Digital PCR can provide improved BCR-ABL1 detection in chronic myeloid leukemia patients in deep molecular response and sensitivity of standard quantitative methods using EAC assays.

BCR-ABL1 molecular detection using quantitative PCR (qPCR) methods is the golden standard of chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) monitoring. However, due to variable sensitivity of qPCR assays across laboratories, alternative methods are tested. Digital PCR (dPCR) has been suggested as a robust and reproducible option. Here we present a comparison of droplet dPCR with routinely used reverse-transcription qPCR (RT-qPCR) and automated GeneXpert systems. Detection limit of dPCR was above 3 BCR-ABL1 copies, although due to background amplification the resulting sensitivity was 0.01% BCR-ABL1 (MR4.0). Nevertheless, in comparison with GeneXpert, dPCR categorized more than 50% of the patients into different MR groups, showing a potential for improved BCR-ABL1 detection.

Clonal hierarchy of main molecular lesions in acute myeloid leukaemia.

Genetic mutations in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) are assumed to occur in a sequential order; however, the predominant hierarchical roles of specific mutated genes have not been fully described. In this study, we aimed to determine the clonal involvement of the most frequent AML-associated mutations. Using a targeted sequencing panel for 18 genes, we traced changes and relative clonal contribution of mutations in 52 patients. We analysed 35 pairs of diagnosis and relapse samples, 27 pairs of primary samples and corresponding patient-derived xenografts, and 34 pairs of total leukocytes and corresponding isolated primitive cells or blast populations. In both relapse and xenografts, we observed conservation of main leukaemic clones and variability was limited to subclones with late-acquired mutations. AML evolution thus mainly involved modification of subclones while the clonal background remained unchanged. NPM1 mutations were identified as the most probable leukaemia-transformation lesion, remaining conserved in contrast to high variation of accompanying subclonal FLT3 and NRAS mutations. DNMT3A mutations represented the most stable mutations forming a preleukaemic background in most samples. Mutations in genes IDH1/2, TET2, RUNX1, ASXL1 and U2AF1 were detected both as preleukaemic and as subclonal lesions, suggesting a non-specific order of acquisition.

Prognostic significance of mutation profile at diagnosis and mutation persistence during disease remission in adult acute myeloid leukaemia patients.

In this multi-centre study, we analysed the prognostic impact of mutations in 19 genes associated with myeloid malignancies in 258 newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukaemia patients (aged 19-70 years) undergoing intensive therapy. We identified five patient groups with different prognostic risks and different benefits from allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (alloHSCT) within the intermediate cytogenetic risk group patients (n = 184). The most adverse prognosis was observed in patients with DNMT3A and FLT3-ITD co-mutation, whose survival could be significantly improved with alloHSCT. In contrast, the most favourable prognosis without any further benefit from alloHSCT was identified in patients with mutations in NPM1 or CEBPA, after exclusion of the unfavourable prognostic groups defined by mutations in DNMT3A, RUNX1 or genes from chromatin/spliceosome group. An additional analysis of 113 diagnosis-remission paired samples revealed that persistence of non-DNMT3A mutations (above 2% VAF) represented a further negative prognostic factor. The proposed model offers a possible molecular stratification and treatment guidance for intermediate cytogenetic risk group patients.

The influence of mutational status and biological characteristics of acute myeloid leukemia on xenotransplantation outcomes in NOD SCID gamma mice.

PURPOSE: This study aimed at analyzing the association of gene mutations and other acute myeloid leukemia (AML) characteristics with engraftment outcomes in immunodeficient mice and to select the engraftment outcomes that best reflect patient survival. METHODS: Mutations in 19 genes as well as leukemia- and patient-related characteristics were analyzed for a group of 47 de novo AML samples with respect to three engraftment outcomes: engraftment ability, engraftment intensity (percentage of hCD45+ cells) and engraftment latency. Leukemia-related characteristics were additionally analyzed in an extended group of 68 samples that included the 47 de novo samples, and additional 21 samples from refractory and relapsed cases. Engraftment outcomes were compared with overall and event-free survival of the patients. RESULTS: For the 47 de novo samples, no single mutation influenced engraftment, whereas the NPM1 mut /DNMT3A mut co-mutation was associated with higher engraftment ability. NPM1 mut /FLT3-ITD neg had lower engraftment intensity. Among leukemia-related characteristics, a complex karyotype was associated with higher engraftment intensity. Among patient-related characteristics, higher cytogenetic risk was associated with higher engraftment intensity, and failure to achieve clinical remission was associated with shorter engraftment latency. In the extended group of 68 samples, white blood count was associated with higher engraftment ability, and the presence of a complex karyotype was associated with higher engraftment intensity. Association with patient overall survival was seen only for engraftment intensity. CONCLUSIONS: The engraftment of AML was influenced by mutation-interactions and other AML characteristics, rather than by single mutated genes, and engraftment intensity best reflected clinical penetrance of AML.

Improved minimal residual disease detection by targeted quantitative polymerase chain reaction in Nucleophosmin 1 type a mutated acute myeloid leukemia.

Multicolor flow cytometry (MFC) and real-time quantitative PCR (RQ-PCR) are important independent techniques to determine minimal residual disease (MRD) in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). MFC is the standard method, but may be unreliable. Therefore, MFC-based determination of MRD with an RQ-PCR-based approach targeting the nucleophosmin 1 (NPM1) type A mutation was set out to compare. Since most current NPM1 RQ-PCR MRD protocols suffer from clear definitions of quantifiability, we sought to define quantifiability in a reproducible and standardized manner. The limit of quantifiability of our RQ-PCR protocol for the NPM1 type A mutation varied between 0.002% and 0.04% residual leukemic cells depending on the features of the standard curve for each PCR experiment. The limit of detection was close to 0.001% leukemic cells. The limit of detection by MFC ranged from 0.01% to 1% depending on the phenotype of the leukemic cells as compared with non-leukemic bone marrow cells. Forty-five MRD samples from 15 patients using both NPM1 mutation specific RQ-PCR and MFC were analyzed. In 32 of the 45 samples (71%), an MRD-signal could be detected with RQ-PCR. A quantifiable NPM1 mutation signal was found in 15 samples (33%) (range 0.003%-2.6% leukemic cells). By contrast, only two follow-up samples (4%) showed residual leukemic cells (0.04% and 0.3%, respectively) by MFC. Thus, RQ-PCR of the NPM1 type A mutation was more sensitive and reliable than MFC for determination of MRD, which might have clinical implications. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Quantitative assessment of the CD26+ leukemic stem cell compartment in chronic myeloid leukemia: patient-subgroups, prognostic impact, and technical aspects.

Little is known about the function and phenotype of leukemic stem cells (LSCs) in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) or about specific markers that discriminate LSCs from normal hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). CD26 has recently been described as a specific marker of CML LSCs. In the current study, we investigated this marker in a cohort of 31 unselected CML patients. BCR/ABL1 positivity was analyzed in highly enriched stem cell fractions using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR). The proportion of CD26+ LSCs and CD26- HSCs varied considerably among the patients analyzed, and the percentage of CD26+ cells correlated with leukocyte count. The CD26 expression robustly discriminated LSCs from HSCs. This required a strict gating of the stem cell compartment. Thus, in patients with very low LSC or HSC numbers, only the highly sensitive RT-PCR method discriminated between clonal and non-clonal cells, while a robust FISH analysis required larger numbers of cells in both compartments. Finally, our data show that the numbers of CD26+ CML LSCs correlate with responses to treatment with BCR-ABL1 inhibitors.

Distribution of mutations in DNMT3A gene and the suitability of mutations in R882 codon for MRD monitoring in patients with AML.

The DNA methyl-transferase 3A gene (DNMT3A) is the third most frequently mutated gene in cytogenetically normal acute myeloid leukemia (CN-AML) patients (20-30 %), who belong to a group of patients with intermediate risk. About 60 % of mutations in this gene have been identified in the arginine codon R882. To date, there is no consensus on whether these mutations can be used as biomarkers for monitoring of minimal residual disease and management of preemptive AML therapy. We studied the occurrence of mutations in the DNMT3A gene in our cohort of patients and their persistence during AML treatment. Using next-generation sequencing, we identified four mutations in 11/25 of our analyzed patients--frequent R882C and R882H mutations, rare Y735S mutation, and a novel L347P mutation. Mutation R882C was detected in 5/11, R882H in 4/11 patients, and Y735S and L347P in one patient each. In 4/7 patients initially carrying mutations in the R882 codon, we found the persistence of mutations also during complete remission with, however, no correlation to AML kinetics. Our findings suggest that mutations in the DNMT3A gene can only be used as a biomarker for those AML patients in whom DNMT3A mutation is lost after therapy.

Identification of atypical ATRNL1 insertion to EML4-ALK fusion gene in NSCLC.

We herein present a rare case of an EML4-ALK positive patient. A 61-year-old man was diagnosed with locoregional non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). No EGFR mutations were detected, and therefore the ALK rearrangement was evaluated using immunohistochemistry (IHC), fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and the reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) method for EML4-ALK. All methods showed a positive result and, therefore, the patient was treated with crizotinib with a good therapeutic response. However, a detailed RT-PCR analysis and sequencing revealed an unexpected 138 bp insertion of attractin-like 1 (ATRNL1) gene into the EML4-ALK fusion gene. In our case, the positive therapeutic response suggests that ATRNL1 insertion does not affect EML4-ALK's sensitivity to crizotinib. This case shows great EML4-ALK heterogeneity and also that basic detection methods (IHC, FISH) cannot fully specify ALK rearrangement but in many cases a full specification seems to be important for an effective TKI indication, and sequencing ALK variants might contribute to optimized patient selection.

Detecting human cytomegalovirus drug resistant mutations and monitoring the emergence of resistant strains using real-time PCR.

BACKGROUND: Antiviral resistance development is a serious complication of human cytomegalovirus virostatic therapy caused by mutations in UL 97 and/or UL54 genes. OBJECTIVES: To determinate the presence of sensitive and resistant strains in patients developing antiviral resistance. STUDY DESIGN: We used three different molecular biological methods for mutation analysis-restriction fragment length polymorphism, sequencing and real-time PCR approach. RESULTS: We describe three allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplant patients developing the GCV resistant HCMV strains manifested by virostatic treatment failure. In these patients we identified UL97 mutations L595S, A594V and A594T and monitored the dynamics of coexisted sensitive/resistant strains. We confirmed the presence of mixed HCMV populations and in two patients a phenomenon of sensitive strain repopulation which occurred after 6.5 months and 1 month after removing GCV pressure. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show changes in proportions of sensitive/resistant subpopulations over time but other studies would be required to demonstrate the beneficial impact of their monitoring on clinical outcome.

TaqMan based real time PCR assay targeting EML4-ALK fusion transcripts in NSCLC.

OBJECTIVES: Lung cancer with the ALK rearrangement constitutes only a small fraction of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, in the era of molecular-targeted therapy, efficient patient selection is crucial for successful treatment. In this context, an effective method for EML4-ALK detection is necessary. We developed a new highly sensitive variant specific TaqMan based real time PCR assay applicable to RNA from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tissue (FFPE). MATERIALS AND METHODS: This assay was used to analyze the EML4-ALK gene in 96 non-selected NSCLC specimens and compared with two other methods (end-point PCR and break-apart FISH). RESULTS: EML4-ALK was detected in 33/96 (34%) specimens using variant specific real time PCR, whereas in only 23/96 (24%) using end-point PCR. All real time PCR positive samples were confirmed with direct sequencing. A total of 46 specimens were subsequently analyzed by all three detection methods. Using variant specific real time PCR we identified EML4-ALK transcript in 17/46 (37%) specimens, using end-point PCR in 13/46 (28%) specimens and positive ALK rearrangement by FISH was detected in 8/46 (17.4%) specimens. Moreover, using variant specific real time PCR, 5 specimens showed more than one EML4-ALK variant simultaneously (in 2 cases the variants 1+3a+3b, in 2 specimens the variants 1+3a and in 1 specimen the variant 1+3b). In one case of 96 EML4-ALK fusion gene and EGFR mutation were detected. All simultaneous genetic variants were confirmed using end-point PCR and direct sequencing. CONCLUSION: Our variant specific real time PCR assay is highly sensitive, fast, financially acceptable, applicable to FFPE and seems to be a valuable tool for the rapid prescreening of NSCLC patients in clinical practice, so, that most patients able to benefit from targeted therapy could be identified.

Complex patterns of chromosome 11 aberrations in myeloid malignancies target CBL, MLL, DDB1 and LMO2.

Exome sequencing of primary tumors identifies complex somatic mutation patterns. Assignment of relevance of individual somatic mutations is difficult and poses the next challenge for interpretation of next generation sequencing data. Here we present an approach how exome sequencing in combination with SNP microarray data may identify targets of chromosomal aberrations in myeloid malignancies. The rationale of this approach is that hotspots of chromosomal aberrations might also harbor point mutations in the target genes of deletions, gains or uniparental disomies (UPDs). Chromosome 11 is a frequent target of lesions in myeloid malignancies. Therefore, we studied chromosome 11 in a total of 813 samples from 773 individual patients with different myeloid malignancies by SNP microarrays and complemented the data with exome sequencing in selected cases exhibiting chromosome 11 defects. We found gains, losses and UPDs of chromosome 11 in 52 of the 813 samples (6.4%). Chromosome 11q UPDs frequently associated with mutations of CBL. In one patient the 11qUPD amplified somatic mutations in both CBL and the DNA repair gene DDB1. A duplication within MLL exon 3 was detected in another patient with 11qUPD. We identified several common deleted regions (CDR) on chromosome 11. One of the CDRs associated with de novo acute myeloid leukemia (P=0.013). One patient with a deletion at the LMO2 locus harbored an additional point mutation on the other allele indicating that LMO2 might be a tumor suppressor frequently targeted by 11p deletions. Our chromosome-centered analysis indicates that chromosome 11 contains a number of tumor suppressor genes and that the role of this chromosome in myeloid malignancies is more complex than previously recognized.

Evaluation of 5-year imatinib treatment of 458 patients with CP-CML in routine clinical practice and prognostic impact of different BCR-ABL cutoff levels.

We evaluated responses to the treatment and long-term outcomes of chronic myeloid leukemia patients treated with imatinib as first-line treatment in routine clinical setting from two countries with centralized tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) treatment. We assessed prognostic significance of European LeukemiaNet (ELN) 2006- and 2009-defined responses and the prognostic value of molecular responses at defined time points on 5-year survivals. Among the cumulative rates of incidence of hematologic, cytogenetic, and molecular responses and all important survival parameters, we evaluated the prognostic significance of different BCR-ABL transcript-level ratios (≤1%; >1%-≤10%; >10%) at 3, 6, 12, and 18 months (n = 199). The ELN optimal response criteria and their predictive role were significantly beneficial for event-free survival at all given time points. We found significant improvement in survivals of patients with BCR-ABL lower than 10% in the 6th and 12th months. Significantly better outcome was found in patients who achieved major molecular response (MMR) in the 12th month. The cumulative incidences of complete cytogenetic response (CCyR) and MMR were significantly associated with the molecular response in the 3rd month. The ELN response criteria and their predictive role were helpful at given time points; however, the 2009 definition did not significantly alter the prognostic accuracy compared with that of the 2006 definition. The significant value was observed for cytogenetic responses at the 6th and 12th month. Moreover, progression-free and event-free survivals were improved with MMR at the 12th month.