them (other B-CLPD). Most cases (89%) were correctly assigned to their corresponding WHO diagnostic group with overall positive and negative predictive values of 89 and 96%, respectively. The efficiency of the PCA-based approach was particularly high among typical B-CLL, MCL and FL vs other B-CLPD cases. In summary, PCA-guided immunophenotypic classification of B-CLPD is a promising tool for standardized interpretation of tumor IP, their classification into well-defined entities and comprehensive evaluation of antibody panels.