Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia displays mutations in components of the RAS pathway and the PRC2 network

A Caye, M Strullu, F Guidez, B Cassinat, S Gazal… - Nature …, 2015 - nature.com
A Caye, M Strullu, F Guidez, B Cassinat, S Gazal, O Fenneteau, E Lainey, K Nouri
Nature genetics, 2015nature.com
Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) is a rare and severe myelodysplastic and
myeloproliferative neoplasm of early childhood initiated by germline or somatic RAS-
activating mutations,,. Genetic profiling and whole-exome sequencing of a large JMML
cohort (118 and 30 cases, respectively) uncovered additional genetic abnormalities in 56
cases (47%). Somatic events were rare (0.38 events/Mb/case) and restricted to sporadic
(49/78; 63%) or neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1)-associated (8/8; 100%) JMML cases …
Abstract
Juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML) is a rare and severe myelodysplastic and myeloproliferative neoplasm of early childhood initiated by germline or somatic RAS-activating mutations,,. Genetic profiling and whole-exome sequencing of a large JMML cohort (118 and 30 cases, respectively) uncovered additional genetic abnormalities in 56 cases (47%). Somatic events were rare (0.38 events/Mb/case) and restricted to sporadic (49/78; 63%) or neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1)-associated (8/8; 100%) JMML cases. Multiple concomitant genetic hits targeting the RAS pathway were identified in 13 of 78 cases (17%), disproving the concept of mutually exclusive RAS pathway mutations and defining new pathways activated in JMML involving phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) and the mTORC2 complex through RAC2 mutation. Furthermore, this study highlights PRC2 loss (26/78; 33% of sporadic JMML cases) that switches the methylation/acetylation status of lysine 27 of histone H3 in JMML cases with altered RAS and PRC2 pathways. Finally, the association between JMML outcome and mutational profile suggests a dose-dependent effect for RAS pathway activation, distinguishing very aggressive JMML rapidly progressing to acute myeloid leukemia.
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