Bi-allelic amplification of ATM gene in blastoid variant of mantle cell lymphoma: a novel mechanism of inactivation due to chromoanagenesis?

Background Mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) is derived from naïve CD5+ B-cells with the cytogenetic hallmark translocation 11;14. The presence of additional abnormalities is associated with blastoid variants in MCL (BMCL) and confers a poor prognosis. Many of these tumors also show deletion or loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of the ATM gene and biallelic ATM inactivation show significantly higher chromosomal imbalances. Case presentation Here we report a 52 year-old male who presented to the clinic with worsening dyspnea, fever, chills, diffuse lymphadenopathy, splenomegaly and leukocytosis with blastoid cells circulating in blood. The bone marrow aspirate showed about 40% abnormal blast-looking cells and biopsy revealed a remarkable lymphoid infiltrate. The patient was diagnosed with blastoid variant mantle cell lymphoma (BMCL). Chromosome analysis on bone marrow showed a complex karyotype. FISH analysis from B-cell lymphoma panel showed bi-allelic amplification of ATM gene. Other abnormalities were present including CCND1/IGH fusion, confirming the MCL diagnosis, in addition to RB1 and p53 deletion. High resolution SNP-microarray studies showed complex copy number changes, especially on chromosomes 7 and 11, consistent with chromoanagenesis. Microarray studies also showed LOH at the ATM locus indicating the amplification seen on FISH is not biallelic. Conclusion To the best of our knowledge, ATM gene amplification is not previously reported in BMCL and our case suggests a novel mechanism of ATM inactivation caused by chromoanagenesis resulting in mutant allele specific imbalance with copy number gain.