Methods to distinguish Waldenström's Macroglobulinemia from IgM monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance

A method to treat Waldenström's Macroglobulinemia in a subject, the method comprising:

• administering to a subject in need thereof a therapeutic agent in an amount effective to treat Waldenström's Macroglobulinemia,
• wherein the subject has a delta CT value that is less than a reference value,
• wherein the delta CT value is generated by performing an allele-specific polymerase chain reaction assay to determine a level of a transcript comprising a mutation at position 38182641 in chromosome 3p22.2 in a biological sample obtained from the subject,
• wherein the biological sample is a sample of blood,
• wherein the reference value is a reference value such that 95% of subjects with Waldenström's Macroglobulinemia have a delta CT value that is less than the reference value, and
• wherein the therapeutic agent is a MYD88 inhibitor, an interleukin receptor associate kinase 1/4 (IRAK-1/4) inhibitor, a phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) inhibitor and/or a Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor.

A method to distinguish Waldenström's Macroglobulinemia from IgM monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, the method comprising:

• selecting a subject on the basis that the subject presents one or more clinical features of WM and/or IgM MGUS,
• obtaining a biological sample from the subject,
• determining a level of a transcript comprising a mutation at position 38182641 in chromosome 3p22.2 in the biological sample by performing an allele-specific polymerase chain reaction assay to generate a delta CT value, wherein the allele specific polymerase chain reaction assay is performed using an allele specific primer, wherein the allele specific primer hybridizes at or near its 3′ end to the mutation at position 38182641 in chromosome 3p22.2, and
• diagnosing the subject as more likely to have Waldenström's Macroglobulinemia than IgM monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance if the delta CT value is less than a reference value or diagnosing the subject as more likely to have IgM monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance than Waldenström's Macroglobulinemia if the delta CT value is equal to or greater than a reference value,
• wherein the biological sample is a sample of blood, and
• wherein the reference value is a reference value such that 95% of subjects with Waldenström's Macroglobulinemia have a delta CT value that is less than the reference value.

A method to distinguish Waldenström's Macroglobulinemia from IgM monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance, the method comprising:

• performing an assay to determine if the subject has an abnormal level of immunoglobulin M (IgM) in a first biological sample obtained from a subject, and
• determining a level of a transcript comprising a mutation at position 38182641 in chromosome 3p22.2 in a second biological sample by performing an allele-specific polymerase chain reaction assay obtained from a subject to generate a delta CT value, wherein the allele specific polymerase chain reaction assay is performed using an allele specific primer, wherein the allele specific primer hybridizes at or near its 3′ end to the mutation at position 38182641 in chromosome 3p22.2, and
• diagnosing the subject as more likely to have Waldenström's Macroglobulinemia than IgM monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance if the subject has an abnormal level of IgM and delta CT value of the biological sample is less than a reference value or diagnosing the subject as more likely to have IgM monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance than Waldenström's Macroglobulinemia if the subject has an abnormal level of IgM and delta CT value of the biological sample is equal to or greater than a reference value,
• wherein the second biological sample is a sample of blood, and
• wherein the reference value is a reference value such that 95% of subjects with Waldenström's Macroglobulinemia have a delta CT value that is less than the reference value.

A method comprising:

• performing a first assay on a first biological sample obtained from a subject that presents one or more clinical features of Waldenström's Macroglobulinemia (WM) and/or IgM monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (IgM MGUS) to determine if the subject has an abnormal level of immunoglobulin M (IgM);
• determining if the subject has an abnormal level of immunoglobulin M (IgM) based on the first assay;
• determining a level of a transcript comprising a mutation at position 38182641 in chromosome 3p22.2 in a second biological sample obtained from the subject by performing an allele-specific polymerase chain reaction assay to generate a delta CT value, wherein the allele specific polymerase chain reaction assay is performed using an allele specific primer, wherein the allele specific primer hybridizes at or near its 3′ end to the mutation at position 38182641 in chromosome 3p22.2;
• and
• determining the level of a transcript comprising a mutation at position 38182641 in chromosome 3p22.2 based on a comparison of a delta CT value from the AS-PCR assay to a reference value,
• wherein the second biological sample is a sample of blood, and
• wherein the reference value is a reference value such that 95% of subjects with Waldenström's Macroglobulinemia have a delta CT value that is less than the reference value.