A genetic analysis of patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia treated with frontline, rituximab-based regimens found that deletion 11q22 and unmutated IgVH status may predict worse prognosis.
Michaela Spunarova, MD, of Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic, and colleagues conducted a genetic analysis of 177 patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The results of the analysis were published in Leukemia Research.
The study focused on patients with CLL with an intact TP53 gene, looking at recurrently muted genes in CLL, genomic aberrations by fluorescence in situ hybridization, and IgVH status, according to the researchers.
The team analyzed the effects of these mutations on progression-free survival (PFS) following frontline treatment with bendamustine and rituximab (BR) or fludarabine, cyclophosphamide, and rituximab (FCR) therapeutic regimens.
Dr. Spunarova and colleagues used next-generation sequencing to analyze DNA from the patient samples. Data on 11q22, 13q14, trisomy 12, and IgVH mutation status were also considered in the analyses of PFS.
After analysis, the researchers validated that unmutated IgVH status is an indicator of poor prognosis in CLL patients with wild-type TP53 treated with frontline FCR.
When looking at both BR and FCR regimens, a single 11q22 deletion, lacking an ATM mutation on the other allele, resulted in the shortest PFS, at a median of just 16 months.
“Based on our data, special attention should be given to CLL patients harboring a sole 11q22 deletion, with no ATM mutation on the other allele, who manifest particularly short PFS,” they noted.
The researchers acknowledged a key limitation of the study was the small sample size. As a result, the results should be interpreted in a careful manner.
The study was funded by the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic. The authors reported having no conflicts of interest.
SOURCE: Spunarova M et al. Leuk Res. 2019 Jun;81:75-81.