Indolent systemic mast cell disease: immunophenotypic characterization of bone marrow mast cells by flow cytometry

Mast cell disease has a low prevalence and is difficult to diagnose in the absence of the characteristic skin lesions that usually accompany the condition. Extracutaneous involvement is not easy to assess. There are reports in the recent literature on the use of tryptase as a reliable immunohistochemical marker as well as on the study of the immunophenotype of bone marrow mast cells. The latter is of great help for the diagnosis of systemic involvement as, after the skin, the bone marrow is the organ most commonly affected by the disease.

We describe two cases of indolent systemic mast cell disease (SMCD) where flow cytometry was used to identify immunophenotypical characteristics of bone marrow mast cells. Recent advances in the application of this technique prove it can be a good diagnostic tool for assessing systemic involvement of the disease.

Two adult subjects with indolent SMCD had multiple clinical symptoms. Cutaneous lesions were the clue to the diagnosis but, subsequently, in the presence of disturbing symptoms, involvement of other organ systems was confirmed. In both cases, the authors used flow cytometry techniques, as described by Escribano et al. (1998) to define the immunophenotype of bone marrow mast cells.

Both patients were diagnosed with indolent SMCD with cutaneous and bone marrow involvement. Also, they presented visible clues to the presumptive bone, cardiovascular and nervous system involvement. Gastrointestinal manifestations were documented in one case.

The use of flow cytometry on bone marrow samples from patients with mastocytosis reveals immunophenotypic differences that can serve to allow classification of these subjects in the category of indolent SMCD even though involvement of another organ system may not be thoroughly confirmed.