scholarly journals Genomic Landscape of PHD Finger Protein 6 (PHF6) Mutant Myeloid Neoplasia

Blood ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 138 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. 1154-1154
Author(s):  
Laila Terkawi ◽  
Carmelo Gurnari ◽  
Sunisa Kongkiatkamon ◽  
Simona Pagliuca ◽  
Minako Mori ◽  
...  

Abstract Clinical impact and mechanistic contributions to leukemogenesis are difficult to assign to less common somatic mutations. However, the genetics of inherited syndromes can often be helpful in discerning the biological functions and mechanistic consequences of genes in other diseases. PHF6 (Xq26.2) encodes a protein consisting of two PHD-type zinc finger domains with activity in transcriptional regulation. PHF6 translocations were originally described in T-ALL and its mutations were later observed also in CML and adult AML. Germline (GL) PHF6MT cause Börjeson-Forssman-Lehmann syndrome (BFLS), an X-linked disorder characterized by intellectual disability and, to date, only a few BFLS cases were found to develop lymphoma or T-ALL. While regularly encountered in myeloid neoplasia (MN), the impact and functional meaning of PHF6 are not well established. To determine the incidence, distribution and molecular context of PHF6MT we studied a large cohort of patients with MN (n=8617) collected from our institution and public series. 1 Overall, 73% of patients were AML (pAML 69%; sAML 4%), MDS (22%) and MDS/MPN (5%) with a median age at diagnosis of 67 ys (18-100). We detected 149 patients (2%) carrying at least 1 PHF6MT with 11 harboring more than 1 hit. Four patients carried -X in addition to PHF6MT (2 males; 2 females). Majority of patients (68%) carried frameshift del/ins and nonsense. Mutations were scattered across all coding region with a slightly enrichment (47%) in the second PHD domain (239-330 aa) including the frequent R274Q/X (n=17). Common hits mainly affected arginine residues essential for DNA binding capacity (R129X n=9, R116X=7, R319X=5, R225X=3) followed by other hits (I314T=6, Y301X and C20fs=4 each). Of note, R116X, R225X, R274X, C280Y, H329R and Y303* lesions overlapped with the T-ALL PHF6MT spectrum while no overlap was found with GL mutations found in BFLS. Overall, 75% of all PHF6MT carriers were males and carried mostly (80%) truncating lesions. Compared to mutational frequencies observed in other X-linked genes, truncating PHF6MT behaved similarly to those in ZRSR2 (78%), STAG2 (73%) and BCOR (62%). Conversely, BCORL1MT, KDM6AMT and PIGAMT were evenly distributed between genders. When evaluating mutational characteristics in males and females, no differences were found in sex-adjusted median variant allelic burden of PHF6MT (54.8 vs 51%) nor its mRNA expression levels suggesting locus inactivation. PHF6MT tended to be older than PHF6WT patients (72 vs 68 ys; P= .05) and had mostly (63%) AML followed by MDS (23%) and MDS/MPN (14%). OS was similar between PHF6MT and PHF6WT patients (P= .16). Expression analyses showed that PHF6 loss leads to deregulation of chromatin and transcriptional factor genes. Indeed, in our cohort the most comutated genes were transcriptional factors and chromatin modifiers genes such as RUNX1 (26/149, 17%), ASXL1 (23/149, 15%) and TET2 (17/149, 11%). Of note, this group characterized by the triple ASXL1, RUNX1, TET2 mutational configuration clustered in one of the genomic groups previously identified (GC-3) 1 but the presence of these lesions did not worsen the OS as compared to PHF6MT without this mutational constellation. A low frequency of SF3B1MT (4%) was also noted confirming the enrichment of PHF6MT in AML rather than in low risk MDS. Further, 12% (14 males; 4 females) of PHF6MT patients had X-mutation mosaicism as shown by concomitant hits in BCOR (n=8), ZRSR2 (4), STAG2 (5), KDM6A (1). PHF6MT were equally founder lesions (30%; 44/149) and subclonal (34%; 50/149) whereas the rest was indistinguishable by VAF discrimination (co-dominant). The most common subclonal mutations were U2AF1 (14%, 6/44), IDH1/2 (9%, 4/44) and RUNX1 (7%, 3/44). When PHF6MT were subclonal, the founder hits were in TET2 (14%, 7/50), DNMT3A and RUNX1 (12%, each 6/50) genes. Given the high frequency of RUNX1MT in PHF6MT we investigated whether RUNX1 and PHF6 might be correlated. Transcriptomic analysis of 6246 patients (from 9 public studies) 2 showed a direct linear correlation (AdjR2= .03, P=5.55e-05) between the expression of the two genes. Our study is the largest to date to investigate the genetic landscape of PHF6MT in MN and highlights a strong connection of PHF6 with transcriptional regulation and chromatin genes. Ongoing scDNA-seq will clarify whether these mutations were acquired in distinct clones helping in dissecting the clonal hierarchy of PHF6MT cases. Disclosures Carraway: Celgene, a Bristol Myers Squibb company: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Agios: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Jazz: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Novartis: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Stemline: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; AbbVie: Other: Independent review committee; Takeda: Other: Independent review committee; Astex: Other: Independent review committee; Bristol Myers Squibb: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau. Advani: Seattle Genetics: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Kite Pharmaceuticals: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Abbvie: Research Funding; Glycomimetics: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Macrogenics: Research Funding; Immunogen: Research Funding; OBI: Research Funding; Amgen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Pfizer: Honoraria, Research Funding. Maciejewski: Regeneron: Consultancy; Novartis: Consultancy; Alexion: Consultancy; Bristol Myers Squibb/Celgene: Consultancy.

Blood ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 138 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. 3667-3667
Author(s):  
Tariq Kewan ◽  
Hrishikesh M Mehta ◽  
Carmelo Gurnari ◽  
Waled Bahaj ◽  
Simona Pagliuca ◽  
...  

Abstract Somatic and germline (GL) variants of CSF3R are found in myeloid neoplasia (MN) and severe congenital neutropenia (SCN). In particular, somatic gain-of-function mutations in the juxtamembrane region of the receptor occur in chronic neutrophilic leukemia (CNL) or secondary AML. Another hotspot for somatic nonsense variants frequently mutated in these categories of pts involves the intracellular domain which regulates inhibitory growth pathways. We hypothesized that the somatic CSF3R variants could reveal previously unrecognized GL SCN mutations. When we studied a cohort of 2,610 pts with MN, we identified a total of 68 CSF3R variants (CSF3RMT). Using a bioanalytic pipeline, we assigned pathogenicity and type of origin (somatic vs. GL) to these variants, particularly those not previously described. In total, we found 32 GL (CSF3RGL) and 36 somatic (CSF3RS) mutations. Of the GL variants, 4 were previously described in pts with SCN consistent with heterozygous loss of function of the CSF3R gene. However, 15 additional alterations were located in similar regions and were predicted to be pathogenic while 13 variants were previously never described. Most of the CSF3RGL mutations were identified in pts with AML and MDS (88%). Interestingly, 2 (6%) pts had co-existing idiopathic neutropenia that progressed to secondary MDS. Another pt had aplastic anemia that eventually progressed to secondary AML. CSF3RGL were most often located in either the intracellular domain (44%) or the extracellular domain (34%) while none of the CSF3RGL mutations were found in the juxtamembrane region (Fig1). AML was detected in 21% of the pts with a CSF3RGL intracellular domain mutation and 18% of the pts with extracellular domain mutations. Of the germline missense variants, E808K (28%), R698C (9%), and E149D (9%) were the most frequently detected. Among the pts with E808K, 22% developed AML. The previously non-reported variants were detected in either the intracellular (50%) or the extracellular domain (50%). Missense variants were detected in 9/10 of the novel mutations in the following locations: L723V (20%), R428K (10%), G731R (10%), V406fs (10%), G687S (10%), P682H (10%), T154I (10%), and S413L (10%). One truncating mutation was found (c.1865-6delC) and it was located in intron 14 and has unknown impact on CSF3R function. Complex karyotype was noted in 19 % of the cases with CSF3RGL. DNMT3A (19%), NRAS (13%), FLT3 (9%), and BCOR (9%), were the most commonly found co-mutations. CSF3R S mutations were all heterozygous and found in 18 pts with AML and 18 pts with MDS and other MN. Overall, these lesions mapped within the intracellular proximal and distal domains (53%), the extracellular domain (14%) the juxtamembrane domain (25%), and the transmembrane domain (8%). Of note, MDS/MPN pts with CSF3RS mutations (11%) had lesions distributed between the intracellular, juxtamembrane and extracellular domains while none of the AML pts had mutations in the extracellular domain. Of all mutations, 36% were truncating events previously described in the context of post SCN AML while 61% were missense mutations. T618I was the most frequent CSF3RS detected (25%), followed by Q749X (11%), Q741X (9%), Q743X (6%). Juxtamembrane hits (CNL-like lesion) were all in the same canonical region (T618I). In contrast, somatic hits otherwise typical for post SCN AML were found in 33% of CSF3RS alterations and included the following: Q749X(4), Q741X (3), Q739X (2), S742X, Q743X, and E405K (not typical for post SCN AML). Taken together the combined allelic burden of these variants did not exceed that of general population (OR: 0.9503) suggesting that they are not significant risk alleles. Of note is that none of these variants were found to be in biallelic (somatic/GL) configurations. Complex karyotype was found in 19% of the pts with CSF3RS followed by del7q in 13% of cases. Importantly, an antecedent history of neutropenia was noted only in 14% of the pts carrying CSF3RS. Regarding associated mutations, ASXL1 (43%), RUNX1 (23%), SETBP1 (23%), TET2 (23%), DNMT3A (17%), SRSF2 (16%), EZH2 (14%), IDH2 (11%), and NRAS (11%) were the most common co-mutations. We have investigated CSF3RS mutations for the presence of GL alterations, but compound heterozygous configurations were not identified. We concluded that CSF3R mutations typically associated with SCN transformation to myeloid neoplasia can occur without GL variants associated with this defect. Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures Balasubramanian: Servier Pharmaceuticals: Research Funding. Patel: Apellis: Consultancy, Other: educational talks, Speakers Bureau; Alexion: Consultancy, Other: educational talks, Speakers Bureau. Advani: Kite Pharmaceuticals: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Abbvie: Research Funding; Glycomimetics: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Seattle Genetics: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; OBI: Research Funding; Immunogen: Research Funding; Amgen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Pfizer: Honoraria, Research Funding; Macrogenics: Research Funding. Carraway: AbbVie: Other: Independent review committee; Agios: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Stemline: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Takeda: Other: Independent review committee; Astex: Other: Independent review committee; Jazz: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Novartis: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Celgene, a Bristol Myers Squibb company: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Bristol Myers Squibb: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau. Maciejewski: Novartis: Consultancy; Regeneron: Consultancy; Bristol Myers Squibb/Celgene: Consultancy; Alexion: Consultancy.


Blood ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 138 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. 2591-2591
Author(s):  
Vera Adema ◽  
Sunisa Kongkiatkamon ◽  
Laura Palomo ◽  
Wencke Walter ◽  
Stephan Hutter ◽  
...  

Abstract The prevailing theory in del(5q) is that haploinsuffciency (HI) stemming from deletion and not simply LOH (loss of heterozygosity) is the culprit in clonal evolution. To date no haploinsufficient gene has been found to be the leukemogenic factor conveying growth advantage, but various other genes have been found to be important for phenotypic features or for propensity to acquire subsequent specific lesions. RPS14 is an example of such a gene, particularly in patients (pts) with isolated del(5q), responsible for macrocytic anemia and erythroid dysplasia and a propensity for acquisition of TP53 mutations. We hypothesized that RPS14 downmodulation and its consequences may be more common than del(5q) and it is frequent pathophysiologic feature in MDS. We first analyzed the genomic and expression profile of 170 pts with del(5q) and 825 diploid for 5q. We developed a new analytic pipeline to identify the most HI genes present in a large number of del(5q) pts. Genes within CDR (common deleted region) were classified as HI from the linear model fit if (i) clonality vs. gene expression slope from the isolated del(5q) was negative and FDR<.05; and (ii) effect of del(5q) at 50% clonality vs. other cases was negative and FDR<.05. A total of 62 genes met these criteria for linear-model based genes HI status, with a further 5 genes dropping due to low expression. Gene expression for these 57 HI genes among del(5q) samples was adjusted to 50%-clonality using the slopes from the estimated linear model to remove clonal heterogeneity. After applying model-based sparse clustering approach on all cohort, we obtained 7 clusters (Figure 1). As expected, del(5q) cases clustered together and showed consistent HI of 5q marker gene expression. Cluster-1 (n=146) included almost all del(5q) cases, except for 8 "mis-categorized" patients. It was characterized by low risk MDS (LR-MDS), presence of anemia/neutropenia and low mutational burden, with TP53 being the most commonly mutated gene and the only cluster with CSNK1A1 mutations. The remaining non-del(5q) patients were grouped in 6 clusters. Diploid cluster-2 (n=133) featured a normal karyotype, frequent ASXL1 and TET2 mutations, and profound down-modulation of RPS14 in all the patients included in the cluster (vs. other diploid pts). While the median RPS14 expression in cluster-1 (del(5q) cluster, with 50% adjusted clonality) was 7.29 (range 4.68-8.82 Log 2CPM), cluster-2 exhibited a median RPS14 expression of 6.12 Log 2CPM (range: 4.91-7.31 Log 2CPM). Clusters-3, -4, -5 (n=138, 90, 94, respectively) included most of the high risk MDS (HR-MDS). Cluster-3 was enriched for thrombocytopenia and SRSF2 mutations; cluster-4 for anemia, thrombocytopenia and ASXL1 and SRSF2 mutations. Cluster-5 was characterized by pancytopenia and frequent ASXL1 mutations and CK (complex karyotype). Cluster-6 (n=66) and -7 (n=233) contained the majority of non-del(5q) LR-MDS. When we analyzed the RPS14 expression in these clusters based on the RPS14 expression in cluster 2 we found 13% (n=18), 21% (n=19), 9% (n=8), 14% (n=9), 7% (n=16) of low RPS14 expressors in cluster-3, -4, -5, -6, -7, respectively. Cluster-2 showed a similar percentage of patients with anemia, and thrombocytopenia vs. Cluster-1 (69 vs. 50%, 23 vs. 30%; respectively). The mutational profile included a higher frequency of mutations for SRSF2 (29 vs. 0%), NRAS/KRAS (22% vs. 4%), ASXL1 (40 vs. 15%), TET2 (35 vs. 15%), and JAK2 (17 vs. 6%). These results indicate a more proliferative molecular spectrum of RPS14 downregulated cluster-2 than del(5q)-cluster-1, but RPS14 downmodulation did not lead to acquisition of TP53 mutations (4% vs. 76%). Considering all non-del(5q) RPS14 low expressors (n=186), only 3% of the cases had TP53 mutations. Since TP53 and CSNK1A1 mutations were characteristic of cluster-1 we studied interactions with HI RPS14. HI RPS14 in del(5q) and diploid low expressors showed a decreased expression of CDKN1A (P<.001) in comparison to the non-HI or low RPS14. We also found that CSNK1A1 mutations were not found outside of del(5q) pts, CSNK1A1 low expressors coincided with RPS14 low expressors. In conclusion, RPS14 expression defect is more widespread than del(5q) in MDS. However, only del(5q) RPS14 HI pts are prone to harbor TP53 and CSNK1A1 mutations; a group of diploid pts with low RPS14 and CSNK1A1 expressions might mimic some del5q features and could potentially respond to similar treatments. Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures Diez-Campelo: Takeda Oncology: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; BMS: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau. Carraway: AbbVie: Other: Independent review committee; Jazz: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Takeda: Other: Independent review committee; Novartis: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Agios: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Astex: Other: Independent review committee; Stemline: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Celgene, a Bristol Myers Squibb company: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Bristol Myers Squibb: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau. Haferlach: MLL Munich Leukemia Laboratory: Other: Part ownership. Haferlach: MLL Munich Leukemia Laboratory: Other: Part ownership. Maciejewski: Bristol Myers Squibb/Celgene: Consultancy; Regeneron: Consultancy; Novartis: Consultancy; Alexion: Consultancy.


Blood ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 138 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. 3666-3666
Author(s):  
Tariq Kewan ◽  
Arda Durmaz ◽  
Hassan Awada ◽  
Carmelo Gurnari ◽  
Waled Bahaj ◽  
...  

Abstract The gold standard for the diagnosis of MDS relies on morphologic alterations hampered by a great deal of subjectivity. Cytogenetic and clinical features allow for clinical classifications predictive of survival. However, with a few exceptions (SF3B1MT, del5q, and certain balanced translocations), neither classic histo-morphology nor prognostic scoring systems (e.g., IPSS-R) are reflective of pathogenic underpinnings. To date supervised analyses of mutational data did not succeed to produce profiles specific or predictive of traditional disease sub-entities. Large cohorts with clinical annotation and a sufficient follow-up allow for innovative biostatistical approaches to subgroup patients according to molecular profiles. Objective operator-independent subcategorization may be congruent with common pathogenic links, rational applications of targeted therapeutics and better prognostications. We hypothesized that machine-learning (ML) strategies used for analysis of mutational/cytogenetic profiles will enable recognition of invariant disease subcategories according to their molecular configurations. Herein, we compiled a meta-analytic database (our cohorts and publicly available sources) of 3,011 MDS (median age 71yrs) and 6,788 pAML/sAML. Results of deep targeted sequencing of a panel of 55 myeloid mutations were collected together with cytogenetics. We then performed unsupervised analysis of MDS and AML patients using Bayesian Latent Class Analysis (BLCA). A consensus matrix was then clustered using Ward's criteria to generate final cluster assignment based on the highest silhouette value. To identify genomic signatures, we used Random Forest classification and extracted mutations with highest global importance indicated by mean decrease in accuracy. Using BLCA we identified 5 unique genomic clusters (GCs) with 3 distinct prognostic outcomes [low risk (LR), intermediate risk (Int), and high risk (HR)] that were validated by survival analysis (Fig.1A,B). The LR group included GC-1 and was characterized by the highest prevalence of normal cytogenetics (100%) and SF3B1 MT (25%) with co-occurring DNMT3A MT (14%), and absence of ASXL1 MT, ETV6 MT, STAG2 MT, TP53 MT, and complex/abnormal cytogenetics. Int group included GC-2 and GC-4. GC-2 was characterized by a higher percentage of abnormal cytogenetics cases than LR group and absence of STAG2 MT, SRSF2 MT, ASXL1 MT, TP53 MT, and normal/complex cytogenetics. GC-4 had the highest frequency of SRSF2 MT (52%) with co-occurring ASXL1 MT (59%), TET2 MT (40%), normal karyotype, and absence of complex/abnormal cytogenetics. Finally, HR included GC-3 and GC-5. GC-3 included ASXL1 MT (67%) with co-occurring SRSF2 MT (47%), TET2 MT (37%), STAG2 MT (22%), and absence of normal cytogenetics. GC- 5 had the highest frequency of -5/del(5q) (50%), -7/del(7q) (43%), -17/del(17p) (16%) and the highest odds of complex karyotype (92%) as well as TP53 MT (48%). Paralleling the genomic ML-based clustering, the clinical relevance of these subgroups was reflected in significantly different survivals [median (95% CI)]: i) GC-1 [69 (59-80)], ii) GC-2 [35 (29-41)], iii) GC-3 [12 (10-16)], GC-4 [27 (22-34)], and GC-5 [9 (7-11)] months (Fig.1C). We then classified the MDS cohort according to the recently published and validated AML GCs (Awada et al Blood 2021) to investigate overlapping genomic features. Overall, 90% of MDS GC-1 and 67% of MDS GC-2 had the same molecular architecture of AML GC-2 and 70% of MDS GC-5 had the same molecular features of AML GC-4. In addition, 98% of MDS GC-3 and 92% of MDS GC-4 had the same features of AML GC-3 (Fig.1D). In sum, we propose a novel objective molecular classification of MDS and related diseases that allows subgrouping of patients according to shared pathogenesis for a better prognostic resolution without errors derived from subjectivity. The model was then internally and externally validated using a cohort of 200 cases. Results of a validation cohort and online URL site of molecular clustering will be presented at the meeting. Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures Balasubramanian: Servier Pharmaceuticals: Research Funding. Patel: Alexion: Consultancy, Other: educational talks, Speakers Bureau; Apellis: Consultancy, Other: educational talks, Speakers Bureau. Carraway: Celgene, a Bristol Myers Squibb company: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Astex: Other: Independent review committee; Novartis: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Agios: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Takeda: Other: Independent review committee; Bristol Myers Squibb: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Jazz: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; AbbVie: Other: Independent review committee; Stemline: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau. Haferlach: MLL Munich Leukemia Laboratory: Other: Part ownership. Maciejewski: Regeneron: Consultancy; Novartis: Consultancy; Alexion: Consultancy; Bristol Myers Squibb/Celgene: Consultancy.


Blood ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 138 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. 1537-1537
Author(s):  
Carmelo Gurnari ◽  
Adam Wahida ◽  
Simona Pagliuca ◽  
Tariq Kewan ◽  
Waled Bahaj ◽  
...  

Abstract Dyskeratosis congenita is a prototypic inherited telomeropathy. Telomere length (TL) shortening has also been described in aplastic anemia (AA) and attributed in occasional patients to the presence of mostly heterozygous germline alterations in telomerase machinery genes (most commonly in the reverse transcriptase gene, TERT). Among various heterozygous variants described, certain TERT variants associated with shortened TL (e.g. H412Y and A202T) showed later a higher prevalence in general population questioning their pathogenicity and role as risk alleles. Nevertheless, shortened TL has been shown to correlate with poor outcomes in AA and myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) along with a higher progression rate to acute myeloid leukemia, and increased non-relapse mortality after HSCT. A high prevalence (41/1514; 2.7%) of non-recurrent germline TERT rare variants, has been found in patients with MDS undergoing HSCT (Reilly et al Blood 2021) without any clinically apparent diagnosis of a telomere biology disorder. Despite their classification as VUS, these alterations were shown to result in impairment of telomere elongation in vitro and reduced TL in vivo. Clinically, VUS carriers were also characterized by younger age at MDS presentation (median 52 years) and shorter survival due to a higher incidence of non-relapse mortality. We hypothesized that should such rare variants (traditionally thought as VUS) represent founder lesions and constitute risk alleles, one would expect to find some recurrence of these lesions in other cohorts of patients with myeloid neoplasia (MN). To test this hypothesis we screened a large meta-analytic cohort of MN patients (n=2560) including our patients (The Cleveland Clinic Foundation and MLL-Munich Leukemia laboratory) and a public series (The BEAT AML Master Trial and TCGA among others) for the presence of TERT coding variants. When whole genome sequencing was available (n=1432) TelomereHunter tool was used to estimate TL in carriers of TERT rare variants and wild-type (WT) cohorts. Overall, we identified 73 TERT coding variants. Based on maximum gnomAD population allele frequency (AF) <0.001 and ACMG and pathogenicity scores according to the classifiers of VarSome (https://varsome.com), we found 37/2560 (1.4%) variants which were categorized as rare and VUS. Of note, only 6 patients harbored established TERT pathogenic variants while the rest were common and VUS. Alterations occurred in the RTD (52%), TRBD-Linker region (29%) and CTE domain (19%). When compared to the aforementioned HSCT cohort described by Reilly et al, TERT rare VUS had a lower frequency and did not overlap with any of the VUS reported in this study, except for 2 patients harboring one variant each in amino acid locations 741 and 1041. Assessment of TL, possible in 12 patients carrying TERT rare variants, did not reveal differences compared to TERT WT cases. Interestingly, none of these rare variants were also observed in a control cohort of patients with AA (n=268). In terms of clinical features, MN patients with TERT rare variants harbored more somatic hits in DNMT3A and SF3B1 (26% each), and FLT3 (15%) with a diverse spectrum of additional molecular lesions, including germline VUS of other genes (4 patients harbored concomitant VUS in BRCA1, FANCG, and SAMD9, with another patient carrying a likely benign SAMD9L variant) (Fig1). When compared to WT counterparts, patients harboring TERT rare variants had a similar median age at MN diagnosis (70 vs. 66, P= 0.38) and similar survival outcomes (P= 0.96). Importantly, HSCT outcomes were ascertained only in 7 cases because of the real-life nature of our cohort which compiles MN patients of any subtype and age, thereby not biased by transplant referral like in the aforementioned study focusing only on MDS patients undergone HSCT. Finally, principal causes of death were primary disease (63%), presence of another malignancy (19%) and infections (13%) and, of note, no patient died of non-infectious pulmonary causes. In sum, our study, while confirming a relatively high (albeit not significant vs. controls) combined TERT VUS population burden in MN, also strongly indicates that rare TERT VUS are non-recurrent. Therefore, they cannot be considered risk alleles individually nor can their biological (combined or individual) impact in terms of non-transplant outcomes, irrespective of their in vitro functional effects. Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures Carraway: Celgene, a Bristol Myers Squibb company: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Stemline: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Novartis: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Jazz: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Agios: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; AbbVie: Other: Independent review committee; Takeda: Other: Independent review committee; Astex: Other: Independent review committee; Bristol Myers Squibb: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau. Haferlach: MLL Munich Leukemia Laboratory: Other: Part ownership. Maciejewski: Bristol Myers Squibb/Celgene: Consultancy; Alexion: Consultancy; Novartis: Consultancy; Regeneron: Consultancy.


Blood ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 138 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. 3322-3322
Author(s):  
Waled Bahaj ◽  
Carmelo Gurnari ◽  
Tariq Kewan ◽  
Suresh Kumar Balasubramanian ◽  
Simona Pagliuca ◽  
...  

Abstract While the clinical impact and the mechanistic contribution of TP53 mutations have been a subject of intense research, many questions about its role in myeloid neoplasia (MN) remain unanswered. Previous molecular studies have confirmed the assertion that biallelic inactivation confers less favorable prognosis as opposed to monoallelic hits. These evidences agree with the observation that carriers of Li-Fraumeni syndrome do not always exhibit a complete penetrance of the recessive TP53 lesion. Thus, the presence of a residual function of TP53 appears to be somehow protective until it is offset by additional damage of contralateral allele or compound heterozygous hits in synergistic pro-leukemogenic pathways. TP53 can be affected by lesions of diverse configurations (e.g. biallelic, homo/hemizygous) targeting different locations [missense mutation (ms) in various hotspots vs truncations], and their assessment in terms of clinical consequences is complex. Only large cohorts of patients allow to discern the often discrete nuances of TP53 effects in individual inactivation patterns. We have compiled molecular and clinical data of a meta-analytic cohort (CCF and public datasets) of 1,011 patients with TP53 alterations, along with 3,419 cases found to be TP53 wild type (WT). A total of 1,258 TP53 mutations/deletions were found, 66% classified as biallelic and 37% as monoallelic hits (including single deletions). We investigated the closest hotspot ms mutations, hypothesizing that lesions mapping sequences in proximity will have the same phenotypic impact. Next, we arranged ms mutations into 6 main sites with each one containing lesions mapping within 5 amino acidic positions from the canonical hotspot location. These sites were mutated in 58% of patients with presence of truncating hits in 27% of cases. When ms mutation sites were compared to each other, a less dismal survival was observed for only the R175H hotspot (p .03). Most hotspots are known to exhibit dominant-negative effects (likely due to tetramer protein configurations) and thus, inhibit >50% of the TP53 activity as opposed to truncations which should inactivate ~50%. Consequently, one would expect that hotspot mutations produce a more aggressive phenotype. However, patients with ms hits had similar survival as those with truncating mutations (p=.6), likely because truncations were more often biallelic than ms mutation (81% vs 65%, p=.006). Indeed, we can stipulate that the strength (functional impairment) conveyed by a mutation will inversely correlate with the propensity to acquire biallelic hits. Therefore, we hypothesized that truncations (inactivating less TP53) would require an additional hit if compared to the stronger dominant-negative ms lesions. Notably, double hits were identified in 81% of cases carrying truncating mutations vs. 66% in those with ms canonical sites mutations (p<.009). Carriers of biallelic mutations had worse prognosis than those with monoallelic hits in adjusted multivariate analysis (HR 2.2 95% CI 1.8-2.7 p<.001). However, unlike in previous reports, in our large cohort containing several MN types, monoallelic hits were not survival neutral, but worsened the prognosis as compared to WT patients (p<.001). This finding implies a strong driver effect for TP53 lesions, which are characterized by a rapid progression even in the monoallelic configuration. Similarly, monoallelic hits were associated with a higher mutational burden compared to biallelic ones (1.22 vs 0.91 co-mutations/patient, p=.02), which likely compensated the need for further TP53 inactivation. When focusing on the accompanying genomic landscape of our cohort, we found that 45% of cases had TP53 mutations as the sole molecular lesion vs 55% of patients who also harbored co-occurring somatic events. In particular, complex karyotype was more frequent among patients without co-occurring mutations (79% vs 57%, p<.001). As of associations with disease subtypes, primary AML cases had a lower burden of co-mutations (p<.001) while the highest percentages were registered in LR-MDS (p=.005). In summary, our study demonstrates the complexity of assigning a correct clinical impact to TP53 mutations, which are characterized by a high degree of genomic heterogeneity. In addition to the genetic context, TP53 role may also vary in different subtypes of MN (e.g., AML vs MDS) shaping in a different fashion individual patients' trajectories. Disclosures Balasubramanian: Servier Pharmaceuticals: Research Funding. Saunthararajah: EpiDestiny: Consultancy, Current holder of individual stocks in a privately-held company, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Patents & Royalties. Hamilton: Syndax: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Equilium: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Carraway: Jazz: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; AbbVie: Other: Independent review committee; Takeda: Other: Independent review committee; Novartis: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Agios: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Bristol Myers Squibb: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Celgene, a Bristol Myers Squibb company: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Stemline: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Astex: Other: Independent review committee. Maciejewski: Novartis: Consultancy; Regeneron: Consultancy; Bristol Myers Squibb/Celgene: Consultancy; Alexion: Consultancy.


Blood ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 138 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. 3665-3665
Author(s):  
Carmelo Gurnari ◽  
Simona Pagliuca ◽  
Yihong Guan ◽  
Courtney E. Hershberger ◽  
Ying Ni ◽  
...  

Abstract The high frequency of TET2 mutations in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and the sole function of TET-dioxygenases as 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5-hmC) hydroxylases emphasize the key role of this gene in disease pathogenesis. However, the broad down-regulation of 5-hmC argues for a role of DNA demethylation in MDS beyond TET2 lesions, which albeit the high frequency, do not convey any impact on survival outcomes. In fact, decrease in 5-hmC levels is by far more widely spread than TET2 lesions pointing towards other pathways affecting TET2 activity, thereby obscuring a precise determination of its mutational and clinical consequences. Herein, we investigated TETs expression to identify factors explaining the widespread deficiency of 5-hmC in MDS possibly determining clinical phenotypes and prognosis. An integrative data analysis of genomic studies (whole genome and deep targeted NGS), RNA-sequencing and 5-hmC quantification was performed on 1,665 patients with MDS and 91 healthy controls (HC). Meta-analytic studies of 5-hmC levels in myeloid neoplasia (n=598) and data of RNA-sequencing of fractionated CD34 (GSE63569) were also included as confirmatory cohorts. We started by analyzing the clinical impact of TET2 mutations carried by 23% of our study population. No impact on survival was found in carriers of TET2 lesions including those with biallelic, truncating or missense mutations compared to wild-type (WT) (Fig1A). By using 5-hmC levels as a functional readout of TET activity, we found a TET deficiency in about 70% of patients, a proportion higher than one would conclude by considering the mere presence of TET2 mutations (Fig1B). To explain the decrease in 5-hmC levels in WT cases, we next examined transcriptome modifications. Analysis of the expression of TET family of genes showed that MDS patients had lower TET2 mRNA levels in total and in CD34+ cells as compared to HC, irrespective of their TET2 status. Therefore, we reasoned that TET2 deficiency is more ubiquitously involved in MDS pathogenesis than what would be expected by the only estimation of mutant cases. Indeed, "low expressor" status (defined by TET2 expression < 25%ile of HC) was found in 74% of MDS. Along with variable 5-hmC levels, concomitant differences in TET1/TET3 expression were also investigated. While TET1 levels were too low to be evaluated, TET3 expression levels were markedly higher in all and in WT MDS compared to HC, possibly in an attempt to compensate TET2 dysfunction (Fig1C). In addition, TET3 expression did not correlate with TET2 mutational burden, confuting a compensatory feedback mechanism in TET2 mutant cases. Further uni- and multivariate analyses showed that elevated TET3 levels compensated TET2 deficiency in terms of clinical outcomes (Fig1D) and linear regression analyses confirmed that indeed lack of compensation by TET3 (low TET3 expression) was associated with high risk features. To explore whether other factors might be associated with low TET2 levels, we studied TET2 expression in WT cases as to the presence of other mutations. We found that TET2 expression was significantly lower in patients harboring DNMT3A (P< 0.0001), SF3B1 (P< 0.0001) and SRSF2 (P= 0.04) compared to HC. However, lack of correlation between levels of TET2 and mutational burden failed to prove a direct relationship of these mutations (Fig1E). Decreased hydroxylation of 5-mC may also be caused by endogenous L-2-hydroxyglutarate (L2HG) produced via malate shunt. Accordingly, L2HG dehydrogenase (L2HGDH) levels catabolizing L2HG and malate dehydrogenases (MDH1/2) supplying L2HG, would influence TET2 activity in a reciprocal fashion. Consistently we found that MDH1/2 levels were increased in MDS and that L2HGDH showed also a likely compensatory increase to handle elevated L2HG loads. Further, linear regression analyses revealed that L2HGDH levels were correlated inversely with TET2 and positively with TET3 expression in WT cases (Fig1F). In sum, MDS can be considered a wide-ranging 5-hmC deficiency disorder driven by direct or indirect loss of TET2functions by mutations or down-modulation due to a variety of mechanisms. Disease phenotypes and outcomes are both influenced by counteracting factors such as expression of TET3. Application of precision therapeutic approaches should be informed by the analyses of all these factors. Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures Carraway: Astex: Other: Independent review committee; Novartis: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Stemline: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Agios: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; AbbVie: Other: Independent review committee; Jazz: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Takeda: Other: Independent review committee; Celgene, a Bristol Myers Squibb company: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Bristol Myers Squibb: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau. Kim: Paladin: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Bristol-Meier Squibb: Research Funding; Pfizer: Honoraria; Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding. Minden: Astellas: Consultancy. Haferlach: MLL Munich Leukemia Laboratory: Other: Part ownership. Maciejewski: Bristol Myers Squibb/Celgene: Consultancy; Novartis: Consultancy; Regeneron: Consultancy; Alexion: Consultancy.


Blood ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 138 (Supplement 1) ◽  
pp. 3921-3921
Author(s):  
Simona Pagliuca ◽  
Carmelo Gurnari ◽  
Laila Terkawi ◽  
Ishani Pandit ◽  
Tariq Kewan ◽  
...  

Abstract Structural and functional variability of human leukocyte antigen (HLA) is the foundation for competent anti-tumor and infectious adaptive immune responses. HLA genomic heterogeneity enables the presentation of a broad immune-peptidome, sustaining an efficient diversification of T cell receptor repertoires (TCR). 1,2,3 Any perturbation impacting this diversity may be at the basis of pathological processes, hampering antigen presentation capabilities and T-cell reactivity. In allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT) setting, the graft versus leukemia (GvL) effect should ensure disease control allowing the recognition of recipient neoantigen burden by donor T-cell effectors. However, the molecular dissection of graft versus host responses (GvH) remains elusive. Herein, by means of a broad immunogenetic study of a cohort of patients with myeloid malignancies who received a donor matched allo-HCT, we investigated how dysfunction of HLA variability could have an impact on alloreactive responses, ultimately hindering disease control. To that end, we combined NGS-based HLA genotyping and TCR-beta sequencing to molecularly characterize the HLA region in terms of locus-specific divergence and somatic mutational profile, and dissect features and clonotypic spectra of TCR repertoires. We first hypothesized that more diverse HLA genotypes could better present leukemic neoantigen burden than less diverse complexes, enhancing the GvL effect. Hence, we performed a matched-pair analysis between allo-HCT recipients relapsing after 3mo (median 6.2 mo. [IQR=4.6-12]), N=75) compared to patients without recurrence (N=193, matched for ethnicity, age, disease, graft source and conditioning regimens) and characterized the patterns of HLA evolutionary divergence (HED), 1 a metric recently conceived to quantitate the pair-wise distance (based on physiochemical composition) between the amino acids located within the peptide-binding groove of two homologous HLA alleles. Overall, the relapsed group was characterized by a lower global (class I/II) mean HED (p=.0029) compared to non-relapsed patients, with major differences seen for C (p=.0041), DQB1 (p=.0291), and DPB1 (p=.0396) loci. When studying the landscape of post-transplant TCR reconstitution (+3 months) in a subset of 25 patients, we observed an inverse correlation between TCR clonal expansion and global HED (AdjR 2=0.04, p=<2e-16), contributing to decrease the diversity of TCR repertoires in patients with lower HED. Although not different in number, the expansion of clonotypes with known anti-cancer specificity was higher in non-relapsing group (p=6.3e-08), possibly underlying a better tumor-surveillance. Next, we sought to investigate the patterns of somatic HLA dysfunction in relapsing patients (intended as allelic loss or mutations). Indeed, through a recently implemented HLA mutational calling algorithm, we observed somatic events encompassing both class I and II alleles in 23% (N=8/34 profiled patients). Interestingly, when analyzing patients with relapse who received a donor lymphocyte infusion-based treatment (DLI), none of the cases harboring mutational events (N=4/4) responded to this salvage strategy. It is noteworthy that in this last group, one patient relapsed with an extramedullary localization along with the acquisition of HLA mutations. HLA mutated group had a higher (although not significant) leukemia mutational burden compared to non-mutated group (mean number of leukemia-associated mutations: 3.6 vs 1.9/patient), underscoring the need for further driver mutational events compensating the possible lower immunogenic potential of HLA mutant clones. Despite a mild increase in mutational burden, driver hits (such as IDH1/2, FLT3, TP53, NPM1) were never present in patients carrying HLA aberrations, who instead harbored in a few cases mainly lesions in epigenetic regulators and chromatin modifiers (TET2, EP300, DNMT3A, EZH2). Altogether these findings pinpoint the role of the dysfunction of the structural variability of HLA complexes within both germline (HED) and somatic (HLA loss/mutations) scenarios as mechanisms hampering a successful neoantigen presentation and TCR recovery processes, possibly conveying a higher risk of disease relapse or treatment-resistance. Disclosures Balasubramanian: Servier Pharmaceuticals: Research Funding. Carraway: Takeda: Other: Independent review committee; AbbVie: Other: Independent review committee; Stemline: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Novartis: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Jazz: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Agios: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Celgene, a Bristol Myers Squibb company: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Bristol Myers Squibb: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Astex: Other: Independent review committee. Hamilton: Syndax: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Equilium: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Majhail: Anthem, Inc: Consultancy; Incyte Corporation: Consultancy. Maciejewski: Bristol Myers Squibb/Celgene: Consultancy; Regeneron: Consultancy; Alexion: Consultancy; Novartis: Consultancy.


Blood ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 118 (21) ◽  
pp. 782-782
Author(s):  
Alice Fabarius ◽  
Armin Leitner ◽  
Andreas Hochhaus ◽  
Martin C Müller ◽  
Claudia Haferlach ◽  
...  

Abstract Abstract 782 Introduction: Current evidence indicates that acquired genetic instability in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) as a consequence of the t(9;22)(q34;q11) and the resulting BCR-ABL fusion causes the continuous acquisition of additional chromosomal aberrations (ACA) and mutations and thereby progression to accelerated phase and blast crisis (BC). Around 10 –12% of patients in chronic phase (CP) CML have ACA already at diagnosis. During the course of the disease this number rises to 80% in BC. Acquisition of ACA during treatment is considered as a poor prognostic indicator, whereas the impact of ACA at diagnosis is controversial. Patients and methods: Clinical and cytogenetic data of 1151 out of 1311 patients with Philadelphia and BCR-ABL positive CP CML randomized until 2009 to the German CML-Study IV were investigated in a prospective study. There were 459 females (40%) and 692 males (60%). Median age was 53 years (range, 16–88). All patients were treated with imatinib alone or in combination with interferon alpha or araC. The impact of ACA at diagnosis on time to complete cytogenetic and major molecular remission (CCR, MMR) and progression-free and overall survival (PFS, OS) was investigated. Written informed consent was obtained from all patients prior to entering the study. Results: At diagnosis 1003/1151 patients (87%) had the standard t(9;22)(q34;q11) only and 69 patients (6.0%) had a variant t(v;22). In 60 of 69 patients with t(v;22), only one further chromosome was involved in the translocation, in 7 patients two, and in 2 patients three further chromosomes were involved. Seventy-nine patients (6.9%) had ACA. Of these, 38 patients (3.3%) lacked the Y chromosome (-Y) and 41 patients (3.6%) had ACA except -Y. Sixteen of the 41 patients had major-route ACA (+8, i(17)(q10), +der(22)t(9;22)(q34;q11), ider(22)(q10)t(9;22)(q34;q11)) and 25 minor-route ACA [e.g. t(3;12), t(4;6), t(2;16), t(1;21)]. In patients with major-route ACA, trisomy 8 was the most frequent additional alteration (n=9). +der(22)t(9;22)(q34;q11) was observed in six patients, isochromosome (17)(q10) in five patients and ider(22)(q10)t(9;22)(q34;11) in three patients. After a median observation time of 5.3 years for patients with t(9;22), t(v;22), -Y, minor- and major-route ACA median times to CCR were 1.01, 0.95, 0.98, 1.49 and 1.51 years, to MMR 1.40, 1.58, 1.65, 2.49 and > 7 years, 5-year PFS 90%, 81%, 88%, 96% and 50% and 5-year OS 92%, 87%, 91%, 96% and 53%, respectively. In patients with major-route ACA times to CCR and MMR were longer. PFS and OS were shorter (p<0.001) than with standard t(9;22)(q34;q11). Loss of Y chromosome had no influence on time to CCR or MMR, PFS and OS. Conclusion: We conclude that the prognostic impact of additional cytogenetic findings at diagnosis of CML is heterogeneous and consideration of their types may be important. Major-route ACA identify a small group of patients with significantly poorer prognosis as compared to all other patients requiring early and more intensive intervention such as stem cell transplantation. Disclosures: Hochhaus: Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; BMS: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Pfizer: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Ariad: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding. Haferlach:MLL Munich Leukemia Laboratory: Employment, Equity Ownership. Kneba:Hoffmann La Roche: Honoraria.


Blood ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 118 (21) ◽  
pp. 4591-4591 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris L. Pashos ◽  
Christopher R Flowers ◽  
Mark Weiss ◽  
Nicole Lamanna ◽  
Charles M Farber ◽  
...  

Abstract Abstract 4591 Introduction: Clinicians and investigators appreciate the value of measuring HRQOL for monitoring CLL and the impact of treatments, and commonly use ECOG performance status (PS) and clinician-reported patient fatigue as surrogates for HRQOL in clinical practice. However, limited data exist on the relationships between PS, fatigue, and HRQOL in CLL patients (pts) undergoing treatment in clinical practices. We examined the associations between these measures and 3 psychometrically validated, patient-reported, HRQOL instruments: the Brief Fatigue Inventory (BFI), EQ-5D, and Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Leukemia (FACT-Leu). Methods: Data were collected as part of Connect CLL®, a prospective observational registry initiated in March 2010 involving US practices. Data on pt demographics and clinical characteristics were provided by clinicians. HRQOL was self-reported by pts at enrollment using the BFI, EQ-5D, and FACT-Leu. Mean BFI, EQ-5D and FACT-Leu scores were analyzed by ECOG PS and clinician-reported fatigue. Differences in HRQOL scores between sub-cohorts were assessed by ANOVA. Results: HRQOL data were reported by 604 pts enrolled from 10 academic, 148 community, and 3 government centers. Pts were predominantly male (62%) and white (90%); mean age was 70 (standard deviation 11) years. BFI data (scale: 0 [no fatigue] - 10 [worst fatigue]) indicated that on average pts report that global fatigue, fatigue severity and fatigue-related interference worsen by ECOG severity (Table 1) and are statistically associated with clinician-reported fatigue (Table 2). Mean EQ-5D overall HRQOL as measured by a Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) from 0 (worst) to 100 (best) worsens by ECOG severity and is significantly worse in pts with fatigue. Mean EQ-5D domain scores (scale: 1 [no problem], 2 [some problems], 3 [incapacity]) indicated that pain/discomfort, mobility and usual activities increase in severity as ECOG worsens and in pts with fatigue. FACT-Leu domains except social/family were statistically worse with worse ECOG PS and in pts with fatigue. Conclusions: Initial results from Connect CLL® indicate that HRQOL worsens with worsening ECOG PS, especially in physical / functioning domains, pain/discomfort, and mobility, and worsens across multiple domains among pts whose physicians reported fatigue. Future analyses should be conducted on how HRQOL, PS and fatigue may change over time with changes in CLL, and how they are influenced by therapies. These results may serve as baseline reference. Disclosures: Pashos: Celgene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Flowers:Genentech/Roche (unpaid): Consultancy; Celgene: Consultancy; Millennium/Takeda: Research Funding; Wyeth: Research Funding; Novartis: Research Funding. Weiss:Celgene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Lamanna:Celgene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Farber:Celgene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Kipps:Igenica: Equity Ownership, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Celgene: Consultancy, Research Funding; Abbot Industries: Research Funding; Pharmacyclics: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Genentech: Research Funding; GSK: Research Funding; Gilead Sciences: Consultancy, Research Funding; Amgen: Research Funding. Lerner:Celgene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Kay:Celgene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Sharman:Celgene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Grinblatt:Celgene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Flinn:Celgene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Kozloff:Celgene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Swern:Celgene Corporation: Employment, Equity Ownership. Kahn:Celgene Corporation: Employment, Equity Ownership. Street:Celgene: Employment, Equity Ownership. Sullivan:Celgene: Employment, Equity Ownership. Keating:Celgene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees.


Blood ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 122 (21) ◽  
pp. 1016-1016 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Porter ◽  
Ali T Taher ◽  
Yesim Aydinok ◽  
Maria D Cappellini ◽  
Antonis Kattamis ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Patients with myocardial iron overload require effective cardiac iron removal to minimize the risk of cardiac complications. The 3 year EPIC cardiac sub-study showed that the oral iron chelator, deferasirox (DFX), effectively reduced cardiac iron overload. Previous reports demonstrate that cardiac iron removal is slow and suggest that liver iron concentration (LIC) may affect cardiac iron removal rate by chelators (Pennell et al., 2012; Blood). The objective of these analyses was to evaluate the impact of the severity of the liver iron overload on the change in myocardial T2* (mT2*) for patients receiving up to 3 years of DFX treatment in the EPIC sub-study. Methods Inclusion and exclusion criteria have been described previously (Pennell et al., 2012; Haematologica). Patients were categorized into LIC ≤15 and >15 mg Fe/g dry weight (hereafter mg/g) at baseline (BL) and by LIC <7, 7–≤15 and >15 mg/g at 12, 24, and 36 months to assess the impact of BL LIC and changes in LIC overtime on mT2*, respectively. During study, LIC and mT2* were measured every 6 months. Efficacy was assessed in per-protocol population that entered third year extension. Here, mT2* is presented as the geometric mean (Gmean) ± coefficient of variation (CV) unless otherwise specified. Statistical significance was established at α-level of 0.05 using a 2-sided paired t-test for within group comparisons and ANOVA for multiple group comparisons. All p-values were of exploratory nature for this post-hoc analysis. Results Of the 71 patients, who continued into study year 3, 68 patients considered evaluable were included in this analysis (per protocol population); 59 patients had LIC values available at end of study (EOS). Mean age was 20.5 ±7.35 years and 61.8 % of patients were female. Mean actual dose of DFX (mg/kg/day) was 32.1 ±5.5 and 35.1 ±4.9 in patients with BL LIC ≤15 and >15 mg/g, respectively. At EOS, mean actual doses were 32.9 ±5.4 (LIC <7 mg/g), 38.0 ±3.4 (LIC 7–≤15 mg/g), and 37.6 ±3.1 (LIC >15 mg/g). Overall, patients had high BL LIC (Mean, 29.0 ±10.0 mg/g); 61 patients had LIC >15 (30.8 ±8.8) mg/g, only 7 patients had LIC ≤15 (12.7 ±1.1) mg/g, and no patients had LIC <7 mg/g. After 36 months, a significant mean decrease from BL in LIC of -7.6 ±4.6 mg/g (p = 0.0049) and -16.8 ±14.0 mg/g (p <0.001) was observed in patients with LIC ≤15 and >15 mg/g, respectively. Notably, 51.9% of patients with BL LIC >15 mg/g achieved EOS LIC <7 mg/g. Overall, mean mT2* was 12.8 ±4.6 ms. The impact of BL LIC on mT2* and LIC response was as follows: in patients with LIC ≤15 mg/g (Mean BL mT2*, 14.2 ±3.6 ms) and >15 mg/g (BL mT2*, 12.7 ±4.7 ms), mT2* increased by 52% (Mean abs. change, 7.5 ±4.1 ms, p=0.0016) and 46% (7.3 ±7.3 ms, p<0.001), respectively. Patients with BL LIC ≤15 normalized mT2* in 24 months (Mean, 20.0 ±6.0 ms) versus 36 months for patients with BL LIC >15 mg/g, (20.1 ±10.6 ms) displaying a lag of nearly 12 months. The relation between post-BL LIC on mT2* response at 12, 24 and 36 months is shown in the figure. At 12 months, there was no significant difference in mT2* that had occurred in patients with LIC <7 mg/g (24% increase; mean abs. change, 3.5 ±2.3 ms), LIC 7–≤15 mg/g (19% increase; 3.4 ±5.2 ms) and those with LIC >15 mg/g (13% increase; 1.9 ±3.2 ms). However, at 24 months, there was a statistically significant difference amongst the 3 subgroups in percent increase in the mT2* that had occurred; patients with LIC <7, LIC 7-≤15 and LIC >15 mg/g had 54% (Mean abs. change, 8.3 ±7.3 ms), 33% (5.2 ±5.2 ms) and 10% (2.1 ±4.3 ms) increase (p <0.001), respectively. Similarly, at 36 months, the mT2* had increased by 71% (Mean abs. change, 10.3 ±6.6 ms) in the LIC <7 mg/g group; a 31% increase (5.3 ±5.0 ms) had occurred in the LIC 7– ≤15 mg/g group; and an 18% (3.3 ±6.0 ms) increase (p <0.001) had occurred in the LIC >15mg/g group. At all-time points, in patients who achieved an LIC <7 mg/g, a statistically significant increase in T2* from BL had occurred. Discussion Overall, DFX treatment resulted in a significant decrease in LIC and improved mT2*. A greater difference in mT2* improvement was shown to have occurred in patients who achieved lower end-of-year LIC after treated with DFX. This divergence was progressive with time, being maximal at 36 months. Thus, a therapeutic response in LIC with DFX is associated with a greater likelihood of improving mT2*. This may assist in monitoring liver and cardiac response to DFX. Prospective evaluation of this relationship is indicated. Disclosures: Porter: Novartis Pharma: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Shire: Consultancy, Honoraria; Celgene: Consultancy. Taher:Novartis Pharma: Honoraria, Research Funding. Aydinok:Novartis Oncology: Honoraria, Membership on an entity’s Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; Shire: Membership on an entity’s Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding. Cappellini:Novartis Pharma: Honoraria, Speakers Bureau; Genzyme: Honoraria, Membership on an entity’s Board of Directors or advisory committees. Kattamis:Novartis: Research Funding, Speakers Bureau; ApoPharma: Speakers Bureau. El-Ali:Novartis Pharma: Employment. Martin:Novartis Pharma: Employment. Pennell:Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; ApoPharma: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Shire: Consultancy, Honoraria.


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