Improved biomarkers are needed to guide patient selection for autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) and post-ASCT maintenance therapies in relapsed/refractory classical Hodgkin lymphoma (cHL). To assess the prognostic value of minimal residual disease (MRD) using immunoglobulin-based high-throughput sequencing (Ig-HTS), we analyzed pre- and post-ASCT peripheral blood and pre-ASCT apheresis stem cell (ASC) samples in 36 cHL patients. A tumor clonotype was detected in only 12 patients (33%). Among these patients, MRD within plasma samples was closely associated with impending relapse. All patients (n = 3) with detectable MRD in any post-ASCT plasma sample relapsed (100% specificity), and MRD was not detected in any patients in remission. MRD testing from cellular specimens (peripheral blood mononuclear cell or ASC samples) was not associated with relapse. In this small cohort, plasma-based MRD testing appeared to be a promising biomarker in cHL, but given low clonotype detection rates with Ig-HTS, alternative MRD approaches should be investigated.
Keywords: Minimal residual disease; autologous stem cell transplantation; circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA); classical Hodgkin lymphoma.