Defective migration and dysmorphology of neutrophil granulocytes in atypical chronic myeloid leukemia treated with ruxolitinib

BACKGROUND: The identification of pathologically altered neutrophil granulocyte migration patterns bears strong potential for surveillance and prognostic scoring of diseases. We recently identified a strong correlation between impaired neutrophil motility and the disease stage of myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS). Here, we apply this assay to study quantitively increased neutrophils of a patient suffering from a rare leukemia subtype, atypical chronic myeloid leukemia (aCML). METHODS: A 69-year-old male was analyzed in this study. Besides routine analyses, we purified the patient’s neutrophils from peripheral whole blood and studied their migration behavior using time-lapse video microscopy in a standardized assay. These live cell migration analyses also allowed for the quantification of cell morphology. Furthermore, the cells were stained for the markers CD15, CD16, fMLPR, CXCR1 and CXCR2. RESULTS: Despite cytoreductive therapy with hydroxyurea, the patient’s WBC and ANC were poorly controlled and severe dysgranulopoiesis with hypogranularity was observed. Neutrophils displayed strongly impaired migration when compared to healthy controls and migrating cells exhibited a more flattened-out morphology than control neutrophils. Because of a detected CSF3R (p.T618I) mutation and constitutional symptoms treatment with ruxolitinib was initiated. Within 1 week of ruxolitinib treatment, the cell shape normalized and remained indistinguishable from healthy control neutrophils. However, neutrophil migration did not improve over the course of ruxolitinib therapy but was strikingly altered shortly before a sinusitis with fever and bleeding from a gastric ulcer. Molecular work-up revealed that under ruxolitinib treatment, the CSF3R clone was depleted, yet the expansion of a NRAS mutated subclone was promoted. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate the usefulness of neutrophil migration analyses to uncover corresponding alterations of neutrophil migration in rare myeloid neoplasms. Furthermore, in addition to monitoring migration the determination of morphological features of live neutrophils might represent a useful tool to monitor the effectiveness of therapeutic approaches.