Presence Of Clonal Hematopoiesis Research Articles

Concomitant Occurrence of Polyclonal Hematopoiesis and Cell-Autonomous Megakaryopoiesis in Triple-Negative Essential Thrombocythemia

Somatic mutations in JAK2, MPL, and CALR are found in approximately 80% of patients with essential thrombocythemia (ET), whereas the remaining patients are negative for disease-defining mutations and are defined as triple-negative (TN). Studies have shown that some patients with TN-ET harbor non-canonical mutations in JAK2 and MPL; however, the failure to identify recurrent mutations in most patients has made the pathogenesis of TN-ET ambiguous (Milosevic Feenstra et al. Blood 2016, Cabagnols et al. Blood 2016). In this study, we screened 483 patients suspected as having ET in a single center, performed mutation analysis for JAK2 V617F, CALR exon 9, and MPL exon 10, and centrally reviewed bone marrow specimens. We identified 23 patients with TN-ET based on the WHO 2016 criteria. Sequencing analysis of these patients revealed non-canonical mutations in JAK2 and MPL in 4 cases. Whole exome-sequencing analysis of genomic DNA from peripheral blood and CD3-positive cells from 9 patients revealed that 2 patients harbored somatic mutations in other genes; 7 patients showed no detectable somatic mutation. A STAT5 reporter assay revealed that unlike JAK2 V617F and MPL W515L, all non-canonical mutants of JAK2 or MPL activated STAT5 similar to wild-type proteins, suggesting that these mutations did not drive the disease. Statistical analysis of clinical records revealed that patients with TN-ET were mostly young (median age of 36.0 years), female (18/23, 78.3%), and had neither a history of thrombosis nor progression to secondary myelofibrosis and leukemia, demonstrating the unique characteristics of TN-ET. The presence of clonal hematopoiesis, analyzed using genomic DNA purified from granulocytes of peripheral blood from female patients in a human androgen receptor assay, revealed that only 1 out of 15 patients was clonal. Hypothesizing that TN-ET was reactive thrombocytosis, the concentrations of cytokines promoting platelet production such as thrombopoietin (TPO) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in the serum were analyzed. However, no significant differences in concentrations were observed among ET with driver mutations, TN-ET, and healthy individuals. We next examined the capacity of hematopoietic stem cells from patients with TN-ET to form megakaryocytic colonies. CD34-positive cells purified from cryopreserved bone marrow cells were cultured in the absence or presence of TPO. CD34-positive cells derived from patients with TN-ET exhibited an equivalent capacity to form megakaryocytic colonies compared to those from patients with ET harboring a driver mutation, even in the absence of TPO (Figure 1). Thus, in TN-ET, megakaryopoiesis may have been induced in a cell-autonomous manner. In 10 patients with TN-ET with available blood count data, no sign of thrombocytosis was observed before ET development, indicating that thrombocytosis was not hereditary but rather occurred via an alternate mechanism, such as aberrations in epigenomic regulation that induced cellular transformation (Ohnishi et al, Cell 2015). Taken together, TN-ET is a distinctive disease entity associated with polyclonal hematopoiesis and paradoxically caused by hematopoietic stem cells harboring a capacity for cell-autonomous megakaryopoiesis. Figure 1 Disclosures Komatsu: Takeda Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, Novartis Pharma KK, Shire Japan KK: Speakers Bureau; PPMX: Consultancy, Research Funding; Meiji Seika Pharma Co., Ltd.: Patents & Royalties: PCT/JP2020/008434, Research Funding; AbbVie: Other: member of safety assessment committee in M13-834 clinical trial.; Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Shire Japan KK, Novartis Pharma KK, PharmaEssentia Japan KK, Fuso Pharmaceutical Industries, Ltd., Fujifilm Wako Pure Chemical Corporation, Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co., Ltd., Takeda Pharmaceutica: Research Funding; Otsuka Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., PharmaEssentia Japan KK, AbbVie GK, Celgene KK, Novartis Pharma KK, Shire Japan KK, Japan Tobacco Inc: Consultancy.

Evaluating the association between clonal hematopoiesis and germline pathogenic and likely pathogenic variants in cancer predisposition genes.

1535 Background: Clonal hematopoiesis (CH) is most commonly associated with mutations in genes with a known or putative role in leukemia and with an increased risk for hematologic malignancies. Nearly 50% of primary breast cancers contain leukocytes with CH mutations and CH mutations can be found in breast cancer (BC) tumor infiltrating leukocytes years prior to the development of secondary leukemia. It is currently not known whether CH is more prevalent among BC patients with both germline pathogenic variants and likely pathogenic variants (collectively referred to as PV) in cancer predisposition genes. Here we evaluated the relationship of CH to PV in 546 BC patients (pts). Methods: 546 BC pts underwent targeted capture sequencing of tumor and peripheral blood (PB) samples using MSK-IMPACT. Sequencing results from PB were used for identifying PV affecting up to 89 cancer predisposition genes and somatic mutations in 15 genes commonly associated with CH using previously validated methods. All pts consented via an IRB-approved protocol. Results: The majority (82.3%) of pts had non-metastatic disease. 59.7% of the 546 pts received chemotherapy and 42.7% received radiation. Of the 546 pts, 90 patients had germline PV in a cancer predisposition gene for a total of 98 germline PV identified (8 patients had 2 germline PV). Mutations in DNMT3A followed by TET2 were the most common CH mutations identified. CHEK2 PV were statistically significantly associated with CH in a multivariate analysis after controlling for age, prior chemotherapy and radiation therapy (OR: 3.94, CI: 1.51-10.26, p-value ≤0.005). Age by decade was significantly associated with the presence of CH in that model (OR: 1.93, CI: 1.53-2.42, p value ≤0.001). Of the 8 patients with CHEK2 germline PV and CH, the most common mutated CH genes were DNMT3A (4 pts), followed by TET2 (2 pts), although our sample size is too small to test for significant enrichment for any specific CH gene, type of CH mutation, or trinucleotide context. Further, CH was not associated with germline PV in other cancer predisposition genes. Conclusions: Our findings provide evidence of an association between CHEK2 germline PV with CH in BC pts, which will be further tested in an expanded cohort. If this association is confirmed, it might have theoretical and practical implications, including cancer prevention strategies.

Association of tumor mutations with arterial thromboembolism risk in patients with solid cancer.

e13537 Background: Patients with cancer have an increased risk of arterial thromboembolic events (ATE). Clinical characteristics such as medical comorbidities, cancer type, cancer stage and a history of smoking are established risk factors for ATE, but scant data exist about the effect of cancer-specific genomic alterations. We aimed to determine whether individual tumor mutations influence ATE risk. Methods: We performed a retrospective cohort study using tumor mutational data from adults with solid cancers who had MSK-IMPACT testing at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center between 2014 and 2016. MSK-IMPACT is an FDA-authorized DNA sequencing panel targeting 341+ oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes identifying mutations, copy number alterations, and gene fusions in solid malignancies. The primary ATE outcome was defined as ischemic stroke, myocardial infarction or coronary revascularization and detected by systematic electronic health record assessments. Patients were followed up to one year from the date of tissue-matched blood control sampling to the first ATE or death. We used Cox proportional hazards regression adjusting for age, cancer type, cytotoxic chemotherapy treatment (time-dependent) and tobacco use to determine hazard ratios (HR) of individual genes for ATE risk. We adjusted for multiple comparisons using the Benjamini-Hochberg method. Results: Among 11,317 patients, mean age was 59 years (SD = 14 years) and 55% were women. The most frequent cancers were lung (16%), breast (15%), and colorectal (10%), and 73% were metastatic. During a median follow-up of 253 days, 151 patients had an ATE (1.3%). In multivariable analysis, genomic alterations in KRAS (HR, 2.11; CI, 1.41-3.16), STK11 (HR, 2.62; 95% CI, 1.49-4.59), and ROS1 (HR, 5.3; 95% CI, 1.93-14.58) were independently associated with an increased risk of ATE. Presence of clonal hematopoiesis was not found to be associated with an increased risk of ATE in this cohort (HR, 0.96; 95% CI, 0.63-1.47). Conclusions: In a large genomic tumor-profiling registry of patients with solid cancers, alterations in KRAS, STK11, and ROS1 were associated with an increased risk of ATE independent of cancer type. [Table: see text]

Clonal hematopoiesis predicts development of therapy-related myeloid neoplasms post–autologous stem cell transplantation

AbstractTherapy-related myeloid neoplasms (tMN) develop after exposure to cytotoxic and radiation therapy, and due to their adverse prognosis, it is of paramount interest to identify patients at high risk. The presence of clonal hematopoiesis has been shown to increase the risk of developing tMN. The value of analyzing hematopoietic stem cells harvested at leukapheresis before autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) with next-generation sequencing and immunophenotyping represents potentially informative parameters that have yet to be discovered. We performed a nested case-control study to elucidate the association between clonal hematopoiesis, mobilization potential, and aberrant immunophenotype in leukapheresis products with the development of tMN after ASCT. A total of 36 patients with nonmyeloid disease who were diagnosed with tMN after treatment with ASCT were included as case subjects. Case subjects were identified from a cohort of 1130 patients treated with ASCT and matched with 36 control subjects who did not develop tMN after ASCT. Case subjects were significantly poorer mobilizers of CD34+ cells at leukapheresis (P = .016), indicating that these patients possess inferior bone marrow function. Both clonal hematopoiesis (odds ratio, 5.9; 95% confidence interval, 1.8-19.1; P = .003) and aberrant expression of CD7 (odds ratio, 6.6; 95% confidence interval, 1.6-26.2; P = .004) at the time of ASCT were associated with an increased risk of developing tMN after ASCT. In conclusion, clonal hematopoiesis, present at low variant allele frequencies, and aberrant CD7 expression on stem cells in leukapheresis products from patients with nonmyeloid hematologic cancer hold potential for the early identification of patients at high risk of developing tMN after ASCT.

Immune Sculpting of Clonal Hematopoiesis in Advanced and Metastatic Solid Tumors

Clonal hematopoiesis (CH) is described as the phenomenon where hematopoietic cells acquire advantageous somatic mutations that result in a dominant subclonal population. These subclones are linked to various adverse outcomes such as elevated risk of hematologic malignancies and cardiovascular disease. Few studies, however, address the presence and role of CH in clinically-relevant advanced and metastatic solid tumors or how progression of CH is altered via immune selection. Here, we identified and quantified CH mutations in 883 patients with 64 different advanced solid cancer subtypes. The age of patients ranged from 1 to 96, with the average age being 66.7 years. In this cohort, whole exome sequencing (WES) of tumor and matched peripheral blood was conducted through the Englander Institute of Precision Medicine. CH was identified through mutations in the peripheral blood that were absent in the tumor. Probable SNPs were filtered using population allele frequency data from the ExAC database. Tumor mutation burden (TMB) and microsatellite instability (MSI) scores were calculated for each patient. MHC Class I alleles for HLA types A, B, C were inferred for each patient based on WES. CH was identified in 12% of patients and 19 different solid advanced and metastatic cancer subtypes and was associated with increased age (P < 0.001). Cancer subtypes with the highest frequency of CH mutations were urothelial carcinoma, glioblastoma, adenocarcinoma, and transitional cell (urothelial) carcinoma. The most commonly mutated genes were DNMT3A, TET2, ASXL1, and BCOR1. We restricted further analysis to the most common CH genes: DNMT3A, TET2, and ASXL1. 60% of patients with CH had only one mutation, 13% had two mutations, and 4% had 3 or more mutations. When adjusting for covariates including tumor subtype and age, the presence of CH was suggestive of elevated MSI scores (P < 0.1) but did not impact TMB. We next sought to determine if MHC class impacted susceptibility to the emergence of CH. Fisher's exact test was used to identify associations between HLA alleles and the presence of CH. We identified MHC alleles conferring hyper-susceptibility to CH development by as much as 8-fold (OR 8.0, 95% C.I. 2.1 - 39.1, P < 0.001). We further identified 52 probable protective alleles. These data suggest that certain HLA alleles are significantly more permissive to CH development, while others may be protective against CH. Overall, our study is the first to systematically evaluate and suggest that patient-specific hyper-susceptibility HLA alleles impact evolutionary processes that underlie clonal sculpting leading to the emergence of CH. The presence of CH may also impact the evolution of co-occurring solid tumors, a hypothesis requiring further evaluation. This study indicates that MHC alleles and thus personal genetics place immunity-driven selective pressure for the emergence of CH, supporting the role of inherited determinants of CH. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Cell-Extrinsic Stressors from the Aging Bone Marrow (BM) Microenvironment Promote Dnmt3a-Mutant Clonal Hematopoiesis

Trowbridge: Fate Therapeutics: Patents & Royalties: patent license.

Abstract 3404: Landscape and genomic correlates of ctDNA-based tumor mutational burden across six solid tumor types

Abstract Background: Tumor mutational burden (TMB) has emerged as a predictive biomarker of response to immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy. Current panel-based TMB algorithms aggregate signal from certain types of somatic variants (e.g. non-synonymous coding SNVs); however, delineating the contributions of these and other types of mutations may refine TMB calculation from gene panels. Moreover, early studies suggest other possible genomic correlates of patient outcome to ICI which may be complementary to TMB. Here, we explore the landscape of mutations comprising TMB and other genomic features correlating with TMB on a subset of several thousand late-stage plasma samples run on GuardantOMNITM (OMNI), a highly sensitive 500-gene cfDNA sequencing platform. Methods: We developed a cfDNA-based TMB algorithm which is robust to variable tumor shedding levels and presence of clonal hematopoiesis. We assessed cfDNA-based TMB in over 1,000 plasma samples across six tumor types, including lung and prostate. We examine the contribution of nonsynonymous, synonymous, intronic SNVs, and indels to TMB score. We investigate correlations between TMB and additional genomic features, including chromosomal instability, loss of HLA-bearing chromosome 6p, microsatellite instability (MSI), and common oncogenic and resistance mutations. Results: We found that the distribution of WES-calibrated TMB scores across this cohort of samples is consistent with TCGA, with median 10 mutations/Mb and upper-tertile of 14 mutations/Mb across tumor types. The number of non-synonymous coding SNVs per sample correlated highly with synonymous coding SNV and intronic SNV counts (Pearson’s r > 0.7 for each). Including this additional signal in TMB calculation improves clinical sensitivity by up to 5%. In MSS samples, indels were highly correlated with SNVs, indicating that both likely arise from a similar underlying mechanism. We found no clear correlation between high TMB and chromosomal instability, with high TMB samples exemplifying a range of tumor ploidies. TMB association with oncogenic drivers is consistent with existing literature, with lower median TMB in EGFR-driven lung tumors (p < 0.01), but little to no correlation between TMB and KRAS or PIK3CA driver status, or STK11 loss of function (p > 0.05), suggesting these latter events could be independent clinical biomarkers to TMB. Conclusions: Panel-based TMB scores can leverage synonymous and non-coding mutations to strengthen the signal of exome-wide mutation load. As more patient outcome data becomes available, TMB algorithms and orthogonal biomarkers of tumor genome immunogenicity will evolve further for improved guidance of patient response to immunotherapy. Sequencing panels with high sensitivity for TMB, via large panel space, and the ability to detect copy-number variations and MSI-status, will be important for biomarker development and clinical applications. Citation Format: Katie Quinn, Elena Helman, Tracy Nance, Jennifer Yen, John Latham, Kristin Gleitsman, Ravi Vijaya-Satya, Carlo Artieri, Alex Artyomenko, Marcin Sikora, Darya Chudova, Richard B. Lanman, AmirAli Talasaz. Landscape and genomic correlates of ctDNA-based tumor mutational burden across six solid tumor types [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 3404.

Clinical impact of clonal hematopoiesis in acute myeloid leukemia patients receiving allogeneic transplantation.

Age-related somatic mutations linked to clonal hematopoiesis have been found in apparently healthy individuals and increase the risk of developing hematologic malignancies. In acute myeloid leukemia (AML) the clinical relevance of clonal hematopoiesis remains controversial and data on patients with detectable clonal hematopoiesis, consolidated with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation are limited. We analyzed samples from 113 AML patients in complete remission prior to hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for the presence of clonal hematopoiesis-associated mutations. The results were correlated with clinical and biological data. In complete remission we found 75 mutations previously linked to clonal hematopoiesis in 47 patients (41.6%). Twenty patients had ≥2 mutations linked to clonal hematopoiesis. DNMT3A, TET2, and ASXL1 were most frequently mutated. When compared to pre-treatment samples we found variable patterns of mutation persistence depending on the gene mutated. In AML patients after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation the presence of clonal hematopoiesis-associated mutations in complete remission did not associate with inferior clinical outcome. This study demonstrates that clonal hematopoiesis is a frequent phenomenon in AML patients. Presence of clonal hematopoiesis has nonegative prognostic impact in the context of an allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and might be beneficial if certain genes are affected.

Clinical Relevance of Clonal Hematopoiesis in the Oldest-Old Population: Analysis of the “Health and Anemia” Study

▪Background. Age-dependent clonal expansion of somatic mutations in the hematopoietic system is associated with an increased risk of hematological cancers (including myelodysplastic syndromes, MDS) and other illnesses (coronary heart disease and stroke). However, the presence of clonal hematopoiesis per se in a given individual has only limited predictive power. We hypothesized that the study of oldest-old population can define more specifically the relationship between mutations in the hematopoietic system and risk for MDS, inflammation and vascular diseases.Methods. We analyzed 1004 oldest-old subjects (median age 84.2y, range 80-105) included in the “Health and Anemia” population-based study [Haematologica 2010;95:1849]. Using peripheral blood DNA, we looked for somatic mutations in 47 genes recurrently mutated in hematologic cancers.Results. Clonal mutations were observed in 32.8% of individuals (range 1-5). The majority of variants occurred in 3 genes: DNMT3A (36.4%), TET2 (24.3%) and ASXL1 (6.5%). Mutations in splicing genes, PPM1D and TP53 were found in 7.4%, 5% and 2% of cases, respectively. The mutation frequencies increased with age, up to 50% in individuals aged over 90 years (P=.011). Clonal hematopoiesis was associated with a lower 5-y probability of survival (P=.03), and prognosis was even poorer in patients carrying ≥2 mutations (P=.002)We first focused on the relationship between clonal hematopoiesis and MDS phenotype. Carrying a somatic mutation with a variant allele frequency (VAF) ≥.10, carrying ≥2 mutations, spliceosome gene mutations and co-mutation patterns involving TET2, DNMT3A had a positive predictive value for MDS (from .85 to 1.0). The most frequent early phenotypic changes in patients who developed MDS included an increasing red blood cell distribution width (RDW) and mean corpuscular volume (MCV). Preliminary analyses suggested that the combination of mutations and non-mutational factors (RDW, MCV, after excluding iron/vitamin depletion and thalassemia) may improve the capability to capture individual risk of developing MDS with respect to molecular data alone (P=.01)We studied clonal evolution in 72 patients with multiple samples available over a period of 5y. Clonal hematopoiesis was found at baseline in 22 cases: 2 individuals acquired additional mutations during follow-up, and 5 displayed significant increase in VAF. In 9 subjects without clonal hematopoiesis, mutations were acquired during follow-up. RDW and MCV changes, induction of unexplained cytopenia and overt MDS phenotype were significantly restricted to subjects displaying clonal evolution.We hypothesized that in oldest-old populations MDS could be underdiagnosed (many patients are not considered for bone marrow aspiration because of age). Cytopenia was a common finding in our cohort (20%) the underlying cause remaining unexplained in 27% of cases. In patients with unexplained anemia, carrying a somatic mutation had a positive predictive value for persistent, progressive, multilineage cytopenia (findings consistent with a MDS phenotype) and shorter survival (from .8 to .94). On this basis, 8% of all cytopenias might be undiagnosed MDS.Finally, we investigated the association between clonal hematopoiesis with inflammatory and vascular diseases. Mutations in DNMT3A, TET2, and ASXL1 were each individually associated with risk of coronary heart disease and death, and preliminary analyses suggest that clonal hematopoiesis is also associated with increased risk of rheumatological diseases (P from .03 to.009). We identified mutations in macrophages isolated from synovial fluid of 4/17 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and from atherosclerotic plaques of 3/25 patients with carotid stenosis. Functional studies of macrophages (expression of specific chemokine and cytokine gene patterns) are ongoing.All these findings are under validation in an independent cohort of 800 subjects enrolled in the “Monzino 80-plus” study [Alzheimers Dement 2015;11:258]].Conclusion. Clonal hematopoiesis was associated with reduced survival in an oldest-old population. Specific mutational profiles define different risks of developing MDS and inflammatory/vascular diseases. Non mutational factors, such as early changes in red blood cell indices, may improve the capability to identify patients at increased risk of developing myeloid cancers. DisclosuresMeggendorfer:MLL Munich Leukemia Laboratory: Employment. Bolli:Celgene: Honoraria. Vassiliou:KYMAB: Consultancy, Equity Ownership; Celgene: Research Funding. Kern:MLL Munich Leukemia Laboratory: Employment, Equity Ownership. Haferlach:MLL Munich Leukemia Laboratory: Employment, Equity Ownership.

Clonal Evolution During Stress Hematopoiesis

Hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) acquire somatic mutations with age resulting in a heterogeneous cell population, with each HSPC possessing its own unique set of private mutations. HSPCs that acquire somatic mutations that confer a competitive fitness advantage relative to their normal counterparts may clonally expand. Indeed, several groups have documented the presence of clonal hematopoiesis in healthy individuals. Although originally thought to be limited to older individuals, a recent study using an ultra-sensitive sequencing technique showed that expanded hematopoietic clones are detectable in the majority of healthy 50-60-year-old individuals. With some notable exceptions, the same genes that are commonly mutated in clonal hematopoiesis also are somatically mutated in myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML). However, only a small fraction of individuals with clonal hematopoiesis subsequently develop a myeloid malignancy and the size of the mutant clone in clonal hematopoiesis can remain stable for years without disease progression. These observations raise several questions that will be addressed in this presentation. What drives expansion of hematopoietic clones? What role do external hematopoietic stressors, such as exposure to chemotherapy, play in the development of clonal hematopoiesis? Why do so few people with clonal hematopoiesis develop a myeloid malignancy, and are there certain mutations that confer a higher risk of transformation? Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

Abstract 2977: Most patients with acquired aplastic anemia develop clonal hematopoiesis early in disease

Abstract Clonal hematopoiesis is an expansion of hematopoietic stem cells, caused by somatic mutations or epigenetic changes that confer a growth advantage to the host cell. Although recently recognized as a phenomenon of aging, clonal hematopoiesis has been traditionally associated with pre-cancerous states and malignant transformation. Acquired aplastic anemia (AA), a non-neoplastic autoimmune blood disorder occurring in children and adults, has been associated with clonal hematopoietic disorders; transformation to myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) or acute leukemia is a late complication in 10-15% of AA patients. Based on the association of AA with clonal disorders, we hypothesized that clonal hematopoiesis is a general phenomenon in AA, and can be seen in the majority of AA patients, including children. To evaluate somatic genetic changes in AA, we used a combination of single nucleotide polymorphism array (SNP-A) genotyping and comparative whole exome sequencing of paired bone marrow aspirates and skin in twenty nine patients with AA. All somatic mutations were validated by bi-directional Sanger sequencing. The median age of diagnosis was 14 years (range 1.5-65). Patients were analyzed at a median of 1.1 years from diagnosis. None of the patients had histopathological evidence of MDS at the time of analysis. Somatic mutations were identified in the majority of patients, including patients with pediatric-onset AA. Three patients (10%) had somatic loss-of-function mutations in HLA class I alleles. Although MDS-associated mutations were identified in 2 of 29 patients, the majority of mutations were not in genes associated with MDS and hematologic malignancies. Pathway analysis of mutated genes revealed an enrichment of genes in pathways of immunity and transcriptional regulation. Comparison of somatic mutations in AA to a patient with a 30-year history of AA who progressed to MDS revealed that, unlike in AA, which was characterized by diverse and frequently oligoclonal hematopoiesis, progression to MDS was associated with an expansion of a dominant clone carrying multiple classical mutations linked to malignancy: pathogenic mutations in SUZ12 (homozygous for the mutated region due to copy number-neutral loss of heterozygosity (CN-LOH) at the chromosomal region 17q11.2qter), ASXL1, RUNX1, and PHF6. In conclusion, our data show that clonal hematopoiesis emerges in the majority of patients with AA, including children and young adults, can be detected early in disease, and has a mutational spectrum largely distinct from MDS. Our results highlight that in the absence of morphologic features of myelodysplasia, the presence of clonal hematopoiesis with somatic mutations cannot be used to distinguish MDS from AA. Future longitudinal studies of clonal hematopoiesis in AA will help to explain differences in patients’ disease course, and will enable personalized treatment approaches in AA. Citation Format: Daria V. Babushok, Nieves Perdigones, Juan C. Perin, Timothy S. Olson, Wenda Ye, Jacquelyn J. Roth, Curt Lind, Carine Cattier, Yimei Li, Helge Hartung, Michele E. Paessler, Dale M. Frank, Hongbo M. Xie, Tracy M. Busse, Shanna Cross, Gregory M. Podsakoff, Dimitrios Monos, Jaclyn A. Biegel, Philip J. Mason, Monica Bessler. Most patients with acquired aplastic anemia develop clonal hematopoiesis early in disease. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 2977. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-2977

Possibility of transformation of primary myelofibrosis to ALL without JAK2V617F mutation

In this letter, we wish to point out the possibility of transformation of myelofibrosis in acute lymphocytic leukemia without the presence of JAK2V617F mutation. Myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN) are hematologic malignant diseases characterized by a clonal proliferation of one or several lineages [1]. They represent a phenotypically diverse group of chronic myeloid malignancies that are characterized by the presence of clonal hematopoiesis and an excessive production of terminally differentiated myeloid blood cells. Typically, they include four main clinical entities: polycythemia vera (PV), essential thrombocythemia (ET), primary myelofibrosis (PMF), and chronic myeloid leukemia (CML). PV, ET, and PMF are usually subcategorized as bcr-abl-negative MPN. However, sporadic cases of bcr-abl-positive patients with transformation of primary myelofibrosis were reported but without JAK2V617F mutation [2]. The prevalence of JAK2V617F mutation [3] differs between various variants of MF with the higher detection rate for patients with post-PV MF (91 %) if compared to PMF (45 %) and post-ET MF (39 %). Some works emphasize the importance of the predictive role of JAK2V617F mutation for this transformation. JAK2V617F