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Progression of mast cell diseases (Part 3)

What causes aberrant mediator release in mast cell activation diseases (including MCAS and SM)?

“Selective release of mediators during mast cell activation may be accomplished in three important and possibly interrelated ways. One is by activation via one of the mast cell’s non-IgE receptors, for instance, through the activation of the IL-1 receptor… Another way in which mast cells may selectively activate is through ‘piecemeal’ release of mediators stored in the secretory granules (such as histamine and serotonin)… Lastly, downstream signaling pathways may affect mast cell activation… Differential activation of mast cells in any of these ways may clinically manifest as nc-MCAS.” (Cardet 2013)

“It is also conceivable that mast cells in this group of patients may aberrantly possess a lower threshold to release mediators… It is also conceivable that patients with nc-MCAS are symptomatic because of an abnormal tissue response to physiologically appropriate release of MC mediators.” (Cardet 2013)

“The mutations underlying systemic MCAD drive aberrant mediator production/release with or without readily histologically detectable mast cell accumulation. Mast cell accumulation is due predominantly to a decrease in mast cell apoptosis (refs 30,31 and further references therein). On a limited scale, it is also due to an increase in proliferation.” (Haenisch 2012)

 

Do all SM patients have elevated n-methylhistamine and prostaglandin F2a?

71% had elevated urinary histamine in 24 hr test; 81% had elevated urinary n-methylhistamine in 24 hr test; 75% had elevated urinary PGF2a in 24 hr test. (Lim 2009)

 

If my tryptase is normal, does that mean I don’t have SM?

In patients tested, 96% had elevated tryptase over 11.5 ng/ml. (Lim 2009)

“20% to 30% of SM patients have serum tryptase levels below the WHO-defined threshold of 20 ng/mL (sensitivity 80%, specificity 98%).” (Pardanini 2013)

 

If my blood test for the D816V mutation is negative, I definitely don’t have it, right?

“The sensitivity of KITD816V detection in peripheral blood is suboptimal, and tests for non-KITD816V mutation screening may not be readily available.” (Pardanini 2013)

“I prefer using DNA from BM aspirate for KITD816V screening given the low sensitivity of peripheral blood in this regard… Using this approach, we found 78% of ISM patients to harbor KITD816V.” (Pardanini 2013)

“Although, the sensitivity of KITD816V detection may be higher when using sorted or purified mast cells, this option is not routinely available. Consequently, the inability to detect KITD816V in peripheral blood does not exclude SM [].” (Pardanini 2013)

 

How often do SM patients not meet the major diagnostic criteria (mast cell aggregates)?

“Attempts at validating the WHO diagnostic criteria reveal that approximately 20% of ISM patients lack mast cell clusters in the BM and approximately 30% exhibit a serum tryptase level < 20 ng/mL.” (Sanchez 2011)

 

Is MCAS the same as HIT (histamine intolerance)?

“[S]ome have proposed that a deficiency in the enzymes responsible for histamine metabolism, diamine oxidase (DAO) and histamine N-methyltransferase, leads to excess levels of histamine and therefore histamine intolerance, with clinical manifestations not unlike those described for nc-MCAS… There is no scientific literature to support their relevance to nc-MCAS.” (Cardet 2013)

 

Are MCAS patients usually positive for the three most commonly tested mediators (tryptase, n-methylhistamine, PGD2?)

“Although all of our patients with MCAS had a positive test result for at least 1 MC mediator, only 33%, 56%, and 44% of the patients had positive test results for tryptase, histamine, and PGD2, respectively.” (Hamilton 2011)

 

Will my MCAS symptoms ever get better?

“Most patients with MCAS in our cohort who were treated with anti-MC mediator medications responded dramatically. After an average of 4.6 years of MC-related symptoms, 66% of the patients with MCAS achieved a complete or major regression in symptoms to MCAS treatment.” (Hamilton 2011)

“It is important to mention that no defining characteristics (eg, presence of allergies or history of anaphylaxis) could be identified that distinguished those who had a complete regression in symptoms versus those who did not.” (Hamilton 2011)

“The most impressive treatment responses were for abdominal pain (14/17 of the patients who initially had the symptom responded), headache (12/15), poor concentration and memory (7/12), and diarrhea (9/12); there was a more modest response to flushing (6/16). We also found that all but 1 of our patients with MCAS had a sustained response to anti-MC mediator medications. Patients in our cohort were followed for an average of 2.8 years (range, 1-4 years).” (Hamilton 2011)

“In patients with MCAS the rate of response to antimediator therapy is rather good, with 33% showing complete response, 33% a major response, and 33% a minor response after 1 year of treatment.” (Picard 2013)

 

How prevalent is MCAS?

“MCAS seems to be a more common disorder. Evidence has been presented that MCAS may be an underlying cause of various clinical presentations, e.g. in subsets of patients with fibromyalgia and irritable bowel syndrome. Hence, the prevalence of MCAS is likely to lie within the single-digit percentage range.” (Haenisch 2012)

“Mast cell activation disease in general has long been thought to be rare. However, although SM and MCL as defined by the WHO criteria are truly rare, recent findings suggest MCAS is a fairly common disorder. Evidence has been presented for a causal involvement of pathologically active mast cells not only in the pathogenesis of SM and MCAS but also in the etiology of idiopathic anaphylaxis, interstitial cystitis, some subsets of fibromyalgia and some subsets of irritable bowel syndrome.” (Molderings 2011)

 

References:

Juan-Carlos Cardet, Maria C. Castells, and Matthew J. Hamilton. Immunology and Clinical Manifestations of Non-Clonal Mast Cell Activation Syndrome. Curr Allergy Asthma Rep. Feb 2013; 13(1): 10–18.

LimKH, TefferiA, LashoTL, et al. Systemic mastocytosis in 342 consecutive adults: survival studies and prognostic factors. Blood 2009; 113(23): 5727-5736.

Britta Haenisch, Markus M. Nothen and Gerhard J. Molderings. Systemic mast cell activation disease: the role of molecular genetic alterations in pathogenesis, heritability and diagnostics. Immunology 2012, 137, 197–205.

Animesh Pardanani. How I treat patients with indolent and smoldering mastocytosis (rare conditions but difficult to manage.) April 18, 2013; Blood: 121 (16).

Matthieu Picard, Pedro Giavina-Bianchi, Veronica Mezzano, Mariana Castells. Expanding Spectrum of Mast Cell Activation Disorders: Monoclonal and Idiopathic Mast Cell Activation Syndromes. Clinical Therapeutics, Volume 35, Issue 5, May 2013, Pages 548–562.

Gerhard J Molderings, Stefan Brettner, Jürgen Homann, Lawrence B Afrin. Mast cell activation disease: a concise practical guide for diagnostic workup and therapeutic options. Journal of Hematology & Oncology 2011, 4:10.