AUTHOR=Parisi Daniela , Musumeci Olimpia , Mondello Stefania , Brizzi Teresa , Oteri Rosaria , Migliorato Alba , Ciranni Annamaria , Mongini Tiziana E. , Rodolico Carmelo , Vita Giuseppe , Toscano Antonio 

TITLE=Vacuolated PAS-Positive Lymphocytes on Blood Smear: An Easy Screening Tool and a Possible Biomarker for Monitoring Therapeutic Responses in Late Onset Pompe Disease (LOPD)

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neurology

VOLUME=9

YEAR=2018

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2018.00880

DOI=10.3389/fneur.2018.00880

ISSN=1664-2295

ABSTRACT=<p><bold>Background:</bold> Primary aim was to investigate the diagnostic value of PAS-positive vacuolated lymphocytes on blood smear in Late Onset Pompe Disease (LOPD) patients and, secondly, to evaluate its potential utility in monitoring treatment effects.</p><p><bold>Methods:</bold> We examined blood smear of 26 LOPD patients. We evaluated 10 treated and 16 untreated LOPD patients. Among the latter group, 7 patients later initiated ERT and were tested again 6 months after start. Blood smear was also sampled from 82 controls and 19 patients with other muscle glycogenoses (MGSDs). PAS staining was used to evaluate: (1) presence of lymphocytes with glycogen-filled vacuoles, (2) quantification of vacuolated lymphocytes.</p><p><bold>Results:</bold> We found that PAS-positive lymphocytes were significantly higher in LOPD patients than in controls or other MGSDs (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05 and <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001, respectively). ROC curve for discriminating between untreated LOPD patients and controls yielded an AUC of 1.00 (95%CI 1.00–1.00; <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.0001). PAS-positive lymphocyte cutoff level of &gt;10 yielded sensitivity of 100% (95%CI 78–100%), specificity of 100% (95%CI 96–100%), and positive predictive value of 100%. Patients studied before and after ERT showed a dramatic decrease of PAS-positive vacuolated lymphocytes number (<italic>p</italic> = 0.016). In other MGSDs, PAS-positive lymphocytes were significantly lower that untreated LOPD patients but higher than controls.</p><p><bold>Conclusions:</bold> Our data suggest that the Blood Smear Examination (BSE) for PAS-positive lymphocytes quantification could be used as a simple and sensitive test for a quick screening of suspected Pompe disease. The quantification of vacuolated lymphocytes appears to be also a valuable tool for monitoring the efficacy of treatment in LOPD patients.</p>