Neurologic and oncologic features of Erdheim-Chester disease: a 30-patient series

Abstract

Background: Erdheim-Chester disease (ECD) is a rare histiocytic neoplasm characterized by recurrent alterations in the MAPK (mitogen-activating protein kinase) pathway. The existing literature about the neuro-oncological spectrum of ECD is limited.

Methods: We present retrospective clinical, radiographic, pathologic, molecular, and treatment data from 30 patients with ECD neurohistiocytic involvement treated at a tertiary center.

Results: Median age was 52 years (range, 7-77), and 20 (67%) patients were male. Presenting symptoms included ataxia in 19 patients (63%), dysarthria in 14 (47%), diabetes insipidus in 12 (40%), cognitive impairment in 10 (33%), and bulbar affect in 9 (30%). Neurosurgical biopsy specimens in 8 patients demonstrated varied morphologic findings often uncharacteristic of typical ECD lesions. Molecular analysis revealed mutations in BRAF (18 patients), MAP2K1 (5), RAS isoforms (2), and 2 fusions involving BRAF and ALK. Conventional therapies (corticosteroids, immunosuppressants, interferon-alpha [IFN-α], cytotoxic chemotherapy) led to partial radiographic response in 8/40 patients (20%) by MRI with no complete responses, partial metabolic response in 4/16 (25%), and complete metabolic response in 1/16 (6%) by 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-PET scan. In comparison, targeted (kinase inhibitor) therapies yielded partial radiographic response in 10/27 (37%) and complete radiographic response in 14/27 (52%) by MRI, and partial metabolic response in 6/25 (24%) and complete metabolic response in 17/25 (68%) by FDG-PET scan.

Conclusions: These data highlight underrecognized symptomatology, heterogeneous neuropathology, and robust responses to targeted therapies across the mutational spectrum in ECD patients with neurological involvement, particularly when conventional therapies have failed.

Keywords: Erdheim–Chester disease; MAPK pathway; central nervous system; histiocytosis; targeted therapy.