Genotypic identification of polyclonal plasma cells in plasma cell dyscrasias shows an aberrant single-cell phenotype with clinical implications

Abstract

Multiple Myeloma (MM) is driven by clonal plasma cell (PC)-intrinsic factors and changes in the tumorigenic microenvironment (TME). To investigate if residual polyclonal PCs (pPCs) are disrupted, single-cell (sc) RNAseq and sc B-cell receptor analysis were applied in a cohort of 46 samples with PC dyscrasias and 18 healthy donors (HDs). Out of n=213,074 CD138pos PCs, 42,717 were genotypically identified as pPCs. Compared to HDs, we detected quantitative and qualitative differences in pPCs of patients showing immunoparesis, where we showed a pro-inflammatory status, driven by specific cellular interactions with TME. Finally, we derived a "hPC signature" that, once inferred in the CoMMpass dataset, was predictive of PFS and OS. Our findings show that genotypic, single-cell identification of pPCs in PC dyscrasias has relevant pathogenic and clinical implications.