Concomitant Waldenström Macroglobulinemia/Lymphoplasmacytic Lymphoma and Non-Immunoglobulin M Plasma Cell Neoplasm: A Report of 14 Cases With Laboratory Evidence of Biclonal B-Cell Neoplasms in Individual Patients.

CONTEXT.—: The co-occurrence of plasma cell neoplasm (PCN) and lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma (LPL) is rare, and their clonal relationship remains unclear.

OBJECTIVE.—: To evaluate the clinicopathologic characteristics of concomitant LPL/PCN.

DESIGN.—: Retrospectively analyzed clinical and laboratory data of 14 cases.

RESULTS.—: Three patients initially presented with immunoglobulin (Ig) M paraprotein, 1 with IgG paraprotein, and 10 had simultaneous diagnoses of PCN and LPL. In 13 cases, flow cytometry detected both LPL and PCN in marrow biopsies. Furthermore, immunohistochemistry highlighted the 2 neoplastic populations, demonstrating an increased proportion of plasma cells and their expression of cyclin D1, CD56, and/or a non-IgM isotype restriction. All cases exhibited discordant heavy-chain isotypes between LPL and PCN. Thirteen of the 14 cases (92.9%) had concordant light-chain restrictions between the 2 neoplasms, and the remaining case (7.1%) showed discordant light-chain restrictions. Of the 12 patients with follow-up, 5 were treated with myeloma regimens, 2 with LPL regimens, 3 with combined therapy, and 2 with observation alone. Follow-up ranged from 2 to 146 months (median, 12.5 months). One patient died of PCN progression, one died of comorbidity, and 10 patients were alive with or without disease. Survival analysis showed no significant difference from the control.

CONCLUSIONS.—: The discordant heavy-chain isotype restrictions between PCN and LPL suggest biclonal B-cell neoplasms, which is supported by PCN's phenotypic distinction, such as the expression of cyclin D1 and/or CD56. However, our series exhibited a tendency toward concordant light-chain restrictions between the 2 neoplasms, raising the possibility that PCN may evolve from LPL through class switching.