Aberrant DNA Methylation Is Associated with a Poor Outcome in Juvenile Myelomonocytic Leukemia

PLoS One. 2015 Dec 31;10(12):e0145394. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0145394. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML), an overlap of myelodysplastic / myeloproliferative neoplasm, is an intractable pediatric myeloid neoplasm. Epigenetic regulation of transcription, particularly by CpG methylation, plays an important role in tumor progression, mainly by repressing tumor-suppressor genes. To clarify the clinical importance of aberrant DNA methylation, we studied the hypermethylation status of 16 target genes in the genomes of 92 patients with JMML by bisulfite conversion and the pryosequencing technique. Among 16 candidate genes, BMP4, CALCA, CDKN2A, and RARB exhibited significant hypermethylation in 72% (67/92) of patients. Based on the number of hypermethylated genes, patients were stratified into three cohorts based on an aberrant methylation score (AMS) of 0, 1-2, or 3-4. In the AMS 0 cohort, the 5-year overall survival (OS) and transplantation-free survival (TFS) were good (69% and 76%, respectively). In the AMS 1-2 cohort, the 5-year OS was comparable to that in the AMS 0 cohort (68%), whereas TFS was poor (6%). In the AMS 3-4 cohort, 5-year OS and TFS were markedly low (8% and 0%, respectively). Epigenetic analysis provides helpful information for clinicians to select treatment strategies for patients with JMML. For patients with AMS 3-4 in whom hematopoietic stem cell transplantation does not improve the prognosis, alternative therapies, including DNA methyltransferase inhibitors and new molecular-targeting agents, should be established as treatment options.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Cohort Studies
  • DNA Methylation / genetics*
  • Female
  • Genetic Association Studies
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Leukemia, Myelomonocytic, Juvenile / genetics*
  • Male
  • Multivariate Analysis
  • Mutation / genetics
  • Survival Analysis
  • Treatment Outcome

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science KAKENHI Grant Number 22790975, and the “Project for Development of Innovative Research on Cancer Therapeutics (P-DIRECT)” from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology of Japan.