Prognostic Utility of the Flow Cytometry and Clonality Analysis Results for Feline Lymphomas

초록

Simple Summary We present flow cytometry and clonality evaluation as a reliable and useful method for characterizing feline lymphomas. Neoplastic cell size is a crucial factor for prognosis. We have developed a novel system for cell sizing by flow cytometry that was 82-90% concordant with the gold standard of cytology. Moreover, from our retrospective analysis of survival for small versus large cells, we saw consistency between both methodologies. These results highlight the utility of our approach in providing prognostic insights.Abstract Feline lymphoma, a prevalent cancer in cats, exhibits varied prognoses influenced by anatomical site and cellular characteristics. In this study, we investigated the utility of flow cytometry and clonality analysis via PCR for antigen receptor rearrangement (PARR) with respect to characterizing the disease and predicting prognosis. For this purpose, we received fine needle aspirates and/or blood from 438 feline patients, which were subjected to flow cytometry analysis and PARR. We used a subset of the results from patients with confirmed B- or T-cell lymphomas for comparison to cytological or histological evaluation (n = 53). Using them as a training set, we identified the optimal set of flow cytometry parameters, namely forward scatter thresholds, for cell size categorization by correlating with cytology-defined sizes. Concordance with cytological sizing among this training set was 82%. Furthermore, 90% concordance was observed when the proposed cell sizing was tested on an independent test set (n = 24), underscoring the reliability of the proposed approach. Additionally, lymphoma subtypes defined by flow cytometry and PARR demonstrated significant survival differences, validating the prognostic utility of these methods. The proposed methodology achieves high concordance with cytological evaluations and provides an additional tool for the characterization and management of feline lymphoproliferative diseases.

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