Abstract 4671: Co-occurrence of alterations in the DNA damage repair genes synergize with uncontrolled proliferation and associate with very-poor prognosis in acute myeloid leukemia patients
Authors: Padella Antonella , Simonetti Giorgia , Fontana Maria Chiara , Manfrini Marco , Marconi Giovanni , Ferrari Anna , Valle Italo Faria do , Garonzi Marianna , Papayannidis Cristina , Franchini Eugenia , Zuffa Elisa , Guadagnuolo Viviana , Bruno Samantha , Rorà Andrea Ghelli Luserna di , Ottaviani Emanuela , Remondini Daniel , Delledonne Massimo , Martinelli Giovanni 
Published: July 2017

Partner and localizer of BRCA2 (PALB2) plays a key role in the DNA damage repair (DDR) by recruiting BRCA1, BRCA2 and RAD51. Alterations in PALB2 were described in hereditary breast cancer and Fanconi Anemia (FA). Little is known in Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML).

Aim of the study is to define the frequency and interplay of PALB2 alterations with patterns of somatic mutations and copy number variants (CNVs) in AML.

We genotyped 233 AML samples by Single Nucleotide Polymorphism array (SNP 6.0 and Cytoscan HD, Affymetrix) to detect CNVs. We also performed Whole Exome Sequencing (WES, Illumina) of 56 cases to detect single nucleotide variants and small indels (MuTect and Varscan 2.0). Differences in survival were assessed by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Breslow test.

We detected PALB2 loss in 12/233 patients (5%), with a minimal common region of deletion of 6.6 Kb including exon 12, which encodes for the domain of interaction with RAD51, BRCA2 and POLH. PALB2 deletion were correlated with CN loss of MYH11, CREBBP, PLK1 and FANCA on chromosome (chr) 16 (p≤.005), deletions of TP53, NF1 and BRCA1 on chr 17 (p≤.004), 5q deletions (p≤.001) and loss of XPO1 on chr 2 (p≤.006). PALB2-loss patients were enriched for alterations in genes involved in the protein kinase pathway (p=5×10-4), JUN kinase activity (p=.0006) and, notably, in genes belonging to the chromosome breakage pathway (p=.001; TP53, BRCA1 and BRCA2). To identify mutations that co-operates with CN alterations, we integrated WES data of 56 AML patients. No mutations in PALB2 were detected. However, we identified mutations in other DDR genes, including FANCE, BRCA2, TP53 and BRCA1. Of note, alterations in the DDR genes frequently co-occurred with both mutations and CN loss of TP53, leading to homozygous loss of function of TP53. In addition, KRAS, IDH1, TET2 and BCOR mutations were mutually exclusive with PALB2 loss.

Preliminary gene expression profiling data revealed a 2-fold upregulation of FANCA in samples with DDR genes alterations compared with patients with no alterations (p=.04), while the other genes of the pathway were not affected. Finally, patients harboring PALB2 loss had a poorer prognosis compared complex karyotype cases (p=.021).

We here define a new subset of AML patients, characterized by the synergistic loss of key DDR genes, which may in turn result in FANCA over-expression as a mechanism to overcome the DDR deficit. Our data suggest that the leukemogenic process associated PALB2 loss integrates defects in the DDR together with enforced proliferative stimuli leading to uncontrolled proliferation of cells, which potentially

accumulate genetic lesions. These results may help improve patient stratification and define ad hoc therapeutic strategies for this aggressive leukemia type.

Supported by: ELN, AIL, AIRC, progetto Regione-Università 2010-12 (L. Bolondi), FP7 NGS-PTL project.

Citation Format: Antonella Padella, Giorgia Simonetti, Maria Chiara Fontana, Marco Manfrini, Giovanni Marconi, Anna Ferrari, Italo Faria do Valle, Marianna Garonzi, Cristina Papayannidis, Eugenia Franchini, Elisa Zuffa, Viviana Guadagnuolo, Samantha Bruno, Andrea Ghelli Luserna di Rorà, Emanuela Ottaviani, Daniel Remondini, Massimo Delledonne, Giovanni Martinelli. Co-occurrence of alterations in the DNA damage repair genes synergize with uncontrolled proliferation and associate with very-poor prognosis in acute myeloid leukemia patients [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2017; 2017 Apr 1-5; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2017;77(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 4671. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2017-4671