Development and Prospective Validation of a Standardized Flow Cytometric Assay of Peripheral Blood Neutrophil Myeloperoxidase Expression for Ruling Out Myelodysplastic Syndromes.

The primary objective of MPO-MDS-develop study is to estimate the discriminative accuracy (i.e., area under the ROC curve along with 95% CI) of a standardized and semi-automatic flow cytometric assay of neutrophil MPO expression in peripheral blood for the diagnosis of MDS in adult patients.

The secondary objectives are to assess:

1. intra-laboratory reproducibility (intra- and inter-assay precision) for intra-individual RCV measurement of neutrophil MPO expression in peripheral blood;
2. specimen stability for intra-individual RCV measurement of neutrophil MPO expression in peripheral blood at different time points in comparison with H0 (stored at 4°C and at room temperature);
3. inter-laboratory reproducibility for intra-individual RCV measurement of neutrophil MPO expression in peripheral blood;
4. the negative predictive value for intra-individual RCV measurement of neutrophil MPO expression in peripheral blood (with a prespecified threshold of 30.0%) in ruling out MDS in consecutive adult patients.

The MPO-MDS-Develop project is a multicenter, cross-sectional, diagnostic accuracy study of an index test by comparison with a reference standard, in unselected consecutive patients.

Screening: All consecutive patients referred to the immuno-hematology lab at the study sites for suspicion of MDS will be screened for eligibility. A lab physician will review inclusion and exclusion criteria, using computerized medical and laboratory records.

Recruitment: Participants will be included in the study once all the screening activities have been conducted and only if the patient meets all inclusion and none exclusion criteria. The consent for flow cytometry analysis of peripheral blood sample and data collection through chart review will be sought under a regime of "non-opposition" (opt-out): after appropriate written information is delivered, cross-sectional data will be collected except in case of opposition from the patient. All patients included in the study will be assigned a unique patient identification number. This number will be used to identify the patient throughout the study.

Index test: Flow cytometry analysis of neutrophil myeloperoxidase expression in peripheral blood will be performed using a single ready-to-use tube with lyophilized antibodies developed in partnership with Becton Dickinson France SAS and blinded to the reference standard.

Reference standard: The diagnosis of MDS will be established according to the World Health Organization (WHO) classification, based on clinical data, peripheral blood cytopenia, cytomorphology of peripheral blood and bone marrow aspirate, and cytogenetic analysis. The criteria for MDS diagnosis are 1) the presence of ≥10% dysplastic cells in any hematopoietic lineage, 2) the exclusion of acute myeloid leukemia (defined by the presence of ≥20% peripheral blood or bone marrow blasts), and 3) the exclusion of reactive etiologies of dysplasia. Cytopenia is defined by hemoglobin concentration <10 g/dL, platelet count <100x109/L, and/or absolute neutrophil count <1.8 x109/L. Yet a diagnosis of MDS could be made with milder levels of cytopenia. Idiopathic cytopenia of uncertain significance (ICUS) is defined by unexplained mild persistent cytopenia for at least 6 months and the failure to establish the diagnosis to MDS according to published guidelines. Consistent with WHO classification, MDS subcategorization will rely on the degree of dysplasia (unilineage versus multilineage), blast percentages, presence of ring sideroblasts, and cytogenetic analysis (del(5q)). The criteria for CMML diagnosis are 1) the presence of persistent peripheral blood monocytosis ≥1 x109/L, and 2) monocyte accounting for more than 10% of the white blood cell differential count. Evaluation of bone marrow cytomorphology will be performed prospectively by experienced hematopathologists who are blinded to the index test results.

Patients with confirmed suspicion of MDS: Participants for whom the diagnosis of MDS (or CMML) is confirmed by the reference standard will be categorized as patients with confirmed suspicion of MDS.

Patients with unconfirmed suspicion of MDS: Participants for whom the diagnosis of MDS (or CMML) is ruled out by the reference standard will be categorized as patients with unconfirmed suspicion of MDS. This latter subgroup will include patients with ICUS, as defined in accordance with published guidelines.

Follow-up: No follow-up visit is planned in this cross-sectional diagnostic accuracy study.