Targeted Exome Sequencing Identifies Novel Mutations in Familial Myeloproliferative Neoplasms Patients in the State of Qatar

Background:

Myeloproliferative Neoplasms (MPNs) are clonal hematopoietic disorders characterized by excessive proliferation of one or more myeloid cell lineages. Philadelphia negative MPNs include Polycythemia Vera (PV), Essential Thrombocytosis (ET) & Primary Myelofibrosis (PMF). MPNs are associated with the presence JAK2 V617F mutation in 95% of PV & 50% of ET & PMF patients. Several molecular techniques such as RQ-PCR, HRM & Sequencing are currently used to detect common mutations. However, there are still significant numbers of MPNs that are negative to the most common genetic anomalies & many mutations are still unknown. The advent of Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) gives the opportunity to study relevant mutations in several genes.

Aim:

Utilizing NGS to identify potential genetic anomalies causing familial MPNs patients in Qatar.

Methods:

6 MPNs patients from consanguineous families & 5 healthy individuals were consented into the study & peripheral blood samples were collected. gDNA was extracted & used for multiplex PCR amplification of amplicons targeting cancer associated mutations in 28 key genes (JAK2, MPL, THPO, CBL, LNK, SH2B3, NF1, SOCS1/2/3, TP53, NRAS/KRAS, NF1, IDH1/2, EZH2, ASXL1, TET2, ATM, KIT, RB, TP53, IKZF1, RUNX1, PDGFRB, TERT & CALR) using the Ion AmpliSeq Kit. NGS was performed via the Ion Torrent using the 318 chip & data was analyzed with the Torrent Suite Software. Mutation details were obtained from COSMIC database. A hg 19 sequence was used as reference. The confirmation of NGS data was performed using RQ-PCR or Sequencing.

Results:

11 samples were successfully sequenced, with a mean depth of 1500 reads & the FASTQC plugin indicated good quality sequencing metrics. JAK2 V617F, JAK2 exon 12-15 & MPL (S505N, W515 L/K) negative samples tested before via RQ-PCR, HRM & sequencing were called negative by NGS.

NGS identified novel deleterious mutations in MPNs patients. Out of 6 familial cases, 5 patients (P1- P5) were ET & 1 patient (P6) was PV. P1 had JAK2 V617F, ASXL1 T600P, CBFB G180S, THPO S184R &ITGA2R76Q, P2 had JAK2 V617F, MPL A554G & ATM F582L, the other three Patients (P3, P4 & P5) had CLAR K385fs*47 & one PV patient (P6) had TYK2 E1163G, ASXL1 P808H, PDGFRB P4L & TERT G300fs.

Among the patients & healthy individuals, mutations/SNVs such as MPL P106L, K553N, SH2B3 L476F, ATM F1036F KIT N564S & TET2 T730R were also found

Discussion & conclusion:

Initial screening of known common genes (JAK2 V617F, JAK2 exon 12-15 & MPL W515 L/K) mutations did not reveal the causative mutations in 3% of 180 PV patients, 52% of 200 ET patients & 77% of 20 PMF patients.

In this study, several deleterious somatic & germ-line mutations & SNVs were identified using Targeted Exome Sequencing approach.

A complex combination of mutations in JAK2, THPO, ITGA2 & MPL genes occurred in ET patients & coexistence of several oncogenic events in TYK2, ASXL1, PDGFRB & TERT occurred in PV patient. This finding may also suggest that the MPNs phenotype may depend on presence of other mutations.

It is worth mentioning that the presence of ATM variant in P2 is associated with increased risk of CLL.

Somatic CALR type-2 mutation was identified in 3 ET (nonmutated JAK2 or MPL) patients. This mutation is 5-bp TTGTC insertion in exon 9 that generates a mutant protein with a novel C-terminal (p.K385fs*47).

In patients & healthy individuals, a heterozygous germ-line mutation in exon 3 of the MPL gene (MPL P106L) has been observed. it has previously been described as a rare autosomal-dominant disorder. However, this mutation is considered to be frequent in Arabic populations, leading to severe thrombocytosis in homozygotes & occasionally to mild thrombocytosis in heterozygotes. In addition, several unreported variants of uncertain significance were identified.

Our preliminary results suggested that MPNs patients in Qatar have several potential disease- associated variants & mutations. Evidences show that there exists a possibility of the disease arising out of the accumulation of genetic alterations & not as the consequence of a single genetic-hit event. This could possibly be due to the high rate of consanguineous marriages in Qatar i.e. the "Founder Effect".

Our results recommended carrying out WES to explore & identify mutations which will be crucial to characterize many cases of MPNs with unknown molecular causes, gain a deep understanding of genotype-phenotype correlations & MPNs pathogenesis.