Molecular Predictors and Effectiveness of Measurable Residual Disease (MRD) Eradication with Chemotherapy and Allogeneic Stem Cell Transplantation for Acute Myeloid Leukemia

• Published in: Blood 2020-11, Vol.136 (Supplement 1), p.18-20
• Main Authors: Stahl, Maximilian, Derkach, Andriy, Famulare, Christopher, Cho, Christina, Devlin, Sean, Farnoud, Noushin, Menghrajani, Kamal, Patel, Minal A, Cai, Sheng F, Geyer, Mark B., Dunbar, Andrew, Epstein-Peterson, Zachary D., McGovern, Erin, Schulman, Jessica, Glass, Jacob L, Taylor, Justin, Viny, Aaron D, Stein, Eytan M., Getta, Bartlomiej, Arcila, Maria E., Levine, Ross L., Barker, Juliet, Shaffer, Brian C., Papadopoulos, Esperanza B., Gyurkocza, Boglarka, Perales, Miguel-Angel, Abdel-Wahab, Omar, Papaemmanuil, Elli, Giralt, Sergio A., Zhang, Yanming, Roshal, Mikhail, Tallman, Martin S., Goldberg, Aaron D
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0006-4971; 1528-0020
• DOI: 10.1182/blood-2020-137552

Background: Measurable residual disease (MRD) is a powerful prognostic factor in AML, including in prediction of outcomes post allogeneic stem cell transplant (alloSCT). However, genomic predictors of successful MRD eradication with chemotherapy prior to alloSCT are unclear. Objectives: Here we provide an integrated analysis of 233 patients (pts) who underwent induction chemotherapy with baseline next-generation sequencing (NGS) followed by serial immunophenotypic monitoring for MRD while patients received additional therapy and alloSCT. Methods: All pts who received anthracycline + cytarabine, +/- investigational agents at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center starting in April 2014 were retrospectively studied (A). 142 out of 233 pts subsequently underwent alloSCT after induction or additional therapy (A). Immunophenotypic MRD was identified in bone marrow aspirates (BMA) by multiparameter flow cytometry. Any level of residual disease was considered MRD+. Molecular analysis was obtained from pre-induction BMA by NGS using 28 or 49 or 400 gene panels. Results: Patient and treatment characteristics for all pts are detailed in panel (B). Induction chemotherapy resulted in an MRD-CR/CRi and MRD+CR/CRi in 29% and 23% of all pts, respectively (C). Additional therapy included consolidation (n=51), intensive re-induction/salvage (n=47) and non-intensive therapy (n=9). Of 83 AML pts with persistent AML and 58 pts with MRD+CR/CRi after induction (R1), 38/141 (27%) were able to be converted to MRD-CR/CRi. While 33/38 of pts went on to alloSCT after conversion to MRD-CR/CRi, 22 and 36 pts went to alloSCT with persistent AML and MRD+CR/CRi AML, respectively. We focused on pre-induction molecular predictors for achieving an MRD-CR/CRi response prior to transplant for the 142 pts who underwent alloSCT (D). Pts with a NPM1 (79%, Odds ratio [OR] 3.7, p=0.01), IDH1 (92%, OR 3.9, p=0.01) and KRAS (100%, OR 5.0, p=0.03) mutations achieved high rates of MRD-CR/CRi prior to alloSCT. In contrast, RUNX1 (28%, OR 0.2, p=0.01), TP53 (12%, OR 0.1, p=0.02) and SF3B1 (14%, OR 0.1, p=0.04) mutations predicted decreased odds of achieving MRD-CR/CRi prior to alloSCT despite induction and post-induction therapy. AlloSCT resulted in high rates of conversion from MRD+ and persistent disease to MRD negativity. Most pts who entered transplant with CR/CRi MRD+ (28/36, 76%) or persistent AML (14/22, 64%) cleared MRD by the first post-transplant BMA at a median of 32 days (E). Post-alloSCT fo