Clonality of Isolated Eosinophils in the Hypereosinophilic Syndrome

The idiopathic hypereosinophilic syndrome (IHES) is a rare disorder characterized by unexplained, persistent eosinophilia associated with multiple organ dysfunction due to eosinophilic tissue infiltration. In the absence of karyotypic abnormalities, there is no specific test to detect clonal eosinophilia in IHES. Analysis of X-chromosome inactivation patterns can be used to determine whether proliferative disorders are clonal in origin. Methylation of Hpa II and Hha I sites near the polymorphic trinucleotide repeat of the human androgen receptor gene (HUMARA) has been shown to correlate with X-inactivation. In this study, we have used the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with nested primers to analyze X-inactivation patterns of the HUMARA loci in purified eosinophils from female patients with eosinophilia. Peripheral blood eosinophils were isolated by their autofluoresence using flow cytometric sorting. Eosinophils purified from a female patient presenting with IHES were found to show a clonal pattern of X-inactivation. Eosinophil-depleted leukocytes from this patient were polyclonal by HUMARA analysis, thus excluding skewedness of random X-inactivation. After corticosteroid suppression of her blood eosinophilia, a clonal population of eosinophils could no longer be detected in purified eosinophils. In contrast, eosinophils purified from a patient with Churg-Strauss syndrome and from six patients with reactive eosinophilias attributed to allergy, parasitic infection, or drug reaction showed a polyclonal pattern of X-inactivation by HUMARA analysis. The finding of clonal eosinophilia in a patient presenting with IHES indicates that such patients may have, in reality, a low-grade clonal disorder that can be distinguished from reactive eosinophilias by HUMARA analysis. Further, the method described can be used to monitor disease progression.