Lymphoma driver mutations at the root of somatic evolution of nerve-damaging autoantibodies in myelin associated glycoprotein neuropathy.

Background: In autoimmune disease it is not understood how self-reactive B cells escape immune tolerance checkpoints to produce pathogenic autoantibodies.

Objective: In patients with demyelinating polyneuropathy caused by IgM autoantibodies against myelin associated glycoprotein (MAG) and the sulphated trisaccharide CD57, we aimed to test the hypothesis that B cells making the autoantibody escaped tolerance by acquiring lymphoma driver somatic mutations.

Methods: Deep single-cell RNA, DNA, flow cytometric and antibody specificity analysis of blood from three patients with MAG neuropathy.

Results: MAG autoantibody-producing B cell clones exhibited extensive intraclonal immunoglobulin V(D)J hypermutation. In many of the sub-clonal branches, the replacement:silent ratio of V-region mutations was not different from that expected for unselected mutations, although in some branches the mutations either increased or eliminated binding to MAG and CD57 autoantigens. Prior to intraclonal V(D)J diversification, each clone had acquired a gain-of-function MYD88 mutation, and some branches had acquired additional somatic mutations in CXCR4, IGLL5 and BTG2. Whilst all MAG-binding clones harboured the MYD88 mutation, the same mutation was also found in some control, polyclonal B cells. Deep sequencing of different blood cell subsets indicated MYD88 was confined to B cells.

Conclusion: In three MAG neuropathy patients we find evidence that the self-reactive B cells responsible for their disease acquired a classical lymphoma driver somatic mutation early in their clonal expansion.