Prognostic Role of Beta-2 Microglobulin in Patients with Light Chain Amyloidosis Treated with Autologous Stem Cell Transplantation

The prognostic impact of increased beta-2 microglobulin (B2M) in patients with light chain (AL) amyloidosis undergoing autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) is unknown. The Mayo 2012 stage and increased bone marrow plasma cell (BMPC) percentage are known predictors for survival. Increased B2M is predictive of survival in patients with multiple myeloma. We evaluated the prognostic role of B2M in patients with newly diagnosed AL undergoing ASCT. We retrospectively reviewed patients with a diagnosis of AL amyloidosis who were treated with ASCT between July 1996 and September 2017. Patients with a creatinine level >1.2 mg/dL were excluded, because that affects B2M levels. The receiver operator characteristic curve was used to determine the best cutoff for B2M before ASCT in predicting survival, which was 2.5 µg/mL, which was also the upper limit of normal in our laboratory. Baseline characteristics were compared between patients with B2M >2.5 µg/mL and ≤2.5 µg/mL. Progression-free survival (PFS) was defined as the time from ASCT to relapse or death, whichever occurred first. Overall survival (OS) was calculated from the time of ASCT to death of any cause. Univariate and multivariate analyses were done for OS. Five hundred and ten patients were identified, 222 of whom (44%) had a B2M >2.5 µg/mL. These patients were more likely to be older (median age, 61 versus 57 years; P =.0002), to have Mayo 2012 stage III/IV disease (33% versus 8%; P <.0001), to have more than 2 organs involved (25% versus 14%; P =.001), and to have ≥10% BMPCs (56% versus 40%; P =.0002) compared with patients with B2M ≤2.5 µg/mL. The median PFS and OS were shorter in patients with B2M >2.5 µg/mL (median PFS, 64 months versus 80 months [P =.03]; median OS, 104.9 months versus 175.5 months [P <.0001]). On univariate analysis, predictors for OS included age >60 years (hazard ratio [HR], 1.61; P =.001), Mayo 2012 stage III/IV (HR, 3.36; P <.0001), more than 2 organs involved (HR, 1.36; P =.07), ≥10% BMPCs (HR, 1.5; P =.005), melphalan conditioning with 200 mg/m² (HR,.29; P <.0001), B2M >2.5 µg/mL (HR, 1.82; P <.0001), and transplantation during or after 2010 (HR,.4; P =.0006). On multivariate analysis, only Mayo 2012 stage III/IV (HR, 1.89; P =.005), melphalan conditioning with 200 mg/m² (HR,.39; P <.0001), B2M >2.5 µg/mL (HR, 1.84; P =.003), and transplantation performed during or after 2010 (HR,.58; P =.03) remained independent predictors of OS. Our findings identify B2M >2.5 µg/dL before ASCT as an independent predictor for OS in patients with AL amyloidosis and normal kidney function and should be routinely measured.