Objective:To detect the expression of receptor tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor 1 (ROR1) antigen in chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and evaluate its diagnostic value and explore its correlation with the abnormalities of genetics and molecular biology.Methods:All of 209 newly diagnosed B-cell chronic lymphoproliferative disorders (B-CLPD) patients who were admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University (Jiangsu Provincial People′s Hospital) from November 2020 to November 2021 were collected retrospectively, including 70 cases of CLL with typical phenotype, 16 cases of CLL with atypical phenotype, 14 cases of MCL, and 109 cases of other types of B-CLPD. Multi-parameter flow cytometry (FCM) was used to detect the expression levels of ROR1 in tumor cells of 209 patients. And then the diagnostic value of ROR1 in CLL patients and its correlation with the genetic and molecular biological abnormalities were analyzed by c2 test and fourfold table assessment.Results:The positive expression rate of ROR1 in CLL patients was significantly higher than that in non-CLL patients (78%>11%, P<0.001); there was no significant difference of ROR1 expression between typical phenotype CLL and atypical phenotype CLL (81%>63%, P>0.05). The positive expression rate of ROR1 in atypical phenotype CLL was significantly higher than that in MCL (63%>21%, P<0.05). Additionally, there was significant difference in detection rate of chromosomal abnormalities between ROR1 +CLL group and ROR1 -CLL group. The detection rate of complex karyotype in ROR1 +CLL group was higher than that in ROR1 -CLL group (34%>14%, P<0.05). The CLL patients over 60 years old had higher ROR1 positive rate ( P<0.05). Conclusions:ROR1 can be helpful in the diagnosis of CLL, especially in the differential diagnosis of atypical phenotype CLL, MCL and other types of B-CLPD. Patients with ROR1 positive expression were older and more likely to detect complex chromosomal karyotypes.

Objective To analyze the expression of CD160 antigen in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), and to explore its clinical diagnostic value as well as the correlation of CD160 with genetic abnormalities. Methods A retrospective study was conducted from January 2015 to December 2017. Clinical data of 336 patients in the First Affiliated Hospital with Nanjing Medical University (Jiangsu Province) were collected. Among them, 200 patients were diagnosed with CLL according to WHO Classification Tumors of Hematopoietic and Lymphoid Tissues (the 4th edition of 2008), including 122 patients with typical CLL and 78 with atypical CLL based on Royal Marsden Hospital Immunomarker Integral System. Besides, there were 49 patients diagnosed with MCL and 87 patients with CD5-small B cell lymphoma (SBL). All patients' tumor cells were detected for CD160 expression and its mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) by flow cytometry. At the same time, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was used to detect P53 deletion, 13q14 deletion, ATM deletion, 6q23 deletion,+12 and IGH rearrangement in CLL cases. Molecular characteristics and genetic abnormalities were compared between CD160+ and CD160-CLL patients. Results The CD160 positive rate in typical CLL patients and atypical CLL patients was 59.8％(73/122) and 64.1％ (50/78), with MFI ranging from 14.9 to 173.9, and 29.6 to 193.7, respectively; while the CD160 positive rate in patients with CD5-SBL was 1.1％ (1 / 87) and all the MCL patients were CD160 negative. The CD160 positive rate was significantly higher in typical and atypical CLL patients than that in MCL patients or patients with CD5-SBL (P<0.01). The rearrangement rate of IGH was significantly higher in CD160+ CLL patients than that in CD160-CLL patients (62.1％ vs 31.6％, P<0.05). Conclusion CD160 has significant value for auxiliary diagnosis of CLL, especially can provide a reliable evidence for the diagnosis and differential diagnosis among atypical CLL, MCL, and SBL.

Objective:To investigate the expression characteristics of TRBC1 protein in mature T-cell lymphoma (TCL) , and compare with T-cell receptor (TCR) -Vβ repertoire analysis and TCR gene rearrangement results, to explore the value of TRBC1 in the diagnosis of TCL.Methods:The expression of TRBC1 was detected by multi-parameter flow cytometry in 30 cases of TCL, 40 cases of normal controls and 50 cases of patients without T lymphocyte proliferative diseases (non-TCL) admitted to the Department of Hematology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University. The diagnostic value of TCRVβ repertoire analysis, TCR gene rearrangement and TRBC1 restricted expression detection in TCL was evaluated.Results:The positive rates of CD4 +T and CD8 +T cell subsets TRBC1 in normal control group were (39.6±6.5) % and (39.3±4.4) %. The positive rates of CD4 +T and CD8 +T cell subsets TRBC1 in non-TCL were (39.1±3.8) % and (36.0±8.4) %. All 30 cases of TCL were CD3 +TCRγδ -, and the positive rate of TRBC1 was >92.3% or <12.7%. All cases showed restrictive expression pattern (monoclonal expression) , which was significantly different from those of the normal control and the non-TCL cases ( P<0.001) . In terms of the diagnostic performance of T cell clonality, the sensitivity of TRBC1 was 100%, the positive detection rate of TCR gene rearrangement was 92.8%, and the sensitivity of TCRVβ detection was 94.1%. Kappa test showed high consistency among the three detective methods. Conclusion:Multi-parameter flow cytometry detection of TRBC1 expression level can quickly and efficiently diagnose mature T-cell lymphoma, which has good clinical application value.

Objective:To investigate the expression pattern of TCR variable region subfamily (Vβ and Vδ) in patients with mature T-cell lymphoma (TCL), and to compare the diagnostic value of TCRVβ and TCRVδ analysis in TCL.Methods:The TCRVβ flow cytometry kit was used to detect the expression of Vβ subtypes of αβT cell in 199 patients with αβ TCL and 398 patients with non-TCL, who hospitalized in Jiangsu Provincial People Hospital from 2011 to 2020. Among them, 185 cases of αβ TCL and 355 cases of non-TCL also underwent TCRβ and TCRγ gene rearrangement detection. The TCRVδ based 10-color protocol was used to detect the expression of Vδ subtypes in 24 cases of γδTCL, 10 cases of normal controls, and 15 cases with reactively higher CD4 and CD8 double-negative ratio from 2017 to 2020, and 24 cases of γδTCL and 15 cases with reactively higher CD4 and CD8 double-negative ratio underwent TCRβ, TCRγ and TCRδ gene rearrangement detection. The diagnostic performance and degree of coincidence for detecting malignant clonality were compared between TCRVβ and TCRVδ analysis and the TCR gene scanning method.Results:In the 199 cases of αβ TCL, 182 cases (91.5%) showed restricted expression or the sum of the positive percentages of the subgroups was less than 30% for the 24 TCRVβ subtypes. Among them, the subfamily members with the highest incidence of clonal T lymphocytes were TCRVβ13.2 (12.6%, 23/182) and TCRVβ3 (8.2%,15/182); the TCRVβ subtypes showed nonclonal results in 99.0% (394/398) of non-TCL. All 24 cases of γδTCL (100%) showed abnormal distribution patterns of Vδ1 and Vδ2, of which 19 cases showed restricted expression of Vδ1, and the remaining 5 cases had negative expression of either Vδ1 or Vδ2, and the positive rate of Vδ1 cells was significantly higher than that of Vδ2 cells (79.9%±10.8% vs 0.7%±0.3%, P<0.001). Among the normal control and cases with reactively higher CD4 and CD8 double-negative ratio, the positive rate of Vδ2 cells was significantly higher than that of Vδ1 cells (73.7%±6.7% vs 15.6%±4.2%, P<0.001), and all cases (25/25) showed a normal distribution pattern. In terms of the diagnostic performance of TCL, there was no significant difference of sensitivity and specificity between TCR variable region subfamily detection by flow cytometry and TCR gene scanning technology (the sensitivity was 92.4% and 91.4% respectively; the specificity was 99.0% and 95.9% respectively, P=0.065), and the coincidence rate of the two diagnostic methods is high (Kappa=0.809, P<0.001). Conclusion:Detection of TCR variable region subfamily by flow cytometry could quickly and effectively diagnose mature TCL.

Objective:To evaluate the quantitative diagnostic value of controlled attenuation parameter (CAP) in health checkup groups with asymptomatic nonalcoholic fatty liver disease.Methods:A multicenter prospective study was conducted among Chinese individuals undergoing regular health checkups; a total of 173 subjects were investigated. Human body indexes such as height, weight, and blood pressure were measured, and complete blood count, liver function, blood lipid, FibroScan, and MRI-PDFF examinations were performed. Correlation between MRI-PDFF and CAP was described using Spearman′s and Pearson′s coefficients. Diagnostic efficacy of the CAP was evaluated using the subject work characteristic curve and the area under this curve, and the optimal cut-off value was determined according to the Youden index.Results:The average age and body mass index of the subjects were 45.0±10.5 years and 25.8±4.0 kg/m 2, respectively. A linear correlation was found between CAP and lg transformed magnetic resonance imaging-based proton density fat fraction results (Pearson′s coefficient 0.772, P<0.001). When optimized for ≥90% sensitivity, the CAP cutoff for staging ≥S1 steatosis was 244 dB/m. Conclusions:The CAP result was significantly correlated with the liver fat fraction measured by MRI-PDFF, and capable of differentiating steatosis grades. CAP can be used as a tool for screening fatty liver in health checkup groups.

Objective:To investigate the significance of 12 inflammatory cytokines in early detection and treatment guidance of hematologic malignant patients with Cytokine release syndrome (CRS) after Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell immunotherapy.Methods:A total of 12 patients, including 6 males and 6 females, aged 53.0 (49.8, 62.5) years old, were treated with CAR-T cell immunotherapy in the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from 2017 to 2020. Cytometric bead array was used to detect the serum levels of IL-1β, IL-2, IL-4, IL-5, IL-6, IL-8, IL-10, IL-12P70, IL-17A, IFN-α, IFN-γ, and TNF-α at different time points after cell infusion in all patients receiving CAR-T cell immunotherapy. C-reactive protein (CRP), D-dimer (D-D), serum ferritin (SF), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) were measured at the corresponding period. CRS was classified into four grades according to the diagnostic criteria, from 0 to 3. The differences of the above mentioned parameters between the four groups were compared. The Speedman correlation coefficient was used to analyze the correlation between inflammatory cytokine expression levels and CRS grades. Plot the subject′s receiver operating characterist (ROC) curve to determine the sensitivity and specificity of inflammatory cytokines to predict CRS.Results:CRS grading was performed on day 1, 4, 7, and 11 after CAR-T cell infusion in 12 patients. There are 48 cases in total, including 25 cases of CRS grade 0, 6 cases of CRS grade 1, 9 cases of CRS grade 2, and 8 cases of CRS grade 3. The correlation analysis of 48 cases showed that the expression levels of IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-1β, and IL-8 were positively correlated with CRS grade ( P<0.05). The correlation coefficients were 0.384, 0.730, 0.632, 0.341, 0.681, 0.319, and 0.622, respectively. 7 inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-10, IFN-γ, IL-8, IL-2, TNF-α, and IFN-α) were elevated in 12 patients, and the average time to start the rise was 3.4, 5.3, 6.1, 2.9, 4.3, 6.0 and 5.8 days, respectively. The time for CRP, D-D, SF, and LDH to begin to rise were 6.6, 7.6, 8.3 and 7.6 days, which were higher than that of the 7 inflammatory cytokines. After effective treatment, except for IL-6, the remaining 6 inflammatory cytokines (IL-10, IFN-γ, IL-8, IL-2, TNF-α and IFN-α) had their recovery times as 7.8, 3.9, 5.1, 8.0, 6.0, and 2.5 day,respectively, which were lower than that of CRP, D-D, SF, and LDH(9.7, 9.2, 13.7, and 13.8 days, respectively). The ROC showed that IL-6, IL-10, IFN-γ, and IL-8 can serve as biomarkers for diagnosis of CRS with high sensitivity and specificity. Conclusion:The monitoring of 12 inflammatory cytokines play an important role in CRS grading after CAR-T cell immunotherapy, which contributes to the early diagnosis of CRS and the prediction of clinical outcome.

Objective:To investigate the clinical significance of cc-chemokine receptor 7 (CCR7) as a potential diagnostic or differential marker for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL).Methods:A total number of 643 patients with B-cell chronic lymphoproliferative diseases (B-CLPD) admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University from January 2015 to December 2018 were enrolled. The patients included 327 cases of CLL, 58 cases of mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), 34 cases of follicular lymphoma (FL), 36 cases of marginal zone lymphoma (MZL), 10 cases of hair-cell leukemia or its variants (HCL/HCLV-v), 40 cases of Waldorf′s macroglobulinemia (WM), 48 cases of CD5 +B-cell chronic lymphoproliferative disease unclassified (B-CLPD-U) and 90 cases of CD5 -B-CLPD-U. At the same time, 20 samples from healthy people from the medical examination center of our hospital were used as normal controls. Flow cytometry was used to detect the immune-phenotype and CCR7 expression level in B-CLPD patients, and Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was used to analyze the genomic alterations: the ataxia telangiectasia mutant gene (ATM) deletion, the 13q14 deletion, the P53 deletion and trisomy 12. Sanger sequencing was used to analyze gene mutations of splicing factor 3B subunit 1 (SF3B1), NOTCH1, tumor protein 53 (TP53) and immunoglobulin heavy chain variable region (IGHV). Measurement data were compared by Mann-Whitney test, and the positive rates were compared by chi-square test. The diagnostic value and optimal positive cutoff value of CCR7 were calculated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve. Results:The positive rates of CCR7 expression in typical CLL and atypical CLL were 90.8% (257/283) and 84.1% (37/44), respectively, and there was no significant difference of the positive rates (χ 2=1.228, P=0.268) between groups. The positive expression rates of CCR7 in CLL, MCL, CD5 +B-CLPD-U, CD5 -B-CLPD-U, FL, WM, HCL/HCL-v and MZL were 89.9% (294/327), 10.3% (6/58), 6.3% (3/48), 8.9% (8/90), 0, 0, 0 and 13.9% (5/36) respectively, and the median mean fluorescence intensity (MFI) was 278 (246, 307), 114 (106, 128), 112 (106, 117), 110 (104, 121), 108 (105, 119), 111 (105, 124), 112 (108, 115) and 109 (105, 120) respectively. Compared with CLL, the positive expression rates of CCR7 in other types of B-CLPDs were lower significantly (χ 2=181.3, 177.8, 232, 164.7, 180.8, 62.6, 129, P<0.01). In addition, the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of CCR7 for distinguishing CLL from other types of B-CLPD were 89.9%, 93.0% and 92.3%, respectively. The positive expression rate of CD49d in CCR7 +CLL patients was 13.9%, which was significantly lower than that in CCR7 -CLL patients (42.1%) (χ 2=7.6, P=0.01). The coincidence rate of 13q14 deletion was 50.3% in CCR7 +CLL patients, which was significantly higher than that in CCR7 -CLL patients (20%) (χ 2=6.56, P=0.01). Conclusions:The CC-chemokine receptor 7 (CCR7) antigen is an effective marker for the diagnosis and identification of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The expression level of CCR7 in clinical specimens can distinguish CLL from other pathological subtypes of B-CLPDs.

Objective:To explore the correlation of CD49d expression patterns with molecular genetics and hotspot gene mutants in patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia.Methods:The expression of CD49d was detected by flow cytometry and grouped into homogeneous, bimodal, negative and positive expression. Panel fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was used for molecular genetics analysis and next-generation sequencing (NGS) was conducted for gene mutation detection.Results:There were 43 patients (23.89% ) with positive CD49d expression, 137 patients (76.11% ) with negative CD49d expression, 96 patients (53.33% ) with homogeneous CD49d expression and 84 patients (46.67% ) with bimodal CD49d expression. Compared with patients in the CD49d negative group, patients in the CD49d positive group had higher Rai stage ( P=0.048) and higher proportion of spleen enlargement ( P=0.030) . Compared with patients with homogeneous expression of CD49d, patients with bimodal expression of CD49d had a higher proportion of spleen enlargement ( P=0.009) . The expression rate of 11q22- in bimodal CD49d - group was significantly higher than that in homogeneous CD49d - group (24.29% vs 10.45% , P=0.043) . The incidence of +12 in homogeneous CD49d group was higher than that in bimodal CD49d group (16.67% vs 5.95% , P=0.035) . The incidence of +12 in homogeneous CD49d + group was higher than that in bimodal CD49d - group (17.24% vs 4.29% , P=0.045) . The incidence of +12 in homogeneous CD49d - group was higher than that in bimodal CD49d - group (16.42% vs 4.29% , P=0.024) . BIRC3 mutation rate in CD49d positive group was higher than that in CD49d negative group (11.63% vs 2.92% , P=0.037) . Conclusion:There were significant correlations between CD49d and 11q22-, +12 and BIRC3 gene mutation. Patients with bimodal CD49d were more correlated with poor prognosis indexes.

Objective:To analyze the differences in immunophenotype, cytogenetics, and molecular biology between typical and atypical immunophenotype chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) , and explore the correlation of cytogenetic anomalies with gene mutations.Methods:This study included 488 patients diagnosed in the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University between November 2014 and May 2021. Of these, 382 patients scored 4-5 points, which was typical CLL (tCLL) , and 106 scored 3 points, which was atypical CLL (aCLL) as per the Royal Marsden Hospital Immunomarker Integral System. Peripheral blood cells were collected for immunophenotype by multiparameter flow cytometry in 488 patients, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) was employed to detect cytogenetic anomalies in 359 patients, and gene mutations were detected by next-generation sequencing (NGS) in 330 patients.Results:The positive rates of CD10, CD22, CD49d, CD81, and FMC7 were significantly higher in the aCLL compared with the tCLL group ( P=0.020, P<0.001, P<0.001, P=0.027, and P<0.001, respectively) , while the positive rates of CD5, CD23, CD148, and CD200 were lower in the former compared to the latter ( P<0.001, P=0.017, P=0.041, and P<0.001, respectively) . aCLL exhibited a higher frequency of trisomy 12 and lower frequency of del (13q14) compared to the tCLL group ( P<0.001 and P<0.001, respectively) . Moreover, aCLL patients also showed a higher incidence of NOTCH1 mutations than the tCLL patients ( P=0.038) , while no statistically significant differences in other gene mutations occurred between the two groups. No significant differences in overall survival (OS) and treatment-free survival (TFS) occurred between aCLL and tCLL using Kaplan-Meier analysis ( P>0.05) . Conclusion:aCLL has characteristic immunophenotype, cytogenetic, and somatic mutation that differ from tCLL, and this can provide reliable information for the diagnosis and differential diagnosis between the two groups.