Association of TET2 Alterations with NPM1 Mutations and Prognostic Value in De Novo Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML).

Abstract 163

In acute myeloid leukemia (AML), both cytogenetic and molecular abnormalities are strongly associated with prognosis. In particular, in cytogenetically normal AML (CN-AML), FLT3-ITD (internal tandem duplication) carries adverse prognostic factor whereas NPM1 or CEBPA mutations are associated with favorable outcome. Recently, mutations of the ten eleven translocation 2 gene (TET2) have been reported myeloid neoplasms. We evaluated the frequency and prognostic value of TET2 alterations, in a cohort of 111 de novo AML patients.

We studied 111 patients aged between 15 years and 69 years with previously untreated de novo AML who had reached complete remission (CR) using intensive chemotherapy. 28 of them also received an allogenic bone marrow transplantation in first CR. Analysis of TET2 sequence variation was performed by direct sequencing of PCR products from 111 genomic DNA samples obtained at diagnosis. Frameshift and nonsense variations were all scored as mutation whereas missense mutations were retained when observed at diagnostic but absent in the CR paired sample obtained. Previously identified single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) were not considered. TET2 anomalies were numbered according to Genebank reference FM992369. Paired diagnosis and CR genomic DNAs were analyzed using Affymetrix Genome-Wide Human SNP Array 6.0 (Affymetrix, Santa Clara, CA). Data were analyzed using Gene Chip Genotyping Console 3.0.2 and Partek Genomics Suite (www.partek.com/). Comparisons were made by Fisher's exact test for binary variables and the Mann-Whitney‘s test for continuous variables. Disease Free Survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) were calculated according to the Kaplan-Meier method. Comparisons regarding DFS and OS were performed with the log-rank test.

24 acquired TET2 mutations were observed in 19 of the 111 (17%) de novo AML patients, suggesting the alteration of the two TET2 alleles in 5 patients. They included 21 different events: 6 frameshift, 7 non-sense and 11 missense mutations. Four of the missense mutations were located in conserved regions and 7 outside. All of them were detected in the diagnostic sample but were absent in the paired remission sample. Except for two missense mutations (S282F, T492S) both detected in two patients, no recurrent TET2 mutation was observed. Acquired mutations were spread over all exons. No case of uniparental disomy (UPD) was observed and only one patient presented a small deletion of 60Kb in the TET2 gene locus without TET2 mutation. No significant difference was observed between patients with or without TET2 alterations for gender, age, hemoglobin level, platelet count, FAB subtypes distribution and cytogenetics according to MRC classification, but there was a trend for higher WBC count in patients with TET2 alteration. No significant association was observed between TET2 mutations and FLT3 or CEBPA alterations. However, TET2 alterations were significantly associated with NPM1 mutations (p=0.032). In the entire patient cohort, no difference in DFS or OS was seen between patients with and without TET2 alteration. However, a significantly worse DFS was observed for patients presenting TET2 mutations within the subgroup of patients with NPM1 mutations (3y-DFS: 0% vs 66.4%, 95% CI [45.6–87.2], p=0.008) Considering both the favorable prognosis of NPM1 mutations without FLT3-ITD in CN-AML and the absence of clear association between FLT3-ITD and TET2 alterations in this study, prognostic value of the genotype characterized by NPM1 mutation without FLT3-ITD or TET2 alteration (NPM1+FLT3-ITD-TET2-) was compared to other patients within CN-AML group (N=54). NPM1+FLT3-ITD-TET2- patients showed a significantly better DFS and OS compared to other patients in CN-AML group (3y-DFS: 82.1%, 95% CI [59.1–100] vs 37.3%, 95% CI [20.2–54.3], p=0.01; 3y-OS: 80.8%, 95% CI [56.1–100] vs 42.3%, 95% CI [23.3–61.3], p=0.04).

In conclusion, we observed point mutations of TET2 in 17% of patients, whereas TET2 deletion or UPD are very rare. In our study, TET2 mutations were clearly associated with NPM1 mutations and carried a negative prognostic impact in this subgroup. Screening for TET2 mutations may improve the characterization of CN-AML and help to identify within the low-risk subgroup with NPM1 mutation and without FLT3-ITD, patients at high risk of relapse.