Ultrasensitive detection of acute myeloid leukemia minimal residual disease using single molecule molecular inversion probes

The identification of minimal residual disease is the primary diagnostic finding which predicts relapse in patients treated for acute myeloid leukemia. Ultrasensitive detection of minimal residual disease would enable better patient risk stratification and could open opportunities for early therapeutic intervention. Herein we apply single molecule molecular inversion probe capture, a technology combining multiplexed targeted sequencing with error correction schemes based on molecular barcoding, in order to detect mutations identifying minimal residual disease with ultrasensitive and quantitative precision. We designed a single molecule molecular inversion probe capture panel spanning > 50 kb and targeting 32 factors relevant to acute myeloid leukemia pathogenesis. We demonstrate linearity and quantitative precision over 100- fold relative abundance of mutant cells (1 in 100 to 1 in 1,500), with estimated error rates approaching 1 in 1,200 base pairs sequenced and maximum theoretical limits of detection exceeding 1 in 60,000 mutant alleles. In 3 of 4 longitudinally collected specimens from patients with acute myeloid leukemia, we find that single molecule molecular inversion probe capture detects somatic mutations identifying minimal residual disease at substantially earlier time points and with greater sensitivity than clinical diagnostic approaches used as current standard of care (flow cytometry and conventional molecular diagnosis), and identifies persisting neoplastic cells during clinical remission. In 2 patients, single molecule molecular inversion probe capture detected heterogeneous, subclonal acute myeloid leukemia populations carrying distinct mutational signatures. Single molecule molecular inversion probe technology uniquely couples scalable target enrichment with sequence read error correction, providing an integrated, ultrasensitive approach for detecting minimal residual disease identifying mutations.