Genomic profiling at diagnosis of B-cell precursor Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (BCP-ALL) in adults is used to guide disease classification, risk stratification and treatment decisions. Patients for which diagnostic screening fails to identify disease defining or risk stratifying lesions are classified as B-other ALL. We screened a cohort of 652 BCP-ALL cases enrolled in UKALL14 to identify and perform whole genome sequencing (WGS) on paired tumor-normal samples. For 52 B-other patients we compared WGS findings to data from clinical and research cytogenetics. WGS identifies a cancer associated event in 51/52 cases, this includes an established subtype defining genetic alteration in 5/52 that were previously missed by standard-of-care genetics. Of the 47 true B-other ALL we identified a recurrent driver in 87% (41).  Complex karyotype by cytogenetics emerges as a heterogeneous group, underlied by distinct genetic alterations associated with either favorable (DUX4-r) or poor outcomes (MEF2D-r, IGK::BCL2). For a subset of 31 cases, we integrate findings from RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) ... (Show More)

Genomic profiling at diagnosis of B-cell precursor Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (BCP-ALL) in adults is used to guide disease classification, risk stratification and treatment decisions. Patients for which diagnostic screening fails to identify disease defining or risk stratifying lesions are classified as B-other ALL. We screened a cohort of 652 BCP-ALL cases enrolled in UKALL14 to identify and perform whole genome sequencing (WGS) on paired tumor-normal samples. For 52 B-other patients we compared WGS findings to data from clinical and research cytogenetics. WGS identifies a cancer associated event in 51/52 cases, this includes an established subtype defining genetic alteration in 5/52 that were previously missed by standard-of-care genetics. Of the 47 true B-other ALL we identified a recurrent driver in 87% (41).  Complex karyotype by cytogenetics emerges as a heterogeneous group, underlied by distinct genetic alterations associated with either favorable (DUX4-r) or poor outcomes (MEF2D-r, IGK::BCL2). For a subset of 31 cases, we integrate findings from RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) analysis to include fusion gene detection, and classification by gene expression. Compared to RNA-seq, WGS was sufficient to detect and resolve recurrent genetic subtypes, however RNA-seq can provide orthogonal validation of findings. In conclusion, we demonstrate that WGS can identify clinically relevant genetic abnormalities missed by standard-of-care testing and identify leukemia driver events in virtually all cases of B-other ALL.

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