Serum Soluble B Cell Maturation Antigen Level as a Prognostic Marker for Low Grade Lymphoma

Abstract

Abstract Background Despite the Indolent lymphoma is a slowly growing tumor that has many therapeutic options and good initial response, it is usually incurable. Relapses and HT to aggressive form may occur and some patients die from their disease. For the RR iNHL Several novel targeted therapies may be recommended such as antibody–drug conjugates (ADC) and bispecific T cell engagers (BiTE). B cell maturation antigen is a transmembrane glycoprotein that regulate B cell proliferation, survival, maturation and differentiation into PCs. IT is expressed in multiple myeloma and B cell neoplasms. The effects of BCMA have been studied in multiple myeloma and a new BCMA-targeted immunotherapy has been approved for the treatment RRMM patients. Few studies done to detect BCMA in other Hematologic malignancies as a diagnostic or prognostic tool and a therapeutic potential of antiBCMa targeted therapy in these malignancies. In this study we detect sBCMA in the serum of iNHL patients. Aim of the Work To measure the levels soluble BCMA (sBCMA) in the serum of adult patients with indolent non Hodgkin lymphoma (iNHL). Patients and Methods A case control study conducted on adult patients of iNHL attending hematology department of Ain Shams university with a participant of 40 cases of newly diagnosed and RR iNHL plus 40 control. Results In the present study we found that there was no statistically significant difference between the studied groups as regard sex, TLC, Hb, platelet counts and tumor subtypes in relation to BCMA level . While there is a statistically significant correlation between Age, stage and LDH to the BCMA level. The results suggest that the BCMA level is significantly higher in patients with iNHL than the healthy controls. Conclusion This study suggest that the BCMA level is significantly higher in patients with iNHL than the healthy controls. By increasing the Age ≥ 40 years the risk of iNHL is increased by 1.71 folds than otherwise healthy controls. The BCMA level was positively correlated to LDH implying that BCMA could be related to iNHL proliferation rate and possibly lymphoma aggressiveness. The level of BCMA more than 430 ng/dL correlated with a more than a 4.5-fold rise in the risk of higher disease stage with borderline significance. Further studies are needed to detect the relation between The BCMA level and the disease prognosis that may be useful for a promising AntiBCMA targeted therapy for RR patients.