ABSTRACTCastleman disease is a term that represents a spectrum of diseases whose driving factors are poorly understood. Increased interest prompted by the Castleman's Disease Collaborative Network has led to a better understanding of classification, which will lead to a better understanding of underlying pathology and best practices. It is essential that this entity be recognized and correctly classified by anatomic classification (unicentric, oligocentric, and multicentric), by histopathology (the gradient of hypervascular to plasmacytic), and by clinical phenotype (NOS, TAFRO, IPL, HHV8‐associated, or POEMS‐associated). Most of what we know about therapy is from retrospective studies rather than prospective therapeutic trials, but data are emerging through collaboration. The mainstay of therapy for unicentric disease is surgery. For multicentric disease interleukin‐6 blockade is essential for the non‐POEMS, non‐HHV8 multicentric cases, rituximab‐based (plus or minus antiviral) therapy for HHV8 associated cases, and IL‐6 blockade versus plasma cell directed therapy for the POEMS subtype.
Lymphoma Classifications, How to Develop a Future Unified Taxonomy
Abstract With the introduction of large-scale molecular profiling methods and high-throughput sequencing technologies, the genomic features of most lymphoid neoplasms have been characterized at an unprecedented scale. Although the principles for the classification and diagnosis of these disorders, founded on a multidimensional definition of disease entities, have been consolidated over the past 25 years, novel genomic data have markedly enhanced our understanding of lymphomagenesis and enriched the description of disease entities at the molecular level. Yet, the current diagnosis of lymphoid tumors is largely based on morphological assessment and immunophenotyping, with only few entities being defined by genomic criteria. This paper, which accompanies the International Consensus Classification of mature lymphoid neoplasms, will address how established assays and newly developed technologies for molecular testing already complement clinical diagnoses and provide a novel lens on disease classification. More specifically, their contributions to diagnosis refinement, risk stratification, and therapy prediction will be considered for the main categories of lymphoid neoplasms. The potential of whole-genome sequencing, circulating tumor DNA analyses, single-cell analyses, and epigenetic profiling will be discussed because these will likely become important future tools for implementing precision medicine approaches in clinical decision making for patients with lymphoid malignancies.
The International Consensus Classification of Mature Lymphoid Neoplasms: a report from the Clinical Advisory Committee
Abstract Since the publication of the Revised European-American Classification of Lymphoid Neoplasms in 1994, subsequent updates of the classification of lymphoid neoplasms have been generated through iterative international efforts to achieve broad consensus among hematopathologists, geneticists, molecular scientists, and clinicians. Significant progress has recently been made in the characterization of malignancies of the immune system, with many new insights provided by genomic studies. They have led to this proposal. We have followed the same process that was successfully used for the third and fourth editions of the World Health Organization Classification of Hematologic Neoplasms. The definition, recommended studies, and criteria for the diagnosis of many entities have been extensively refined. Some categories considered provisional have now been upgraded to definite entities. Terminology for some diseases has been revised to adapt nomenclature to the current knowledge of their biology, but these modifications have been restricted to well-justified situations. Major findings from recent genomic studies have impacted the conceptual framework and diagnostic criteria for many disease entities. These changes will have an impact on optimal clinical management. The conclusions of this work are summarized in this report as the proposed International Consensus Classification of mature lymphoid, histiocytic, and dendritic cell tumors.