Clonal evolution in patients developing therapy-related myeloid neoplasms following autologous stem cell transplantation

Clonal hematopoiesis (CH) denotes somatic mutations in genes related to myeloid neoplasms present at any variant allele frequency (VAF). Clonal hematopoiesis is associated with increasing age and with a factor 6 increase in the risk of developing therapy-related myeloid neoplasms (tMNs) following autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT). However, the impact of specific mutations on progression from CH to tMN has yet to be unraveled, and it remains unclear whether mutations directly impact or even drive the development of tMN. We performed deep sequencing in longitudinal samples from a cohort of 12 patients with either multiple myeloma or lymphoma who developed tMN following ASCT. Nine patients had one or more mutations that could be tracked longitudinally. Seven patients had clonal expansion from time of ASCT to diagnosis of tMN. Of these, six patients had CH at VAF < 2% at baseline. The median VAF of non-DNMT3A clones increased from 1% (IQR 0.7%-10.0%) at time of ASCT to 37% (IQR 17%-47%) at tMN diagnosis (P = 0.002), while DNMT3A clones showed quiescent trajectories (P = 0.625). Our data provide evidence to support the hypothesis that the development of tMN following ASCT is likely instigated by CH present at VAFs as low as 0.5%, detectable years before tMN onset.

Automated summary

Clonal hematopoiesis is associated with an increased risk of therapy-related myeloid neoplasms following autologous stem cell transplantation. Specific mutations have not been fully understood in terms of their impact on the progression from clonal hematopoiesis to myeloid neoplasms. This study used deep sequencing to analyze longitudinal samples and found evidence supporting the hypothesis that clonal hematopoiesis at low variant allele frequencies can lead to the development of myeloid neoplasms following autologous stem cell transplantation.