Donor KIR2DS1 reduces the risk of transplant related mortality in HLA-C2 positive young recipients with hematological malignancies treated by myeloablative conditioning.

BACKGROUND: Recognition of HLA-C2 group alleles on recipient cells by activating killer immunoglobulin like receptors, KIR2DS1 on donor natural killer cells may lead to increased graft-versus-leukemia effect or immunomodulation in patients treated by allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) influencing disease free and overall survival (OS). OBJECTIVE: In the present study, 314 consecutive, allo-HSCT recipient and donor pairs were included with retrospective donor KIR-genotyping and clinical parameters analyzes. RESULTS: After a median follow-up of 23.6 months, recipients with HLA-C2 group allele (rC2) showed improved (p = 0.046) OS if transplanted with KIR2DS1 positive donors (d2DS1) compared to those without one or both of this genetic attribute. Within the myeloablative conditioning (MAC) subgroup (n = 227), rC2 homozygous+d2DS1 patients (n = 14) showed a 5 years OS of 93% followed by rC2 heterozygous+d2DS1 patients (n = 48, 65%) compared to rC2 and/or d2DS1 negatives (47%, p = 0.018). Multivariate analyses indicated rC2+d2DS1 positivity as an independent predictor of OS (HR:0.47, 0.26-0.86, p = 0.014) besides donor type, presence of CMV-reactivation or chemoresistant disease. Among MAC-treated patients, the combined rC2+d2DS1 presence was associated with a markedly decreased cumulative incidence of transplant related mortality (p = 0.0045). CONCLUSION: The combination of rC2+d2DS1 may be a favorable genetic constellation in allo-HSCT with MAC potentially reducing transplant related mortality.

The adverse effect of FOPNL genomic variant is reversed by bortezomib-based treatment protocols in multiple myeloma.

Fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 oncogene partner N-terminal like gene (FOPNL) rs72773978 polymorphism was identified as an adverse prognostic factor in multiple myeloma (MM). We aimed to investigate the associations of rs72773978 with clinical characteristics and treatment outcome in 373 Hungarian MM patients. In our cohort, FOPNL polymorphism showed differential prognostic effect that depended on the treatment applied. Among patients treated with non-proteasome inhibitor (PI)-based therapy, carriership of the minor allele was significantly associated with adverse overall survival (p=.022). In contrast, the adverse effect was overcome by the application of PI-containing treatment (p=.048). Multivariate analyses revealed the independent adverse effect of rs72773978 on survival in the non-PI-treated group (p=.045), but not in PI treatment (OS: p=.093). We confirmed the adverse prognostic effect of rs72773978 associated with non-PI-based treatment regimens. Our results point to the importance of genotypic prognostic information associated with complex clinical background MM.

Sex-specific survival difference in association with HLA-DRB1∗04 following allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation for lymphoid malignancies.

The role of HLA system in allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) outcome is unarguable. In this study we investigated association of HLA-A,-B and-DRB1 alleles with overall survival (OS) in 186 patients undergoing allo-HSCT for lymphoid malignancies. Analyses confirmed significantly better OS for HLA-DRB1∗04 carriers compared with non-carriers (p = 0.01). Survival benefit was confined to male patients (in multivariate analyses p = 0.034, hazard ratio 0.35, 95% confidence interval 0.13-0.92), whereas in females no difference was noted (p = 0.82). Furthermore, donor gender also affected outcome and transplantation from female HLA-DRB1∗04 carrier donors resulted in superior survival compared with female non-carrier donors (p = 0.01). Combined analyses including recipient/donor gender and HLA-DRB1∗04 showed that survival of male patients varied significantly according to donor gender and HLA-DRB1∗04 carriership (p = 0.04) with best survival among HLA-DRB1∗04 carriers transplanted from female donors. Of relevance to our results, HLA-DRB1∗04 has been documented as risk allele group for lymphoid malignancies, and studies described a male-specific risk. We believe that our findings provide further supporting evidence for sex-specific alterations secondary to HLA-DRB1∗04 or related genes. Further studies are warranted to evaluate whether in contrast to general favour of male donors HLA-DRB1∗04 carrier patients with lymphoid malignancies could benefit from transplantation from female donors.

Proteasome Subunit Beta Type 1 P11A Polymorphism Is a New Prognostic Marker in Multiple Myeloma.

BACKGROUND: Proteasome subunit beta type 1 (PSMB1) rs12717 polymorphism, a single nucleotide polymorphism with unknown functional effect, was recently reported to influence response to bortezomib-based therapy in follicular lymphoma. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the prognostic impact of this polymorphism in 211 consecutively diagnosed multiple myeloma cases, and performed in vitro experiments to look into its functional consequences. RESULTS: On univariate analysis, patients carrying the variant G allele showed significantly shorter progression-free survival (PFS) with a pattern suggestive of a gene-dose effect (PFS 26.4, 22.3, and 16.4 months in C/C, C/G, and G/G patients, respectively, P = .002). On multivariate analysis, carrying the G/G genotype was a significant independent risk factor for relapse (hazard ratio [HR] 2.29, P < .001) with a similar trend in C/G carriers (HR 1.33, P = .097) when compared with the major allele carrier C/C cohort. Our subsequent in vitro analyses demonstrated significantly reduced protease activity in proteasomes of individuals with G/G genotype compared with that of C/C carriers, despite that PSMB1 expression and proteasome assembly remained unaltered. Bortezomib exhibited a lower inhibitory capacity on the caspase- and trypsin-like activity of proteasomes from G/G individuals. CONCLUSION: Our results show that carriership of PSMB1 rs12717 minor allele is predictive for suboptimal response with bortezomib treatment, which could be explained by less active proteasomes that are less sensitive to bortezomib, and myeloma cells consequently relying on other escape mechanisms to cope with the abundance of misfolded proteins.

Recipient and donor JAK2 46/1 haplotypes are associated with acute graft-versus-host disease following allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Several genetic polymorphisms have been implicated to affect the outcome of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). The role of cytokines in acute graft-versus-host disease (aGvHD) is well established and many of the involved cytokines signal through the Janus kinase (JAK) pathways. In this study, we assessed the association of recipient and donor JAK2 46/1 haplotypes and allo-HSCT outcome in a cohort of 124 acute myeloid leukemia patients. Both, recipient and donor 46/1 haplotypes significantly affected aGvHD grades II-IV development (p = 0.006 and p = 0.031, respectively), furthermore the influence of the haplotypes seemed to be additive. In multivariate analyses the recipient haplotype remained independently related (p = 0.012) to aGvHD, while the donor not (p = 0.08). We observed significantly less relapses among haplotype carriers (p = 0.004), but overall survival did not differ (p = 0.732). Our findings suggest that recipient and donor JAK2 46/1 haplotypes might be involved in the regulation of aGvHD.

Co-occurrence of Myeloproliferative Neoplasms and Solid Tumors Is Attributed to a Synergism Between Cytoreductive Therapy and the Common TERT Polymorphism rs2736100.

BACKGROUND: The germline telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) rs2736100_C variant was identified as a susceptibility factor for a variety of solid tumors and recently for myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN). METHODS: LightCycler melting curve analysis was applied to detect risk alleles of TERT rs2736100_C and Janus kinase 2 (JAK2) rs12343867_C tagging 46/1 haplotype in 584 BCR-ABL1-negative MPN, 308 acute, and 86 chronic myeloid leukemia (AML and CML) patients and 400 healthy individuals. RESULTS: TERT rs2736100_C showed an increased allele frequency in BCR-ABL1-negative MPN patients compared with controls (62.7%±2.8% vs. 48.8%±3.5%, P < 0.0001) regardless of molecular background or disease type, but not in CML or AML. Combined TERT and JAK2 hetero- or homozygosity conferred even higher risk for classic MPN. Common complications (thrombosis, myelofibrosis, or leukemia) were not associated with the TERT variant; however, adverse survival was noted in TERT variant carrier polycythemia vera patients. MPN patients with the TERT CC genotype had a higher probability (44.4%) to die from solid tumors compared with TERT AC/AA individuals (5.3%; P = 0.004). TERT rs2736100_C carriers had increased risk of solid tumors independently from cytoreductive treatment [3.08 (1.03-9.26), P = 0.045]. CONCLUSIONS: TERT rs2736100_C polymorphism predisposes to the development of BCR-ABL1-negative MPN with the co-occurrence of solid tumors, especially with the usage of cytoreductive treatment. IMPACT: The high frequency of TERT variant in the classic MPN population highlights the importance of the avoidance of long-term cytoreductive treatment in MPN patients.