Spatial remodeling of bone marrow architecture defines tissue-state signatures of disease activity and therapeutic response in myelodysplastic neoplasms

Myelodysplastic neoplasms (MDS) disrupt bone marrow hematopoiesis, yet clinical assessment relies largely on blast enumeration and qualitative morphology, which incompletely capture marrow architecture and disease state. We applied whole-slide multiplex immunofluorescence imaging with single-cell phenotyping to map bone marrow microarchitecture in MDS. Diagnostic biopsies (n = 36), longitudinal treatment samples (n = 29), precursor states (n = 13), and normal controls (n = 21) were analyzed, comprising >5 million spatially resolved cells. MDS marrow exhibited coordinated, genotype-imprinted architectural remodeling, including altered progenitor composition and spatial patterning, disrupted erythroid island organization, and displacement of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells from perivascular niches. Interrogation of 82 cellular and spatial features yielded a composite Microarchitectural Perturbation Score (MDS-MAPS), derived from diagnostic samples and fixed prior to longitudinal analyses. In leave-one-patient-out cross-validation, MDS-MAPS discriminated remission from active disease more accurately than blast percentage (AUC 0.883 vs 0.660) and distinguished low-blast MDS from clonal cytopenia of undetermined significance (CCUS) (AUC 0.815). Mixed-effects modeling showed MAPS decreased in remission statistically independent of blast burden, with architectural normalization during remission and re-emergence at relapse. These findings define quantitative bone marrow architecture as a dynamic tissue-state biomarker that complements molecular and blast-based assessment in MDS.

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Publication Details

Journal
Leukemia
Published
2026-06-30
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41375-026-03029-7
Primary Topic
Acute Myeloid Leukemia Research
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Spatial remodeling of bone marrow architecture defines tissue-state signatures of disease activity and therapeutic response in myelodysplastic neoplasms

Jiwoon Park, Aleksandra Kopacz, Fabio Socciarelli, Giorgio Inghirami et al.
Leukemia
Acute Myeloid Leukemia Research
article

Spatial remodeling of bone marrow architecture defines tissue-state signatures of disease activity and therapeutic response in myelodysplastic neoplasms

Jiwoon Park, Aleksandra Kopacz, Fabio Socciarelli, Giorgio Inghirami, Gail J. Roboz, David Andrew Sallman, Sanjay S. Patel, David Redmond, Julia T. Geyer, Caitlin Unkenholz, Madhu M. Ouseph, Mónica L. Guzmán, Amy Chadburn, Itzel Valencia, Ryan Nachman, Christopher E. Mason, Shahin Rafii, Jeanne Jiang, Joshua Fein, P Desai, Neal Lindeman, Justin Kaner, Paul Simonson, Ling Zhang, Arvin Ruiz, Jian Chai
article en

Abstract

Myelodysplastic neoplasms (MDS) disrupt bone marrow hematopoiesis, yet clinical assessment relies largely on blast enumeration and qualitative morphology, which incompletely capture marrow architecture and disease state. We applied whole-slide multiplex immunofluorescence imaging with single-cell phenotyping to map bone marrow microarchitecture in MDS. Diagnostic biopsies (n = 36), longitudinal treatment samples (n = 29), precursor states (n = 13), and normal controls (n = 21) were analyzed, comprising >5 million spatially resolved cells. MDS marrow exhibited coordinated, genotype-imprinted architectural remodeling, including altered progenitor composition and spatial patterning, disrupted erythroid island organization, and displacement of hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells from perivascular niches. Interrogation of 82 cellular and spatial features yielded a composite Microarchitectural Perturbation Score (MDS-MAPS), derived from diagnostic samples and fixed prior to longitudinal analyses. In leave-one-patient-out cross-validation, MDS-MAPS discriminated remission from active disease more accurately than blast percentage (AUC 0.883 vs 0.660) and distinguished low-blast MDS from clonal cytopenia of undetermined significance (CCUS) (AUC 0.815). Mixed-effects modeling showed MAPS decreased in remission statistically independent of blast burden, with architectural normalization during remission and re-emergence at relapse. These findings define quantitative bone marrow architecture as a dynamic tissue-state biomarker that complements molecular and blast-based assessment in MDS.

Leukemia
NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital (US), California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (US), Cornell University (US), New York Hospital Queens (US), Moffitt Cancer Center (US), Presbyterian Hospital (US), MIND Research Institute (US), Regenerative Medicine Institute (MX), Weill Cornell Medicine (US)
National Institutes of Health
Reduced inequalities
Openalex Percentile: Top 8%
Acute Myeloid Leukemia Research
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