Genomic and epigenomic landscapes of adult de novo acute myeloid leukemia

N Engl J Med. 2013 May 30;368(22):2059-74. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa1301689. Epub 2013 May 1.

Abstract

Background: Many mutations that contribute to the pathogenesis of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are undefined. The relationships between patterns of mutations and epigenetic phenotypes are not yet clear.

Methods: We analyzed the genomes of 200 clinically annotated adult cases of de novo AML, using either whole-genome sequencing (50 cases) or whole-exome sequencing (150 cases), along with RNA and microRNA sequencing and DNA-methylation analysis.

Results: AML genomes have fewer mutations than most other adult cancers, with an average of only 13 mutations found in genes. Of these, an average of 5 are in genes that are recurrently mutated in AML. A total of 23 genes were significantly mutated, and another 237 were mutated in two or more samples. Nearly all samples had at least 1 nonsynonymous mutation in one of nine categories of genes that are almost certainly relevant for pathogenesis, including transcription-factor fusions (18% of cases), the gene encoding nucleophosmin (NPM1) (27%), tumor-suppressor genes (16%), DNA-methylation-related genes (44%), signaling genes (59%), chromatin-modifying genes (30%), myeloid transcription-factor genes (22%), cohesin-complex genes (13%), and spliceosome-complex genes (14%). Patterns of cooperation and mutual exclusivity suggested strong biologic relationships among several of the genes and categories.

Conclusions: We identified at least one potential driver mutation in nearly all AML samples and found that a complex interplay of genetic events contributes to AML pathogenesis in individual patients. The databases from this study are widely available to serve as a foundation for further investigations of AML pathogenesis, classification, and risk stratification. (Funded by the National Institutes of Health.).

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • CpG Islands
  • DNA Methylation
  • Epigenomics
  • Female
  • Gene Expression
  • Gene Fusion
  • Genome, Human
  • Humans
  • Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / classification
  • Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute / genetics*
  • Male
  • MicroRNAs / genetics
  • Middle Aged
  • Mutation*
  • Nucleophosmin
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA / methods

Substances

  • MicroRNAs
  • NPM1 protein, human
  • Nucleophosmin

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