Disruption of TP53 function by Point Mutations and Deletions Is Associated with An Increased Risk of Disease Progression within Previously Treated, Relapsed Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia Patients

Abstract ²⁴⁴⁵

Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) patients with a deletion of the TP53 tumor supressor gene located at 17p13 have a poor prognosis in first line chemotherapy regimens. Recent studies indicated somatic TP53 mutations as a prognostic factor in CLL independent of 17p13 deletion status. We aimed to further characterize the prognostic value and the impact of TP53 mutations on progression-free survival (PFS) in the presence and absence of a 17p13 deletion in previously treated and relapsed CLL patients within an international phase III clinical study comparing Fludarabine and Cyclophosphamide with or without Rituximab (FC versus R-FC: REACH trial).

We analyzed 457 patients at diagnosis for mutations in the TP53 gene using a combination of a microarray-based resequencing assay (AmpliChip p53 Test, Roche Molecular Systems, USA.) and Sanger sequencing of TP53 exons 2–10. The data were correlated with clinical and biologic markers as well as with interphase fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and with PFS. Association of the clinical data with PFS was assessed by Cox proportional hazard models. To estimate the functional significance of the individual TP53 mutations we used the IARC TP53 database.

TP53 mutations (n=60) were detected in 52 of 457 patients (11.4%) and included 42 missense, 4 nonsense, 8 frameshift mutations, 2 in-frame deletions and 4 mutations in splice sites. Among other clinical variables, only 17p13 deletion was associated with TP53 mutations: 27 of 52 TP53 mutated patients had a 17p13 deletion (concordance rate: 52%, Fisher's test p<0.001). Median PFS for patients with TP53 mutations (n=52, 13 months, HR=1.9 (1.4–2.7), p<0.001) was significantly shorter as compared to patients without TP53 mutations (n=480, 27 months). In a sub-group analysis, chemoimmunotherapy including Rituximab did not significantly improve the PFS of patients with TP53 mutations. Multivariate analysis including treatment arm, Binet stage, age, IGVH mutational status, 17p13 deletion and TP53 mutation status confirmed TP53 mutation status (HR-TP53=1.7 (1.1–2.6), p=0.009) as a prognostic factor for PFS independent of 17p13 deletion status (HR-17p=1.7 (1.1–2.7), p=0.024) and with a similar effect size. The other independent prognostic factors were treatment (HR=0.61 (0.48–0.76), p<0.001), Binet stage (HR=1.64 (1.3–2.1), p<0.001) and IGVH mutational status (HR=2.4 (1.85–3.1), p<0.001). To further dissect the contribution of TP53 mutation and 17p13 deletion on PFS, we considered a multivariate analysis comparing patients with both TP53 mutation and 17p13 deletion (n=28), with only 17p13 deletion (n=9), with a dominant negative TP53 mutation or multiple TP53 mutations (n=8) or with a single TP53 mutation (n=16) against patients without TP53 abnormalities (n=271), adjusted for treatment, Binet stage, age and IGVH mutational status. Patients with a predicted biallelic disruption of TP53 either by a TP53 mutation in combination with a 17p13 deletion (HR: 2.8 (1.8,4.2), p=<0.001) or patients with a dominant negative TP53 mutation as predicted by the IARC TP53 database or multiple TP53 mutations (HR=3.26 (1.5,7.1), p=0.003) had a risk similar in size and which was quite high for disease progression (the reference to calculate the risk, here and in the following, is always the group of patients without TP53 abnormalities). The risk slightly decreased for patients with only a deletion 17p13 (HR=2.2, (1.1–4.3), p=0.021). Very interestingly, single TP53 mutations showed a much lower risk for disease progression (in this case not even significant) (HR=1.61 (0.9–2.8), p=0.084) especially compared to the risk conferred by a biallelic disruption.

In this large cohort of previously treated CLL patients, complete disruption of TP53 function (by a combination of a 17p13 deletion and a TP53 mutation, through dominant negative TP53 mutations or through multiple TP53 mutations) was associated with a higher risk for disease progression. Prognosis of patients with a single TP53 mutation was not significantly different from patients without TP53 aberrations. It remains to be shown whether CLL patients with a single TP53 mutation are at a higher risk of acquiring additional mutations of TP53 during disease progression. Prognostic stratification of previously treated CLL patients should include a routine molecular TP53 mutational analysis in addition to deletion analysis of the TP53 locus by FISH.