Clonal evolution in relapsed NPM1 mutated acute myeloid leukemia

Mutations in the nucleophosmin 1 (NPM1) gene are considered as a founder event in the pathogenesis of acute myeloid leukemia (AML). To address the role of clonal evolution in relapsed NPM1 mutated (NPM1mut) AML, we applied high-resolution genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array profiling to detect copy number alterations (CNA) and uniparental disomies (UPD) and performed comprehensive gene mutation screening in 53 paired bone marrow/peripheral blood samples obtained at diagnosis and relapse. At diagnosis, 15 aberrations (CNAs, n=10; UPDs, n=5) were identified in 13 patients (25%), whereas at relapse 56 genomic alterations (CNAs, n=46; UPDs, n=10) were detected in 29 patients (55%) indicating an increase in genomic complexity. Recurrent aberrations acquired at relapse included deletions affecting tumor suppressor genes [ETV6 (n=3), TP53 (n=2), NF1 (n=2), WT1 (n=3), FHIT (n=2)] and homozygous FLT3 mutations acquired via UPD13q (n=7). DNMT3A mutations (DNMT3Amut) showed the highest stability (97%). Persistence of DNMT3Amut in 5 patients who lost NPM1mut at relapse suggests that DNMT3Amut may precede NPM1mut in AML pathogenesis. Of note, all relapse samples shared at least one genetic aberration with the matched primary AML sample implying common ancestral clones. In conclusion, our study reveals novel insights into clonal evolution in NPM1mut AML. Bone marrow or peripheral blood samples from diagnosis, remission and relapse of 53 NPM1 mutated AML patient were analyzed on the Affymetrix Genome-Wide Human SNP 6.0 Array. Raw data (CEL-Files) were transformed to genotyping files (CHP) with Genotyping Console Version 4.2 from Affymetrix. Bioinformatic evaluation of CNAs was performed using dChipSNP and circular binary segmentation .