Lymphocyte profiles in multiple myeloma and monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance: flow-cytometric characterization and analysis in a two-dimensional correlation biplot.

The distribution of 27 T-, B-, and natural killer-cell subsets in the peripheral blood of 40 patients with multiple myeloma (MM), ten patients with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS), and 40 healthy donors was investigated by means of classical univariate statistics and advanced multivariate data-analytical techniques. The latter approach was used to describe, represent, and analyze lymphocyte subset distribution in a two-dimensional correlation biplot, allowing comparison of complex lymphocyte profiles (i.e., compound lymphocyte subset distributions) of individual subjects rather than isolated subset values of selected patient and/or donor groups. The correlation biplot revealed that, in accordance with the univariate statistics, the MM patients were characterized by marked shifts towards CD8+, CD57+, CD62L-, CD(16+56)+, and HLA-DR+ T cells, suggesting in vivo immune activation. The activation profile was most markedly observed in treated MM patients in the advanced disease stage category. The lymphocyte profiles of MGUS patients were heterogeneous, with approximately half of them located in the swarm of MM patients and the other half in the swarm of healthy donors. Although the univariate statistics revealed significant differences between MGUS patients and healthy donors only within the B-cell compartment, the correlation biplot revealed that two MGUS patients clearly had a typical T-cell activation profile similar to that of the MM patients. One MGUS patient with a T-cell activation profile progressed 13 months later to a stage IA MM and required chemotherapy. A marked lymphocyte profile shift in one MM patient was associated with terminal and aggressive disease transformation. Our study illustrates further the practical use of correlation biplots for the detection of aberrant lymphocyte profiles and/or profile shifts in individual patients.