Clinical characteristics and prognosis of RUNX1-RUNX1T1 fusion gene-positive with ASXL2 gene mutations in acute myeloid leukemia / 白血病·淋巴瘤

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the clinical characteristics and prognosis of patients with RUNX1-RUNX1T1 fusion gene-positive acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with ASXL2 gene mutation.Methods:The clinical data of 145 newly diagnosed RUNX1-RUNX1T1 fusion gene-positive AML patients treated at the Second Hospital Center of Shanxi Medical University from October 2010 to March 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. Sanger sequencing was used to detect the gene mutation. According to the presence or absence of ASXL2 gene mutation, the patients were divided into mutation group and non-mutation group. The clinical characteristics, gene mutations and prognosis were compared among the two groups.Results:Among 145 AML patients with positive RUNX1-RUNX1T1 fusion gene, we identified recurrent mutations of c-kit, ASXL2, N/KRAS, FLT3, ASXL1, TET2, NPM1 and DNMT3A genes, with mutation rates of 40.7% (59/145), 20.7% (30/145), 15.9% (23/145), 12.4% (18/145), 11.7% (17/145), 11.0% (16/145), 5.5% (8/145), and 2.1% (3/145), respectively. A total of 18 mutation sites were detected in 30 patients with ASXL2 gene mutations including 5 point mutations and 13 frameshift mutations, which mainly occured in the exons 12 and 13. Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) at initial diagnosis of 30 AML patients with ASXL2 mutation was lower than that of those with ASXL2 non-mutation ( Z = 2.34, P = 0.020), while prothrombin time (PT) of AML patients with ASXL2 mutation was longer than that of those with ASXL2 non-mutation ( Z = 1.99, P = 0.047). A total of 21 (21/30, 70%) patients simultaneously had other gene mutations. The incidence of RAS mutations in patients with ASXL2 mutation was higher than that those with ASXL2 non-mutation, and the difference was statistically significant [30.0% (9/30) vs. 12.1% (14/115), χ2 = 4.41, P = 0.036]. There were no statistically significant differences in complete remission rate [86.7% (26/30) vs. 74.8% (86/115)] and recurrence rate [43.3% (13/30) vs.31.3% (36/115)] of patients with ASXL2 mutation and ASXL2 non-mutation ( χ2 = 0.39, P = 0.534; χ2 = 0.54, P = 0.432). The median overall survival (OS) time was 26 months (1-135 months) and 30 months (1-120 months), respectively in patients with ASXL2 mutation and ASXL2 non-mutation; the median disease-free survival (DFS) time was 14 months (0-60 months) and 13 months (0-94 months), respectively in patients with ASXL2 mutation and ASXL2 non-mutation; and the differences in OS and DFS were not statistically significant of both groups ( χ2 = 0.05, P = 0.822; χ2 = 0.34, P = 0.562). Compared with ASXL1 mutant patients, cases with ASXL2 mutation had higher OS and DFS rates, and the differences were statistically significant ( P = 0.003, P = 0.007). The differences in OS and DFS between patients with ASXL2 mutations and those with positive mutations of c-kit, RAS, FLT3, TET2, NPM1, DNMT3A were not statistically significant (all P > 0.05). Conclusions:RUNX1-RUNX1T1 positive AML patients with ASXL2 mutation tend to have low LDH and high PT, and often coexist with RAS mutations, and their prognosis is better than that in patients with ASXL1 positive mutation.