D Gene Usage Predicts Clinical Outcome in Patients with Low Rai Risk Unmutated B-CLL.
Authors: Tschumper Renee C. , Geyer Susan M. , Campbell Megan E. , Kay Neil E. , Shanafelt Tait D. , Zent Clive S. , Call Timothy G. , Jelinek Diane F. 
Published: October 2019

Mutation status of the immunoglobulin heavy chain variable region (IgVH) in B cell chronic lymphocytic leukemia (B-CLL) is a critical prognostic tool. Although patients with unmutated (UM) IgVH genes exhibit an overall shorter survival than those with mutated (M) IgVH genes, considerable heterogeneity in clinical progression exists among UM B-CLL patients. The goal of this study was to evaluate UM CLL patients (n=215) in a large B-CLL cohort for Ig V, D, and J gene usage and relevant clinical parameters to identify Ig molecular features in addition to UM vs. M status that have prognostic value. Consistent with the literature, the most commonly expressed IgVH gene in our UM B-CLL cohort was VH 1–69 (69/215). We first evaluated D and J usage in VH 1-69 vs. non-VH 1–69 UM patients. The factors that were significantly different between VH1–69 vs. non-VH 1–69 cohorts were JH6 usage (p=0.0014), D3–3 usage (p=0.0025), and the combination of JH6 and D3–3 usage (p=0.0002). We then examined potential associations between patient time to treatment (TTT) and specific IgVH molecular features. Although there was a trend that VH 1–69 patients exhibited a shorter TTT than non-VH 1–69 patients, the association did not reach statistical significance (p=0.06). When all UM patients were instead grouped on the basis of D and J usage, JH6 usage was not significantly associated with TTT, but D3–3 usage, irrespective of VH or JH usage, significantly correlated with shorter TTT (p=0.005). Of interest, when JH6 patients were excluded from the analysis, differences in TTT between those with and without D3–3 usage were particularly pronounced (p=0.011).

We next explored whether a specific D3–3 reading frame (RF) is associated with TTT. Within the group of D3–3 patients, we evaluated differences in TTT between those with RF 2 (n=38) vs. RF 3 (n=19) but did not study RF1 patients due to small numbers (n=6). Comparison of D3–3/RF 3 patients (n=19) with all other UM patients (n=190), did not reveal a significant difference in TTT, however, there was a significant difference (p=0.012) in TTT between D3–3/RF 2 patients (n=38) and all other UM patients (n=171).

Rai risk was still the best overall prognostic factor, and was the only significant factor (p<0.0001) in the multivariable (MV) setting for TTT using the entire UM cohort. However, when we categorized patients by both Rai risk (low vs. intermediate/high) and D3–3 usage, the most pronounced differences for TTT were observed based on D3–3 usage in the low Rai risk = 0 patients. Thus, the D3–3 cohort within the Rai 0 risk group displayed a significantly shorter TTT than did the non-D3–3 Rai 0 risk cohort (p=.0006). In model-building approaches in the MV setting using both the stepwise and score statistic methods for Rai 0 patients, D3–3 usage was the only significant factor for TTT (p=0.0004) even when RF 2 usage, JH6 usage, and absolute mutation percentage were also considered.

These data illustrate for the first time the clinical importance of D gene usage and D gene RF in disease progression in early stage UM B-CLL. Moreover, this study adds further support to the notion that there is selection for specific Ig receptors in B-CLL and that the antigenic specificity of certain receptors may be associated with aggressive disease. Finally, these data demonstrate that the prognostic utility of IgVH mutation testing goes beyond simply determining categorical IgVH mutation status.