Comprehensive Genomic Profiling of Orbital and Ocular Adnexal Lymphomas Identifies Frequent Alterations in MYD88 and Chromatin Modifiers: New Routes to Targeted Therapies

Non-Hodgkin lymphoma of the orbit and ocular adnexa is the most common primary orbital malignancy. Treatments for low- (extra-nodal marginal zone and follicular lymphomas) and high-grade (diffuse large B-cell lymphoma) are associated with local and vision-threatening toxicities. High-grade lymphomas relapse frequently and exhibit poor survival rates. Despite advances in genomic profiling and precision-medicine, orbital and ocular adnexal lymphomas remain poorly characterized molecularly. We performed targeted next-generation sequencing profiling of 38 formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded, orbital and ocular adnexal lymphomas obtained from a single-center using a panel targeting near-term, clinically-relevant genes. Potentially actionable mutations and copy-number alterations were prioritized based on gain- and loss-of function analyses, catalogued approved and investigational therapies. Of 36 informative samples, including marginal zone lymphomas (n=20), follicular lymphomas (n=9), and diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (n=7), 53% harbored a prioritized alteration (median=1, range 0–5/sample). MYD88 was the most frequently altered gene in our cohort, with potentially clinically-relevant hot-spot gain-of-function mutations identified in 71% of diffuse large B-cell and 25% of marginal zone lymphomas. Prioritized alterations in epigenetic modulators were common and included gain-of-function EZH2 and loss-of-function ARID1A mutations (14% of diffuse large B-cell lymphomas and 22% of follicular lymphomas contained alterations in each of these two genes). Single prioritized alterations were also identified in the histone methyltransferases KMT2B (follicular lymphoma) and KMT3B (diffuse large B-cell lymphoma). Loss-of-function mutations and copy-number alterations in the tumor suppressors TP53 (diffuse large B-cell and follicular lymphoma), CDKN2A (all subtypes), PTEN (diffuse large B-cell lymphoma), ATM (diffuse large B-cell lymphoma) and NF1 (diffuse large B-cell lymphoma); and gain-of-function mutations in the oncogenes HRAS (follicular lymphoma) and NRAS (diffuse large B-cell lymphoma) were also observed. Together, our study demonstrates that next-generation sequencing can be used to profile routine formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded, orbital and ocular adnexal lymphomas for identification of somatic-driving alterations and nomination of potential therapeutic strategies.