Relapsed Childhood High Hyperdiploid Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia: Genome-Wide Screening Reveals the Presence of Preleukemic Ancestral Clones and the Secondary Nature of Microdeletions and RTK-RAS Mutations.

Abstract 2591

Poster Board II-567

Although childhood high hyperdiploid acute lymphoblastic leukemia is associated with a favorable outcome, 20% relapse. This makes it important to identify these patients already at diagnosis to ensure proper risk-stratification. To identify changes associated with relapse and ascertain the genetic evolution patterns, SNP array and mutation analyses of FLT3, KRAS, NRAS, and PTPN11 were performed on 11 paired diagnostic/relapse samples. The “triples trisomies” +4, +10, and +17 were detected in 64%, a frequency similar to the one generally observed at diagnosis, thus questioning their favorable prognostic impact. Structural changes, mainly cryptic hemizygous deletions, were significantly more common at relapse (P<0.05). No single aberration was linked to relapse, but four deletions, involving IKZF1, PAX5, CDKN2A/B or AK3, were recurrent. Based on the genetic relationship between the paired samples, three groups were delineated: 1) identical genetic changes at diagnosis and relapse (18%), 2) clonal evolution with all changes at diagnosis being present at relapse (18%), and 3) clonal evolution with some changes conserved, lost or gained (64%), suggesting the presence of a preleukemic clone. This ancestral clone was characterized by numerical changes only, with structural changes and RTK-RAS mutations being secondary to the high hyperdiploid pattern and perhaps necessary for overt leukemia.