Different Prognostic Impact of Recurrent Gene Mutations in IGHV-Mutated and IGHV-Unmutated Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia: A Retrospective, Multi-Center Cohort Study By Eric, the European Research Initiative on CLL, in Harmony
Authors: Mansouri Larry , Thorvaldsdottir Birna , Sutton Lesley-Ann , Meggendorfer Manja , Nadeu Ferran , Brieghel Christian , Parker Helen , Laidou Stamatia , Moia Riccardo , Rossi Davide , Catherwood Mark , Kotaskova Jana , Delgado Julio , Rodríguez-Vicente Ana E , Benito Rocio , Rigolin Gian Matteo , Bonfiglio Silvia , Scarfo Lydia , Mattsson Mattias , Davis Zadie , Gogia Ajay , Rani Lata , Baliakas Panagiotis , Jylhä Cecilia , Skaftason Aron , Rapado Inmaculada , Miras Fatima , Martinez-Lopez Joaquin , de la Serna Javier , Hernández Rivas Jesús M , Thornton Patrick , Larrayoz Maria Jose , Calasanz María José , Mátrai Zoltán , Bodor Csaba , Smedby Karin E. , Espinet Blanca , Puiggros Anna , Gupta Ritu , Bullinger Lars , Bosch Francesc , Tazón Bárbara , Baran-Marszak Fanny , Oscier David , Nguyen-Khac Florence , Zenz Thorsten , Terol María José , Cuneo Antonio , Hernández-Sánchez María , Pospisilova Sarka , Mills Ken I , Gaidano Gianluca , Niemann Carsten Utoft , Campo Elías , Strefford Jonathan C , Ghia Paolo , Stamatopoulos Kostas , Rosenquist Richard 
Published: November 2021

The mutational status of the immunoglobuin heavy variable (IGHV) genes is an undisputable strong prognostic factor that subdivides patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) into 2 subgroups, i.e. IGHV-unmutated CLL (U-CLL) and IGHV-mutated CLL (M-CLL). U-CLL and M-CLL have distinct landscapes of genomic aberrations as well as distinct prognosis, since U-CLL is considerably more aggressive than M-CLL. That said, there is considerable clinical heterogeneity among M-CLL patients, ranging from patients without need of treatment to patients requiring early therapeutic intervention, indicating the need to further refine prognosis in this subgroup. In recent years, it has become evident that the prognostic impact of genomic aberrations may differ depending on IGHV gene mutational status. Hence, defining genomic aberrations with prognostic impact in M-CLL patients may help identifying patients with an predicted unfavorable prognosis within this subgroup, with obvious implications for management of follow up and therapy choice.

To study the clinical impact of recurrent gene mutations in relation to IGHV gene mutational status, we collected a large, multi-center cohort including 4,674 patients with CLL [median age at diagnosis, 64.5 years; male/female, n=2,962 (63%)/n=1,712 (37%); Binet stage A (n=3,369, 74%), B (n=827, 18%), and C (n=387, 8%); IGHV-mutated (M-CLL, n=2,498, 56%) and IGHV-unmutated (U-CLL, n=1,927, 44%); isolated del(13q) (n=1,868, 41%), trisomy 12 (n=571, 13%), del(11q) (n=503, 11%), and del(17p) (n=249, 5.5%); treated (n=2,745, 59%) and untreated (n=1,929, 41%)] and performed next-generation sequencing (NGS) and/or Sanger sequencing of 9 genes (BIRC3, EGR2, NFKBIE, MYD88, NOTCH1, POT1, SF3B1, TP53, and XPO1) on pre-treatment samples. Overall, pathogenic mutations in any of these genes were detected in 1720/4674 patients (36.8%, using a variant allele frequency cutoff of 5% for NGS), while the remaining patients were wildtype; 2 mutations were observed in 361 patients (7.7%) and 3 or more mutations in 58 patients (1.2%). The mutation frequency for the individual genes was: TP53 (10.4%, including TP53 mutations and/or del(17p)), NOTCH1 (10.1%, 3'UTR mutations not included), SF3B1 (9.3%), XPO1 (3.9%), POT1 (3.8%), NFKBIE (3.7%), BIRC3 (3.0%), EGR2 (2.5%) and MYD88 (2.5%; Figure 1A). Except for MYD88, gene mutations in each of the investigated genes were associated with significantly shorter time-to-first-treatment (TTFT) in univariate analysis. In multivariate analysis of Binet stage A patients (n=3,369; including all genes, IGHV gene mutational status, age at diagnosis and gender), SF3B1 (Hazard Ratio (HR) 1.79; p&lt;0.001) , BIRC3 mutations (HR 1.50; p=0.004), XPO1 (HR 1.29; p=0.020), EGR2 (HR 1.42; p=0.021) and TP53 aberrations (HR 1.21; p=0.028), along with unmutated IGHV genes (HR 4.21; p&lt;0.001) and male gender (HR 1.12; p=0.027) remained as independent factors for shorter TTFT. In a multivariate model focusing on M-CLL Binet stage A patients (n=2,049), SF3B1 (HR 2.72; p&lt;0.001), NOTCH1 (HR 1.65; p=0.006), XPO1 (HR 2.21; p=0.021) and NFKBIE mutations (HR 1.74; p=0.025) were independent markers of poor TTFT (Figure 1B), while conversely in U-CLL Binet stage A cases (n=1157), SF3B1 mutations (HR 1.49; p&lt;0.001), TP53 aberrations (HR 1.30; p=0.011), BIRC3 mutations (HR 1.49; p=0.016) and male gender (HR 1.20; p=0.012) were significant factors for shorter TTFT (Figure 1C).

In summary, different spectra of genetic mutations independently predicted short TTFT in M-CLL and U-CLL, respectively, with SF3B1 mutations as the only aberration found to be significant predictor of shorter time to first treatment in both subgroups. Importantly, mutations within several genes (i.e. SF3B1, NOTCH1, XPO1 and NFKBIE) identified patients in the M-CLL subgroup with a high-risk profile; conversely, TP53 mutations did not affect TTFT in this subgroup. On these grounds, we suggest to include analysis of recurrent gene mutations to identify high-risk patients within the M-CLL subgroup.

Figure 1 Figure 1.

Disclosures

Brieghel: AstraZeneca: Consultancy. Rossi: Janssen: Honoraria, Research Funding; AstraZeneca: Honoraria, Research Funding; Gilead: Honoraria, Research Funding; Abbvie: Honoraria, Research Funding; Verastem: Honoraria, Research Funding; Roche: Honoraria, Research Funding; Cellestia: Honoraria, Research Funding. Scarfo: Astra Zeneca: Honoraria; Abbvie: Honoraria; Janssen: Honoraria, Other: Travel grants. Mattsson: Gilead: Research Funding. Baliakas: Janssen: Honoraria; Gilead: Honoraria, Research Funding; Abbvie: Honoraria. Martinez-Lopez: Janssen: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Celgene: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Adaptive Biotechnologies: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Pfizer: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Sanofi: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Roche: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Bristol Myers Squibb: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Amgen: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; GSK: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Incyte: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Novartis: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. de la Serna: AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Beigene, Gilead, GSK, Janssen, Jazzpharma, Novartis, Roche: Consultancy; ABBVIE, ASTRAZENECA,ROCHE: Research Funding; AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Roche: Speakers Bureau. Hernández Rivas: Amgen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Novartis: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Celgene/BMS: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Research Funding; Pfizer: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees. Smedby: Jansen-Cilag: Other: part of a research collaboration between Karolinska Institutet and Janssen Pharmaceutica NV for which Karolinska Institutet has received grant support. Bullinger: Pfizer: Consultancy, Honoraria; Celgene: Consultancy, Honoraria; Abbvie: Consultancy, Honoraria; Bristol-Myers Squibb: Consultancy, Honoraria; Gilead: Consultancy; Daiichi Sankyo: Consultancy, Honoraria; Hexal: Consultancy; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria; Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Menarini: Consultancy; Novartis: Consultancy, Honoraria; Amgen: Honoraria; Astellas: Honoraria; Sanofi: Honoraria; Seattle Genetics: Honoraria; Bayer: Research Funding. Bosch: TAKEDA: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Travel; Gilead: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Travel; AbbVie: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Travel; Janssen: Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Travel, Research Funding; Roche: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Travel. Terol: BMS: Consultancy; Roche: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Travel; Abbvie: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Travel; Janssen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Travel, Research Funding; Roche: Consultancy; Gilead: Consultancy, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Travel, Research Funding; Takeda: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Other: Travel; Hospital Clinico Valencia: Current Employment. Cuneo: AstraZeneca: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Janssen: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; Gilead: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau; AbbVie: Consultancy, Speakers Bureau. Gaidano: Janssen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Incyte: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Beigene: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Astrazeneca: Consultancy, Honoraria, Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Abbvie: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau. Niemann: Novo Nordisk Foundation: Research Funding; CSL Behring, Genmab, Takeda, Octapharma: Consultancy; Abbvie, AstraZeneca, Janssen: Consultancy, Research Funding. Ghia: Roche: Consultancy, Honoraria; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Sunesis: Research Funding; AbbVie: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; Acerta/AstraZeneca: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; AstraZeneca: Consultancy, Honoraria, Research Funding; ArQule/MSD: Consultancy, Honoraria; BeiGene: Consultancy, Honoraria; Celgene/Juno/BMS: Consultancy, Honoraria; Gilead: Consultancy, Research Funding. Rosenquist: Roche: Honoraria; Janssen: Honoraria; Illumina: Honoraria; AstraZeneca: Honoraria; Abbvie: Honoraria.