Outcomes for follicular lymphoma (FL) have greatly improved, but most patients will ultimately relapse. High total metabolic tumor volume (TMTV), computed from baseline F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (PET), is associated with shorter progression-free survival (PFS), but circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and cell-free DNA (cfDNA) may also reflect tumor burden and be of prognostic value. The aim of our study was to correlate CTCs and cfDNA with TMTV in FL at diagnosis and to determine their prognostic values. We retrospectively analyzed 133 patients (with previously untreated FL and a baseline PET) from 2 cohorts with either a baseline plasma sample (n = 61) or a bcl2-JH-informative peripheral blood (PB) sample (n = 68). Quantification of circulating bcl2-JH cells and cfDNA was performed by droplet digital polymerase chain reaction. A significant correlation was found between TMTV and both CTCs ( < .0001) and cfDNA ( < .0001). With a median 48-month follow-up, 4-year PFS was lower in patients with TMTV > 510 cm ( = .0004), CTCs >0.0018 PB cells ( = .03), or cfDNA >2550 equivalent-genome/mL ( = .04). In comparison with TMTV alone, no additional prognostic information was obtained by measuring CTCs. In contrast, Cox multivariate analysis, including cfDNA and TMTV, showed that both cfDNA and TMTV remained predictive of outcome. In conclusion, CTCs and cfDNA correlate with TMTV in FL, and all 3 influence patient outcome. PFS was shorter for patients with high cfDNA and TMTV, suggesting that these parameters provide relevant information for tumor-tailored therapy.

Background Pretherapeutic screening for dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) deficiency is recommended or required prior to the administration of fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy. However, the best strategy to identify DPD-deficient patients remains elusive. Methods Among a nationwide cohort of 5886 phenotyped patients with cancer who were screened for DPD deficiency over a 3 years period, we assessed the characteristics of both DPD phenotypes and DPYD genotypes in a subgroup of 3680 patients who had completed the two tests. The extent to which defective allelic variants of DPYD predict DPD activity as estimated by the plasma concentrations of uracil [U] and its product dihydrouracil [UH2] was evaluated. Results When [U] was used to monitor DPD activity, 6.8% of the patients were classified as having DPD deficiency ([U] > 16 ng/ml), while the [UH2]:[U] ratio identified 11.5% of the patients as having DPD deficiency (UH2]:[U] < 10). [U] classified two patients (0.05%) with complete DPD deficiency (> 150 ng/ml), and [UH2]:[U] < 1 identified three patients (0.08%) with a complete DPD deficiency. A defective DPYD variant was present in 4.5% of the patients, and two patients (0.05%) carrying 2 defective variants of DPYD were predicted to have low metabolism. The mutation status of DPYD displayed a very low positive predictive value in identifying individuals with DPD deficiency, although a higher predictive value was observed when [UH2]:[U] was used to measure DPD activity. Whole exon sequencing of the DPYD gene in 111 patients with DPD deficiency and a “wild-type” genotype (based on the four most common variants) identified seven heterozygous carriers of a defective allelic variant. Conclusions Frequent genetic DPYD variants have low performances in predicting partial DPD deficiency when evaluated by [U] alone, and [UH2]:[U] might better reflect the impact of genetic variants on DPD activity. A clinical trial comparing toxicity rates after dose adjustment according to the results of genotyping or phenotyping testing to detect DPD deficiency will provide critical information on the best strategy to identify DPD deficiency.

Conclusion:The updated clinical results of the FIL-MCL0208 trial show that: i) both TP53 and KMT2D mutations independently associate with shorter PFS and OS in younger MCL patients receiving high-dose therapy; ii) KMT2D mutations seem to be as detrimental as TP53 mutations, at least in terms of PFS; iii) given the negative prognostic impact of these mutations, they might be used to select high-risk patients for novel therapeutic approaches.