Mutant PPM1D- and TP53-Driven Hematopoiesis Populates the Hematopoietic Compartment in Response to Peptide Receptor Radionuclide Therapy

PURPOSE Hematologic toxic effects of peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) can be permanent. Patients with underlying clonal hematopoiesis (CH) may be more inclined to develop hematologic toxicity after PRRT. However, this association remains understudied. MATERIALS AND METHODS We evaluated pre- and post-PRRT blood samples of patients with neuroendocrine tumors. After initial screening, 13 cases of interest were selected. Serial blood samples were obtained on 4 of 13 patients. Genomic DNA was analyzed using a 100-gene panel. A variant allele frequency cutoff of 1% was used to call CH. RESULT Sixty-two percent of patients had CH at baseline. Persistent cytopenias were noted in 64% (7 of 11) of the patients. Serial sample analysis demonstrated that PRRT exposure resulted in clonal expansion of mutant DNA damage response genes ( TP53, CHEK2, and PPM1D) and accompanying cytopenias in 75% (3 of 4) of the patients. One patient who had a normal baseline hemogram and developed persistent cytopenias after PRRT exposure showed expansion of mutant PPM1D (variant allele frequency increased to 20% after exposure from < 1% at baseline). In the other two patients, expansion of mutant TP53, CHEK2, and PPM1D clones was also noted along with cytopenia development. CONCLUSION The shifts in hematopoietic clonal dynamics in our study were accompanied by emergence and persistence of cytopenias. These cytopenias likely represent premalignant state, as PPM1D-, CHEK2-, and TP53-mutant clones by themselves carry a high risk for transformation to therapy-related myeloid neoplasms. Future studies should consider CH screening and longitudinal monitoring as a key risk mitigation strategy for patients with neuroendocrine tumors receiving PRRT.

JAK2V617F variant allele frequency >50% identifies patients with polycythemia vera at high risk for venous thrombosis

Arterial (AT) and venous (VT) thrombotic events are the most common complications in patients with polycythemia vera (PV) and are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality. In this regard, the impact of JAK2V617F variant allele frequency (VAF) is still debated. The purpose of the current study was to analyze the impact of JAK2V617F VAF in the context of other established risk factors for thrombosis in a total of 865 2016 WHO-defined PV patients utilizing two independent cohorts: University of Florence (n = 576) as a training cohort and Policlinico Gemelli, Catholic University, Rome (n = 289) as a validation cohort. In the training cohort VT free-survival was significantly shorter in the presence of a JAK2V617F VAF > 50% (HR 4; p < 0.0001), whereas no difference was found for AT (HR 0.9; p = 0.8). Multivariable analysis identified JAK2V617F VAF > 50% (HR 3.8, p = 0.001) and previous VT (HR 2.2; p = 0.04) as independent risk factors for future VT whereas diabetes (HR 2.4; p = 0.02), hyperlipidemia (HR 2.3; p = 0.01) and previous AT (HR 2; p = 0.04) were independent risk factors for future AT. Similarly, JAK2V617F VAF > 50% (HR 2.4; p = 0.01) and previous VT (HR 2.8; p = 0.005) were confirmed as independent predictors of future VT in the validation cohort. Impact of JAK2V617F VAF > 50% on VT was particularly significant in conventional low-risk patients, both in Florence (HR 10.6, p = 0.005) and Rome cohort (HR 4; p = 0.02). In conclusion, we identified JAK2V617F VAF > 50% as an independent strong predictor of VT, supporting that AT and VT are different entities which might require distinct management.

Clonal architecture predicts clinical outcomes and drug sensitivity in acute myeloid leukemia

The impact of clonal heterogeneity on disease behavior or drug response in acute myeloid leukemia remains poorly understood. Using a cohort of 2,829 patients, we identify features of clonality associated with clinical features and drug sensitivities. High variant allele frequency for 7 mutations (including NRAS and TET2) associate with dismal prognosis; elevated GATA2 variant allele frequency correlates with better outcomes. Clinical features such as white blood cell count and blast percentage correlate with the subclonal abundance of mutations such as TP53 and IDH1. Furthermore, patients with cohesin mutations occurring before NPM1, or transcription factor mutations occurring before splicing factor mutations, show shorter survival. Surprisingly, a branched pattern of clonal evolution is associated with superior clinical outcomes. Finally, several mutations (including NRAS and IDH1) predict drug sensitivity based on their subclonal abundance. Together, these results demonstrate the importance of assessing clonal heterogeneity with implications for prognosis and actionable biomarkers for therapy.

FDA Cleared Companion Diagnostics (CDx) Tests (IDH1, IDH2 and FLT3) for Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) Patient Care

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is one of the most lethal blood cancers from which nearly 10,000 people die in the United States each year. While therapies for other blood cancers have made some progress, the standard of care for AML, a combination of toxic chemotherapies, has changed very little over the past four decades. In recent years the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been very active in approving targeted therapeutic drugs for AML patients including Midostaurin (Rydapt; 2017) and Gilteritinib (Xospata;2018) for FLT3 mutations; Enasidenib (Idhifa; 2017) for IDH2 mutations and Ivosidenib (Tibsovo; 2018) for IDH1 mutations. Additionally, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society's Beat AML Master Clinical Trial has shown that waiting for molecular results prior to treatment decision leads to better outcomes. Versiti Blood Center of Wisconsin Diagnostics laboratory which is certified under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) and qualified to perform high complexity clinical laboratory testing has performed the verification studies and offers two companion diagnostics tests for IDH1 and IDH2 mutations for AML patients. Also, in collaboration with Invivoscribe Inc., the AML patient can be tested for Leukostrat CDx FLT3 mutations assay so that the same AML patient can get three CDx test results leading to available drug therapy treatment decision making by physicians. IDH1 CDX Test: IDH1 CDx is indicated as an aid in identifying AML patients with an IDH1 mutation for treatment with ivosidenib (TIBSOVO®). Mutations in codon R132 of IDH1 can be found in 6% to 10% of AML patients. The IDH1 CDx test detects five IDH1 mutations R132H (CAT), R132C (TGT), R132G (GGT), R132S (AGT), and R132L (CTT) using PCR technology with homogeneous real-time fluorescence detection. The assay sensitivity for these five IDH1 mutations is 100% at variant allele frequencies of 2% and higher and 98% or greater at variant allele frequencies of 1% and higher. This test has been approved by the FDA as companion diagnostic device (PMA number P170041). IDH2 CDx: IDH2 CDx is indicated as an aid in identifying AML patients with an IDH2 mutation for treatment with IDHIFA® (enasidenib). Mutations in the R140 and R172 codons of IDH2 8% to 19% of AML patients.The IDH2 CDX test detects nine IDH2 mutations (R140Q, R140L, R140G, R140W, R172K, R172M, R172G, R172S, and R172W) using PCR technology with real-time fluorescent detection. The assay sensitivity for these nine IDH2 mutations is 99.8% or greater at variant allele frequencies of 2% and higher or 93.5% or greater at variant allele frequencies of 1% and higher. This test has been approved by the FDA as companion diagnostic device (PMA number P170005). FLT3 CDx: The FLT3 Leukostrat® CDx Assay is the FDA approved (PMA number P160040) predictive test for the efficacy of midostaurin (RYDAPT®) therapy in all AML patients, regardless of cytogenetics and efficacy of gilteritinib (XOSPATA ® ) therapy in relapsed or refractory AML patients. FLT3 is one of the most commonly mutated genes in AML with 30% of patients at the time of diagnosis 1. The most prevalent type of FLT3 mutation is an internal tandem duplication (ITD) in the juxtamembrane domain. The second most common mutation type in the FLT3 gene is a tyrosine kinase domain (TKD) point mutation in the codon for an aspartate (D835) or an isoleucine (I836) residue. The LeukoStrat® CDx FLT3 Mutation Assay is a PCR-based, in vitro diagnostic test designed to detect internal tandem duplication (ITD) mutations and the tyrosine kinase domain (TKD) mutations D835 and I836 in genomic DNA extracted from mononuclear cells obtained from peripheral blood or bone marrow aspirates of patients diagnosed with AML. Versiti Blood Center sends the patient specimens to Invivoscribe Inc. where the LeukoStrat® CDx FLT3 Mutation Assay is performed and the interpretive comments are included in the patient report by Versiti. From our experience pathologists and treating physicians want molecular test results as fast as possible, especially for the actionable gene mutations in IDH1, IDH2 and FLT3. The IDH1 CDx, IDH2 CDx and FLT3 CDx tests are highly sensitive and Versiti provides average turn around time of 3 business days which enable rapid decision making on the recently available drug therapies for AML patients. We strongly recommend that the IDH1 CDx, IDH2 CDx and FLT3 CDx tests should be performed on all AML patients for better care. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare. OffLabel Disclosure: In recent years the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved targeted therapeutic drugs for AML patients including Midostaurin (Rydapt; 2017) and Gilteritinib (Xospata;2018) for FLT3 mutations; Enasidenib (Idhifa; 2017) for IDH2 mutations and Ivosidenib (Tibsovo; 2018) for IDH1 mutations.

Clinical Utility of Hematopathologist-Triaged NGS Testing When Investigating Patients with Suspected MDS

The recognition of MDS is challenging in early stages, where diagnosis may rely solely upon morphological criteria for dysplasia, a non-specific finding prone to inter-observer variation. Patients with equivocal bone marrow (BM) findings may be discharged from Hematology clinics and lost to follow up, or subjected to serial, invasive BM investigations and diagnostic delays. We therefore aimed to demonstrate the importance of hematopathologist-triaged, targeted NGS in identifying clonal cytopenias of undetermined significance (CCUS) in cases where MDS diagnostic criteria are not met based on morphology or cytogenetic analysis. We explored this using three REB-approved cohorts. Our first cohort was retrospective with BM samples ranging from 2010-14, involving cases that were previously suspicious for but non-MDS diagnostic. This included 70 patients from Sunnybrook (SHSC) and Kingston Health Sciences Centres (KHSC): 16 age-matched controls (8 negative lymphoma staging, 8 non-MDS cytopenias); 18 suspicious for MDS; 20 MDS; and 16 MDS/MPN. DNA was extracted and NGS was performed using our custom 48-gene Ion Torrent AmpliSeq myeloid panel (ThermoFisher). We identified suspected mutations in 2/16 (13%) controls (i.e. CHIP), 12/18 (67%) suspicious cases, 17/20 (85%) MDS cases, and 16/16 (100%) MDS/MPN cases. The mean and median number of mutations per suspicious patient (respectively 0.89 and 1; most commonly in SF3B1, TET2, RUNX1, and ASXL1) were lower than MDS (1.85 and 2; p=0.011) and MDS/MPN (3.13 and 3; p&lt;0.0001). There was a significant difference in the average variant allele frequency (VAF) per patient (those with ≥1 mutation) between control and suspicious groups (p=0.022), however, there were no significant differences in the average VAF between suspicious, MDS, and MDS/MPN cases. Furthermore, of the 16 patients with BM suspicious for MDS, 7 went on to get MDS. 4 of these patients had at least 1 clinically relevant somatic variant, while 3 had none. Of those with at least 1 variant, 3 had IPSS-level cytopenias at the time, indicating that had their mutational status been known at the time of their assessment, they would have been diagnosed with the provisional CCUS entity (while the rest would be classified as CHIP). To supplement these findings, we are amassing a prospective cohort involving cases at SHSC where patients have either idiopathic cytopenias (ICUS), or confirmed MDS diagnoses with one or more previously non-diagnostic BM. To date, we have performed sequencing for 36 of these patients, including 23 ICUS and 13 diagnosed MDS cases. Of the ICUS cases, 10 (44%) had at least 1 variant (mean # variant/patient = 1, mean variant allele frequency (VAF) = 34.0%) consistent with CCUS, while 12/13 (92%) of MDS patients had at least 1 variant (mean # variants/patient = 2, mean VAF = 42.3%). These findings are consistent with CCUS being common in suspicious MDS cases, with similar clonal size but lesser mutational burden than diagnosed MDS. In addition to these preliminary findings, 15/36 patients have serial samples that we are currently processing for NGS (among other cases we are accruing to present at the ASH meeting). By exploring serial cases with molecular results pre- and post- MDS diagnosis, we aim to further elucidate which features of CCUS may predict progression to MDS. Finally, we assessed clonality in cases suspicious for myeloid malignancy in our existing prospective myeloid NGS cohort at KHSC (Ferrone et al, JMD 2021). In this cohort of 168 patients, when focusing on cytopenias yet to be diagnosed, 71 patients had suspected MDS, MPN, or MDS/MPN prior to NGS (completed using the Oncomine Myeloid Assay; ThermoFisher). 36/71 (51%) were found to have variants that indicate clonality. This facilitated diagnoses of either myeloid malignancies or pre-malignant states, with nine cases in total of ICUS resulting in the identification of variants that were non-diagnostic of MDS (mainly in TET2), but indicative of CHIP (n=2) or CCUS (n=7). Furthermore, for the limited number with available follow up data, we found no significant difference in survival between individuals with low-grade MDS (n=10) and CCUS (n=6) (p=0.457). This evidence is in keeping with recent findings that the clinical features of CCUS may be consistent with low-risk MDS, emphasizing the importance of closely monitoring these patients, and even the possibility of assessing and treating them similarly to those with low-risk MDS. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Pharmacogenomics of Fludarabine in Pediatric HCT Recipients: Preliminary Results

Introduction: Total Body Irradiation (TBI) conditioning regimens are considered standard of care for pediatric hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT) recipients. However, TBI has many long-term effects, so avoiding it in young HCT recipients is critical. Fludarabine is frequently used in combination with other chemotherapeutic agents like busulfan and/or thiotepa in non-TBI based conditioning regimens. While multi-drug conditioning aims to avoid TBI-related late-effects, little is known about the effect of variations in genes that metabolize these drugs (pharmacogenomics/PGx) on clinical outcomes including engraftment, relapse, and acute drug-related toxicities. In this study, we investigated the pharmacogenomic effects on HCT outcomes such as event-free outcomes and re-transplantation outcomes, as well as fludarabine's pharmacokinetics (PK). Methods: This ongoing study included pediatric patients from a nationwide multi-center study who received fludarabine in combination with other agents as busulfan and thiotepa. From literature searches and PharmGKB databases, we selected 70 SNPs in 30 candidate pharmacological genes for these drug pathways. SNPs with a minor allele frequency of 10% were further selected for analysis with different endpoints such as: 1) Cumulative incidence with disease relapse with re-transplantation (using Gray's methods, controlling for competing risks); 2) fludarabine PK with cumulative area under the curve (cAUC); 3) 1-month-post-transplant chimerism levels defined as sufficient (CD3 ≥80% and CD14/15 ≥95% chimerism) and insufficient (CD3 &lt;80% and CD14/15 &lt;95% chimerism); and 4) event-free outcomes (comparing patients alive and well vs. others) OR alive re-transplantation outcomes (alive with vs. without re-transplantation). SNPs with an association p-value &lt;0.05 were considered significant using generalized linear models from the SNPassoc R package. Results: Total of 87 patients included in the analysis had a median age of 3.5 (0.2 - 17.9) years, 63% were male, 48% were Caucasian, 85% had received allogenic HCT, and 43% had malignant hematologic disease (Table 1). For SNP rs2277119 in CYP39A1, presence of T allele was associated with greater cumulative incidence of re-transplantation (TC-TT vs. CC genotype: HR=3.64 (95% CI=1.14-11.62), p=0.02, Figure 1A); and SNP rs4715354 in GSTA5, presence of G allele was associated with lower cumulative incidence of re-transplantation (AG-GG vs. AA: HR=0.32 (95% CI=0.11-0.95), p=0.037, Figure 1B). In 79% of patients with available fludarabine cAUC (median of 3.72 mg•hr/L), we evaluated fludarabine pathway gene SNPs for association with cAUC. Within SNPs rs3925058 in CMPK1 and rs11853372 in the uptake transporter SLC28A1, presence of variant allele was associated with higher fludarabine cAUC (rs3925058: GA-AA vs. GG, p=0.049, Figure 2A, and rs11853372 GG-GT vs. TT, p=0.003, Figure 2B); and for a 3'-UTR SNP rs2037067 in TENM3/DCTD, the variant allele was associated with lower fludarabine cAUC levels (CT-CC vs. TT, p=0.005, Figure 2C). In an exploratory analysis with event-free outcomes, patients with variant allele for SNPs rs9937 in RRM1, rs2072671 in CDA, rs324148 in SLC29A1, and rs7533657 in CTPS1 had higher odds of having an event compared to patients with the reference allele; while rs11577910 in CTPS1 had a better outcome with presence of variant allele. With respect to patient's status being alive with re-transplantation outcomes, variants SNPs with rs507964 in SLC29A1, rs4244285 in CYP2C19, rs1021737 in CTH, rs1561876 in STIM1, and rs1130609 in RRM2 have high odds of re-transplantation. At 1-month follow-up, variant SNP rs12144160 in CTPS1 was associated with sufficient chimerism in CD3 and CD14/15. Conclusions: In this study, we have identified a number of SNPs that predict interpatient variability in clinical outcomes and fludarabine levels in pediatric HCT recipients. Results so far showed potential to predict outcomes and develop strategies that will consider pharmacogenomics when determining fludarabine doses in pediatric HCT recipients. Our ongoing study is focused on establishing and validating the pharmacogenetic markers predictive of pharmacokinetics of busulfan, fludarabine and thiotepa and clinical outcomes in pediatric HCT recipients. Acknowledgements: This study was supported by Florida Department of Health - Live Like Bella Discovery Award (9LA04). Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Clone decomposition based on mutation signatures provides novel insights into mutational processes

Intra-tumor heterogeneity is a phenomenon in which mutation profiles differ from cell to cell within the same tumor and is observed in almost all tumors. Understanding intra-tumor heterogeneity is essential from the clinical perspective. Numerous methods have been developed to predict this phenomenon based on variant allele frequency. Among the methods, CloneSig models the variant allele frequency and mutation signatures simultaneously and provides an accurate clone decomposition. However, this method has limitations in terms of clone number selection and modeling. We propose SigTracer, a novel hierarchical Bayesian approach for analyzing intra-tumor heterogeneity based on mutation signatures to tackle these issues. We show that SigTracer predicts more reasonable clone decompositions than the existing methods against artificial data that mimic cancer genomes. We applied SigTracer to whole-genome sequences of blood cancer samples. The results were consistent with past findings that single base substitutions caused by a specific signature (previously reported as SBS9) related to the activation-induced cytidine deaminase intensively lie within immunoglobulin-coding regions for chronic lymphocytic leukemia samples. Furthermore, we showed that this signature mutates regions responsible for cell–cell adhesion. Accurate assignments of mutations to signatures by SigTracer can provide novel insights into signature origins and mutational processes.