IDH2 Mutation Is Associated with Favorable Outcome Among Older Adults with Newly Diagnosed Acute Myeloid Leukemia Treated with Lower-Intensity Therapy
Authors: Hoff Fieke W , Huang Ying , Welkie Rina Li , Swords Ronan T. , Traer Elie , Stein Eytan M. , Lin Tara L. , Patel Prapti A. , Collins Robert H. , Baer Maria R. , Duong Vu H. , Blum William , Arellano Martha L. , Stock Wendy , Odenike Olatoyosi , Redner Robert L. , Kovacsovics Tibor J. , Deininger Michael W. , Zeidner Joshua F , Olin Rebecca , Smith Catherine C. , Foran James M. , Schiller Gary J. , Curran Emily K , Koenig Kristin L , Heerema Nyla A. , Chen Timothy , Martycz Molly , Stefanos Mona , Marcus Sonja Gullen , Rosenberg Leonard , Druker Brian J. , Levine Ross L , Burd Amy , Yocum Ashley Owen , Borate Uma , Mims Alice , Byrd John C. , Madanat Yazan F. 
Published: December 2024

Background: Mutations of isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) are recurrent in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and the prevalence increases with age. The prognostic impact of IDH1 and IDH2 mutations remains controversial. IDH inhibitors are small molecules that bind within the IDH enzymatic active site, blocking aberrant 2-hydroxyglutarate production and inducing myeloid differentiation. While they can lead to differentiation syndrome, they generally have a more favorable side-effect profile, making them an attractive option for older patients. We aimed to describe the prevalence and prognostic impact of IDH mutations in newly diagnosed (ND) AML patients ≥ 60 years in a large cohort of patients treated on a Leukemia and Lymphoma Society-sponsored trial.

Methods: We performed a retrospective observational analysis including patients ≥ 60 years with ND AML who were enrolled on the Beat AML clinical trial (NCT03013998) before May 10, 2023. Patients were treated with a variety of treatment regimens. Cytogenetic analysis and next-generation sequencing (FoundationOne®Heme) were obtained. Mutations were considered present at any detectable VAF. Cox proportional hazard models were used to describe the relative risk of each variable on death over time from the date of trial inclusion.

Results: A total of 1023 patients with ND AML were identified. Patients had a median age of 72 (range 60-92) years and the majority were non-Hispanic White (83.2%), and male (57.6%). Ninety-nine (9.7%) patients were IDH1MUT, 193 (18.9%) patients were IDH2MUT including 10 (1.0%) patients with a co-occurring IDH1 and IDH2 gene mutations.

Both IDH1MUT and IDH2MUT were associated with 2022 ELN favorable-risk (26.3% and 22.3% for IDH1 and IDH2 respectively, vs 15.5% overall (P&lt;0.001)). IDH1MUT significantly co-occurred with DNMT3AMUT (42.4%), NPM1MUT (44.4%) and less frequently with TP53MUT (10.1%) (P&lt;0.001 for all). IDH2MUT was associated with DNMT3AMUT (35.8%), NPM1MUT (31.1%), SRSF2MUT (38.3%), and less frequently with TET2MUT (6.7%) and TP53MUT (9.3%) (P&lt;0.001 for all). Normal karyotype was higher in IDH1MUT (P&lt;0.001) and IDH2MUT (P&lt;0.001), whereas complex karyotype (P&lt;0.001 for both) and core-binding factor AML (P=0.047, P=0.015) were lower in IDH1MUT and IDH2MUT.

To evaluate the impact of IDH mutations in patients ≥ 60 years, we focused on patients evaluable for outcome treated with lower-intensity therapy (LIT) (N=674), and intensive chemotherapy (IC) (N=178), separately. Among the LIT treated patients, 96 patients received treatment with an IDH inhibitor, and 237 patients received a hypomethylating agent (HMA) plus venetoclax. For patients treated with LIT, the hazard ratios (HRs) of death over time were 0.58 [95% CI 0.47-0.72; P&lt;0.002], 0.81 [95% CI 0.59-1.13; P=0.214] and 0.56 [95% CI 0.44-0.72; P&lt;0.001] for IDHMUT, IDH1MUT, IDH2MUT respectively. Among patients receiving IC, the HRs were 1.05 [95% CI 0.68-1.69; P=0.777], 0.70 [95% CI 0.31-1.61; P=0.406] and 1.27 [95% CI 0.77-2.1; P=0.352] for IDHMUT, IDH1MUT, and IDH2MUT respectively. The HR of death for IDH1MUT patients treated with LIT with the addition of an IDH1 inhibitor (N=24) was significantly lower (HR 0.47 [95% CI 0.24-0.92; P=0.027] vs IDH1MUT patients treated without an IDH1 inhibitor, while an IDH2 inhibitor did not change survivial outcomes in patients with IDH2MUT (N=71).

Discussion: To our knowledge this is the largest retrospective study characterizing the prevalence of IDH mutations in patients ≥ 60 years with AML. We demonstrated that IDH mutations were detected in ~27% of older patients with AML. Although there could have been selection bias as the Beat AML study had separate IDHMUT study arms, these findings are concordant with other studies showing an increase in frequency of IDH mutations with age. IDH2MUT was associated with a lower HR of death among patients treated with LIT, which was not seen in patients receiving IC. The high prevalence of IDH mutations suggests that IDH inhibitors used as single agents or in combination with lower-intensity therapies are an important class of drugs for this older patient population as they are generally well tolerated, that need further investigation.