Persistence of pre-leukemic clones during first remission and risk of relapse in acute myeloid leukemia

Some patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) who are in complete remission after induction chemotherapy harbor persisting pre-leukemic clones, carrying a subset of leukemia-associated somatic mutations. There is conflicting evidence on the prognostic relevance of these clones for AML relapse. Here, we characterized paired pre-treatment and remission samples from 126 AML patients for mutations in 68 leukemia-associated genes. Fifty patients (40%) retained ⩾1 mutation during remission at a variant allele frequency of ⩾2%. Mutation persistence was most frequent in DNMT3A (65% of patients with mutations at diagnosis), SRSF2 (64%), TET2 (55%), and ASXL1 (46%), and significantly associated with older age (P<0.0001) and, in multivariate analyses adjusting for age, genetic risk, and allogeneic transplantation, with inferior relapse-free survival (hazard ratio, 2.34; P=0039) and overall survival (hazard ratio, 2.14; P=036). Patients with persisting mutations had a higher cumulative incidence of relapse before, but not after allogeneic stem cell transplantation. Our work underlines the relevance of mutation persistence during first remission as a novel risk factor in AML. Persistence of pre-leukemic clones may contribute to the inferior outcome of elderly AML patients. Allogeneic transplantation abrogated the increased relapse risk associated with persisting pre-leukemic clones, suggesting that mutation persistence may guide postremission treatment.Leukemia accepted article preview online, 18 December 2017. doi:10.1038/leu.2017.350.

Abstract P3-13-06: Development and validation of a nomogram predicting pathological axillary status (ypN0 vs. ypN+) in a subgroup of patients converting from cN+ to ycN0 through neoadjuvant therapy (NAT) – A transSENTINA substudy

Background: Particularly among patients converting from cN+ to ycN0 status through neoadjuvant therapy (NAT) the optimal method and extent of axillary staging is unclear. The aim of this analysis was to develop a nomogram predicting the probability of positive axillary status (ypN+) after PST among these patients based on clinical and pathological parameters.

Methods:Patients converting from cN+ to ycN0 due to PST included in a prospective study (SENTINA, Arm C) were included. Univariate and multivariate analyses were carried out to evaluate the association between 14 clinical/pathological parameters and pathological axillary status (ypN0 vs ypN+) using logistic regression models. Model accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) were assessed applying leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV) and ROC analyses. Different cut-points were evaluated. Calculations were performed using the SAS Software (Version 9.4, SAS Institute Inc., Cary, NC, USA.).

Results: Arm C contained 553 patients, 369 patients were evaluable with respect to the above parameters. Univariate analyses revealed a significant association between pathological axillary status and ER status (odds ratio (OR) 4.05, 95% confidence interval (95%CI) 2.81-5.83), PR status (OR 3.07, 95%CI 2.16-4.36), multifocality (OR 2.37, 95%CI 1.57-3.58), lymphovascular invasion (OR 8.61, 95%CI 5.12-14.46), detection of a SLN after NAT (OR .56, 95%CI .36-.87), detection method (IHC vs routine: OR .46, 95%CI .27-.78; IHC vs serial HE: OR .72, 95%CI .49-1.07; serial hematoxylin eosin (HE) vs routine: OR .639, 95%CI .39-1.04), clinical tumor size (OR 1.051, 95%CI 1.03-1.07) and pCR-status in the breast (ypT0 and ypTis vs others, OR .11, 95%CI .08-.17). A multivariate model was fitted including significant clinical parameters. Stepwise backward variable selection was carried out resulting in a model including ER status (OR 3.81, 95%CI 2.25-6.44), multifocality (OR 2.22, 95%CI 1.26-3.92), LVI (OR 9.16, 95%CI 4.68-17.90), detection of a SLN after NAT (OR .50, 95%CI .26-.95) and clinical tumor size (OR 1.03, 95%CI 1.01-1.06). In LOOCV, this model demonstrated an accuracy of 73% (sensitivity 73%, specificity 72%, PPV 75%, NPV 70%) using .5 as cut-off. Based on the performed ROC analysis an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.81 was calculated.

Conclusion: A model using ER status, multifocality, LVI, detection of a SLN after NAT and clinical tumor size was built to predict pathological axillary status (ypN+) with a high accuracy. If successfully validated based upon an independent dataset, this nomogram could allow advising patients for / against axillary surgery in case of clinical axillary conversion after NAT.

Citation Format: Liedtke C, Kolberg H-C, Kerschke L, Goerlich D, Bauerfeind I, Fehm T, Fleige B, Hauschild M, Helms G, Lebeau A, Schmatloch S, Schrenk P, Schwentner L, Staebler A, von Minckwitz G, Loibl S, Untch M, Kuehn T. Development and validation of a nomogram predicting pathological axillary status (ypN0 vs. ypN+) in a subgroup of patients converting from cN+ to ycN0 through neoadjuvant therapy (NAT) – A transSENTINA substudy [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2016 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2016 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P3-13-06.

Photocrosslinking demonstrates proximity of a 34 kDa membrane protein to different portions of preprolactin during translocation through the endoplasmic reticulum

Photocrosslinking has been used to identify integral proteins of the endoplasmic reticulum membrane that are in proximity to nascent preprolactin during in vitro translocation. A photoreactive lysyl derivative was introduced into truncated preprolactin chains comprising 86 or 115 amino acids. Both with the 86mer, containing the reactive group in the signal sequence, and with the 115mer, containing the probe exclusively in the mature portion of the chain, photocrosslinking occurred to an approximately 35 kDa transmembrane glycoprotein, the signal sequence receptor (SSR). SSR is identical with a previously isolated abundant and ubiquitous 34 kDa membrane protein that appears to be essential for protein translocation.