In this study, we investigated the type and frequency of ASXL1 mutations in a large cohort of patients with de novo or secondary AML (s-AML) and looked for correlations with cytogenetic findings and disease features.
In acute myeloid leukemia (AML), ASXL1 mutations tend to correlate with older age and male gender, and affect predominantly patients with secondary AML.
However, in multivariate analysis that included clinical variables, only FLT3 and DNMT3A remained specific for pAML and EZH2, BCOR, SF3B1 and ASXL1 for sAML.
ASXL1 mutations were associated with older age (P<0.0001), male sex (P=0.041), secondary acute myeloid leukemia (P<0.0001), and lower values for bone marrow (P<0.0001) and circulating (P<0.0001) blasts.
Cohesin mutations were significantly associated with RUNX1, Ras-family oncogenes, and BCOR and ASXL1 mutations and were most prevalent in high-risk MDS and secondary AML.
The incidence of TET2, ASXL1, CBL, IDH or IKZF1 mutations in these disorders ranges from 0 to 17%; these latter mutations are more common in chronic (TET2, ASXL1, CBL) or juvenile (CBL) myelomonocytic leukemias, mastocytosis (TET2), myelodysplastic syndromes (TET2, ASXL1) and secondary acute myeloid leukemia, including blast-phase MPN (IDH, ASXL1, IKZF1).