Mazor, Roei D

Summary Histiocytic neoplasms are diverse clonal haematopoietic disorders, and clinical disease is mediated by tumorous infiltration as well as uncontrolled systemic inflammation. Individual subtypes include Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH), Rosai–Dorfman–Destombes disease (RDD) and Erdheim–Chester disease (ECD), and these have been characterized with respect to clinical phenotypes, driver mutations and treatment paradigms. Less is known about patients with mixed histiocytic neoplasms (MXH), that is two or more coexisting disorders. This international collaboration examined patients with biopsy‐proven MXH with respect to component disease subtypes, oncogenic driver mutations and responses to conventional (chemotherapeutic or immunosuppressive) versus targeted (BRAF or MEK inhibitor) therapies. Twenty‐seven patients were studied with ECD/LCH (19/27), ECD/RDD (6/27), RDD/LCH (1/27) and ECD/RDD/LCH (1/27). Mutations previously undescribed in MXH were identified, including KRAS, MAP2K2, MAPK3, non‐V600‐BRAF, RAF1 and a BICD2‐BRAF fusion. A repeated‐measure generalized estimating equation demonstrated that targeted treatment was statistically significantly (1) more likely to result in a complete response (CR), partial response (PR) or stable disease (SD) (odds ratio [OR]: 17.34, 95% CI: 2.19–137.00, p = 0.007), and (2) less likely to result in progression (OR: 0.08, 95% CI: 0.03–0.23, p < 0.0001). Histiocytic neoplasms represent an entity with underappreciated clinical and molecular diversity, poor responsiveness to conventional therapy and exquisite sensitivity to targeted therapy.

Abstract Erdheim-Chester disease (ECD) is a rare histiocytosis that was recently recognized as a neoplastic disorder owing to the discovery of recurrent activating MAPK (RAS-RAF-MEK-ERK) pathway mutations. Typical findings of ECD include central diabetes insipidus, restrictive pericarditis, perinephric fibrosis, and sclerotic bone lesions. The histopathologic diagnosis of ECD is often challenging due to nonspecific inflammatory and fibrotic findings on histopathologic review of tissue specimens. Additionally, the association of ECD with unusual tissue tropism and an insidious onset often results in diagnostic errors and delays. Most patients with ECD require treatment, except for a minority of patients with minimally symptomatic single-organ disease. The first ECD consensus guidelines were published in 2014 on behalf of the physicians and researchers within the Erdheim-Chester Disease Global Alliance. With the recent molecular discoveries and the approval of the first targeted therapy (vemurafenib) for BRAF-V600–mutant ECD, there is a need for updated clinical practice guidelines to optimize the diagnosis and treatment of this disease. This document presents consensus recommendations that resulted from the International Medical Symposia on ECD in 2017 and 2019. Herein, we include the guidelines for the clinical, laboratory, histologic, and radiographic evaluation of ECD patients along with treatment recommendations based on our clinical experience and review of literature in the molecular era.