A Favorable Outcome In Children with Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia (JMML) with RAS Mutations

Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) is a rare clonal myeloproliferative disorder that affects young children. It is characterized by a specific hypersensitivity of JMML cells to granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) in vitro. The pathogenesis of JMML involves disruption of GM-CSF signal transduction resulting from mutations of the components of the RAS signaling pathway, including NF1, PTPN11, NRAS, and KRAS. Somatic point mutations of the RAS genes at codons 12, 13, and 61 are found in approximately 20% of patients. Although most patients with JMML die due to progressive disease within 12 months unless treated with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), Matsuda et al reported that JMML patients with NRAS or KRAS glycine to serine substitution improved spontaneously. Other groups in Europe did not confirm this observation, and treatment for patients with JMML and RAS mutations is controversial. Therefore, in the present study, we analyze the association between the mutational status of RAS and prognoses of patients with JMML.

Eighty children diagnosed with JMML between 1988 and 2010 were studied retrospectively. We performed a mutational analysis of NRAS, KRAS, PTPN11, and C-CBL genes.

Seventeen patients (21%) had RAS mutations [NRAS (n = 13) and KRAS (n = 4)], while PTPN11 and C-CBL mutations were found in 28 patients (35%) and 5 patients (6.3%), respectively (Four patients were included in the previous report; Matsuda et al, Blood, 2007). Five children had clinical evidence of NF1 mutations. Among NRAS mutations, G12D and G13D were the most common (n = 6 and n = 5, respectively). Only one patient carried a G12S substitution, which was reported as a favorable mutation. Three patients with KRAS mutations had G13D substitutions. Compared to patients with other mutations or without any aberrations, patients with RAS mutations were significantly younger at diagnosis (median age: 12 months vs. 24 months, p = 0.011), while other known predictive factors such as HbF level and platelet count were not significantly different at diagnosis (median HbF level: 9.1 % vs. 22.2 %, p = 0.295; median platelet count: 27.5 × 10⁹/L vs. 49.0 × 10⁹/L, p = 0.390). Monosomy 7 was observed in seven patients without RAS mutations, and all patients with RAS mutations had normal karyotypes. Among untransplanted patients with RAS mutations, three achieved long-term survival (20, 84, and 209 months after diagnosis). The probability of 5-year overall survival estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method was significantly higher for patients with RAS mutations than for those without (85.7% vs. 30.4%, p = 0.033).

These results suggest that JMML patients with RAS mutations may be a distinct subgroup with favorable outcomes in spite of other than G12S.

No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.