Mass cytometric single cell immune profiles of peripheral blood from acute myeloid leukemia patients in complete remission with measurable residual disease

• Published in: Cytometry. Part B, Clinical cytometry
• Main Authors: Sefland, Øystein, Gullaksen, Stein-Erik, Omsland, Maria, Reikvam, Håkon, Galteland, Eivind, Tran, Hoa Thi Tuyet, Spetalen, Signe, Singh, Satwinder Kaur, Van Zeeburg, Hester J T, Van De Loosdrecht, Arjan A, Gjertsen, Bjørn Tore
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 30-07-2024
• Subjects: immune profiling; dendritic cell therapy; mass cytometry; acute myeloid leukemia; single cell analysis
• ISSN: 1552-4949; 1552-4957; 1552-4957
• DOI: 10.1002/cyto.b.22197

Measurable residual disease (MRD) is detected in approximately a quarter of AML chemotherapy responders, serving as a predictor for relapse and shorter survival. Immunological control of residual disease is suggested to prevent relapse, but the mechanisms involved are not fully understood. We present a peripheral blood single cell immune profiling by mass cytometry using a 42-antibody panel with particular emphasis on markers of cellular immune response. Six healthy donors were compared with four AML patients with MRD (MRD
) in first complete remission (CR1
). Three of four patients demonstrated a favorable genetic risk profile, while the fourth patient had an unfavorable risk profile (complex karyotype, TP53-mutation) and a high level of MRD. Unsupervised clustering using self-organizing maps and dimensional reduction analysis was performed for visualization and analysis of immune cell subsets. CD57
natural killer (NK)-cell subsets were found to be less abundant in patients than in healthy donors. Both T and NK cells demonstrated elevated expression of activity and maturation markers (CD44, granzyme B, and phosho-STAT5 Y694) in patients. Although mass cytometry remains an expensive method with limited scalability, our data suggest the utility for employing a 42-plex profiling for cellular immune surveillance in whole blood, and possibly as a biomarker platform in future clinical trials. The findings encourage further investigations of single cell immune profiling in CR1
AML-patients.