Abdominal Neoplasms ; etiology ; genetics ; Adolescent ; Chromosome Aberrations ; Humans ; Karyotyping ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; complications ; genetics ; Male ; Sarcoma, Myeloid ; etiology ; genetics

Adolescent ; Gene Rearrangement ; Humans ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; etiology ; genetics ; Male ; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma ; complications ; genetics ; Receptor, Platelet-Derived Growth Factor beta ; genetics

The occurrence and development of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is not only related to gene mutations, but also influenced by abnormal epigenetic regulation, in which DNA methylation is one of the most important mechanisms. Abnormal DNA methylation may lead to the activation of oncogene and the inactivation of tumor suppressor gene, resulting in the occurrence of leukemia. The mutations of DNA methylation enzymes associated with AML may have certain characteristics. The AML with recurrent cytogenetic abnormalities is also related to abnormal methylation. Some fusion genes can alter DNA methylation status to participate in the pathogenesis of leukemia. In addition, chemotherapy drug resistance in patients with AML is associated with the change of gene methylation status. Considering the reversibility of the epigenetic modification, targeted methylation therapy has become a hotspot of AML research.
DNA Methylation ; drug effects ; genetics ; physiology ; DNA Modification Methylases ; genetics ; physiology ; Drug Resistance, Neoplasm ; genetics ; Epigenesis, Genetic ; genetics ; physiology ; Humans ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; etiology ; genetics ; pathology ; Mutation ; genetics

BACKGROUNDMyelodysplastic syndromes (MDSs), also called preleukemias, are a group of myeloid hematopoietic malignant disorders. We studied the transformation of MDS into acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

METHODSLeukemic transformation in 151 patients with MDS was dynamically followed up. The clinical manifestation, peripheral blood and bone marrow condition, karyotypes, immunophenotypes, response to treatment, and prognosis of AML evolution from MDS (MDS-AML) were also observed.

RESULTSDuring the course of this study, over the past eight years and seven months, 21 (13.91%) of 151 MDS patients progressed to overt leukemia, with a median interval of 5 (1 - 23) months. There were no significant differences between rates of leukemic transformation in comparison with the refractory anemia (RA), RA with excess of blasts (RAEB), and RAEB in transformation (RAEB-t) patient groups. Transformation occurred either gradually or rapidly. There were five parameters positively correlated to leukemic transformation: under 40 years of age, pancytopenia of 3 lineages, more than 15% blasts in the bone marrow, at least two abnormal karyotypes, and treatment with combined chemotherapy. All of the 21 patients with leukemia suffered from MDS-AML, and most of them were M2, M4, or M5. Two (9.52%) MDS-AML patients developed extramedullary infiltration. Leukopenia was found in 47.62% of these patients. Two thirds of these patients, whose bone marrows were generally hypercellular, suffered from neutropenia. After developing AML, 8 (47.06%) patients developed abnormal karyotypes. High expression of immature myeloid antigens, including CD33 [(49.83 +/- 24.50)%], CD13 [(36.38 +/- 33.84)%], monocytic antigen CD14 [(38.50 +/- 24.60)%], and stem cell marker CD34 [(34.67 +/- 30.59)%], were found on bone marrow mononuclear cells from MDS-AML patients after leukemic transformation. In some cases, lymphoid antigens, such as CD5, CD7, CD9, and CD19, coexisted with myeloid antigens. A low complete remission rate (31.25%) and a short survival time, with median survival of 6 (1 - 28) months, were found in patients with MDS-AML treated by induction chemotherapy.

CONCLUSIONSMDS has a high risk of developing into AML, either gradually or rapidly. Patients with MDS-AML have specific biological characteristics and a worse prognosis.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Chromosome Aberrations ; Female ; Humans ; Immunophenotyping ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; etiology ; genetics ; immunology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myelodysplastic Syndromes ; complications ; genetics ; immunology ; Prognosis

No abstract available.
Aged ; Bone Marrow/pathology ; Genome, Human ; Humans ; Isochromosomes/*genetics ; Karyotyping ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute/complications/*diagnosis/genetics ; *Loss of Heterozygosity ; Male ; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis ; Thrombocytosis/*etiology

OBJECTIVETo assess the prevalence of several tyrosine kinases (TKs) gene mutations including c-Kit, FLT3 and JAK2 V617F in core binding factor related acute myeloid leukemia (CBF-AML), and analyze their impact on clinical characteristics and prognosis.

METHODSMutations of c-Kit, FLT3-ITD and FLT3-TKD were detected by genomic DNA PCR and sequencing, and JAK2 V617F mutation screening by allele-specific PCR in 58 newly diagnosed CBF-AML patients [28 AML with inv(16) and 30 with t(8;21)], and analyze the patients clinical characteristics and prognoses.

RESULTSc-Kit aberrations were detected in 32.8% cases, including 6 cases mutated in exon 8 (mutKIT8) and 13 mutated in exon 17 (mutKIT17). MutKIT8 was more prominent in inv(16) than in t(8;21) patients (21.4% vs 0, P = 0.009). Only 2 cases had FLT3-ITD and 7 (12.1%) FLT3-TKD mutations. The result of JAK2 V617F mutation screenings in these CBF-AML patients was negative. The frequency of receptor tyrosine kinases(RTK) mutations was 46.6% and only one case had two kinds of missense mutations (mutKIT8 & TKD(+)). Median age of onset was higher for mutKIT17 than for wide-type c-Kit (wtKIT) patients (55 vs 31, P = 0.003). c-Kit mutations were significantly associated with decreased overall survival (OS) and continuous complete remission (CCR) rates (P = 0.053, and 0.048 respectively), and so did more for exon17 mutated patients reduced (P = 0.005, and 0.013 respectively). FLT3-TKD mutation showed no effects on prognosis of CBF-AML patients.

CONCLUSIONSRTK mutations are common in patients with CBF-AML. c-Kit mutations frequently and JAK2V617F mutation rarely appear in CBF-AML. c-Kit mutations, especially mutKIT17 confers higher relapse risk and poorer prognosis.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Core Binding Factors ; DNA Mutational Analysis ; Female ; Humans ; Janus Kinase 2 ; genetics ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; diagnosis ; etiology ; genetics ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mutation ; Prognosis ; Protein-Tyrosine Kinases ; genetics ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-kit ; genetics ; Young Adult ; fms-Like Tyrosine Kinase 3 ; genetics

OBJECTIVETo investigate the relationship between DNA homologous recombination (HR) repair genes RAD51-G135C/XRCC3-C241T polymorphisms and development of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with recurrent chromosome translocation.

METHODSGenomic DNA was extracted from bone marrow cells of 625 de novo AML patients and peripheral blood cells of 806 patient family members and 704 unrelated volunteers. Genotypes of RAD51-G135C and XRCC3-C241T were analyzed by PCR-RFLP. Cell lines with genotypes differed from XRCC3-C241T were selected and irradiated in vitro. The CBFβ-MYH11 fusion gene was detected by TaqMan real-time PCR.

RESULTSThe XRCC3-C241T variant (C/T + T/T) showed 6.22-fold and 6.99-fold increase in the risk of developing the AML with inv(16)/t(16;16)/CBFβ-MYH11 as compared with the volunteer and family member controls respectively; the RAD51-G135C homozygote-type (C/C) variant showed 0.87-fold (P = 0.010) and 1.15-fold (P = 0.001) respectively increase in the risk of this subtype AML. In the irradiated group, the CBFβ-MYH11 mRNA level in HL-60 cells was 59.49 times increased than that in KG1a cells. However, the RAD51-G135C and XRCC3-C241T variants had no correlations with the risk of development of t(15;17)/PML-RARα(+)AML, t(8;21)/AML1-ETO(+) AML and 11q23 AML subtypes.

CONCLUSIONThe XRCC3-C241T variant and the RAD51-G135C homozygote-type significantly increase the risk of the development of AML with inv(16)/t(16;16)/CBFβ-MYH11.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Case-Control Studies ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; DNA-Binding Proteins ; genetics ; Female ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Genotype ; Humans ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute ; etiology ; genetics ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Oncogene Proteins, Fusion ; genetics ; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide ; Rad51 Recombinase ; genetics ; Translocation, Genetic ; Young Adult

BACKGROUND: Therapy-related myeloid neoplasms (t-MN) occur as late complications of cytotoxic therapy. This study reviewed clinical and cytogenetic characteristics of patients with t-MN at a single institution in Korea. METHODS: The study subjects included 39 consecutive patients diagnosed with t-MN. Each subject's clinical history of previous diseases, treatments, and laboratory data was reviewed, including cytogenetics. The primary diagnosis was hematologic malignancy in 14 patients and solid tumor in 25 patients. RESULTS: Therapy-related acute myeloid leukemia (t-AML, 66.7%) was found to be more common than therapy-related myelodysplastic syndrome (t-MDS). Primary hematologic malignancies that were commonly implicated included mature B-cell neoplasm and acute leukemia. Breast cancer was the most common primary solid tumor. The mean time interval from cytotoxic therapy initiation to t-MN detection was 49 months. Chromosomal aberrations were observed in 35 patients, and loss of chromosome 5, 7, or both accounted for 41% of all cases. Balanced rearrangements occurred in 13 patients; these patients showed shorter latency intervals (mean, 38 months) than patients with loss of chromosome 5 or 7 (mean, 61 months). CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we determined the clinical and cytogenetic characteristics of Korean patients with t-MN. Although our results were generally consistent with those of previous reports, we found that t-MN resulting from de novo leukemia was common and that t-AML was more common than t-MDS at presentation. Multi-institutional studies involving a larger number of patients and additional parameters are required to investigate the epidemiology, genetic predisposition, and survival rate of t-MN in Korea.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Antineoplastic Agents/*adverse effects/therapeutic use ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group ; Bone Marrow/pathology ; Breast Neoplasms/drug therapy/pathology/radiotherapy ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Chromosome Aberrations ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 5 ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 7 ; Female ; Hematologic Neoplasms/drug therapy/pathology/radiotherapy ; Humans ; Karyotyping ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute/*diagnosis/etiology/genetics ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myelodysplastic Syndromes/*diagnosis/etiology/genetics ; Neoplasms, Second Primary/*diagnosis/etiology/genetics ; Republic of Korea ; Young Adult

Sphingobacterium spiritivorum has been rarely isolated from clinical specimens of immunocompromised patients, and there have been no case reports of S. spiritivorum infection in Korea to our knowledge. We report a case of S. spiritivorum bacteremia in a 68-yr-old woman, who was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia and subsequently received chemotherapy. One day after chemotherapy ended, her body temperature increased to 38.3degrees C. A gram-negative bacillus was isolated in aerobic blood cultures and identified as S. spiritivorum by an automated biochemical system. A 16S rRNA sequencing analysis confirmed that the isolate was S. spiritivorum. The patient received antibiotic therapy for 11 days but died of septic shock. This is the first reported case of human S. spiritivorum infection in Korea. Although human infection is rare, S. spiritivorum can be a fatal opportunistic pathogen in immunocompromised patients.
Aged ; Anti-Bacterial Agents/therapeutic use ; Bacteremia/*complications/drug therapy/*microbiology ; Bone Marrow Cells/pathology ; Fatal Outcome ; Female ; Humans ; Immunocompromised Host ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute/*complications ; Phylogeny ; RNA, Ribosomal, 16S/genetics ; Sequence Analysis, DNA ; Shock, Septic/etiology/microbiology ; Sphingobacterium/classification/genetics/isolation & purification/*physiology

Treatment-related myelodysplastic syndrome (t-MDS) and acute myelogenous leukemia (t-AML) are now well established as complications of cytotoxic chemotherapy. We experienced a 28-yr-old female patient who developed t-MDS/t-AML with characteristic chromosomal abnormalities including 11q23 chromosomal rearrangement following high-dose chemotherapy with autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT) for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. The patient was admitted with bulky abdominal masses of B cell lineage non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. After 2 cycles of systemic chemotherapy of the Vanderbilt regimen, the patient underwent ASCT with high dose chemotherapy of the BEAC regimen. She also received radiation of 48 Gy for the residual periportal lymphadenopathy. The initial cytogenetic analysis of the infused mononuclear cells revealed a normal karyotype. Twenty two months after the ASCT, pancytopenia was noted and her bone marrow aspirate showed dysplastic hemopoiesis with myeloblasts up to 12% of nonerythroid nucleated cells. The patient was diagnosed as t-MDS (refractory anemia with an excess of blasts). Cytogenetic analysis showed complex chromosomal abnormalities including 11q23 rearrangement, which is frequently found in topoisomerase II inhibitor-related hematologic malignancies. Four months later, it was noted that the t-MDS had evolved into an overt t-AML. Cytogenetic analysis showed an evolving pattern with more complex abnormalities. The patient was treated with combination che-motherapy, but her leukemic cells were resistant to the therapy.
Adult ; Antineoplastic Agents, Phytogenic/adverse effects ; Antineoplastic Combined Chemotherapy Protocols/*adverse effects ; B-Lymphocytes/cytology ; Bone Marrow Cells/pathology ; Carmustine/*adverse effects ; Chromosome Aberrations ; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 11 ; Combined Modality Therapy/adverse effects ; Cyclophosphamide/*adverse effects ; Cytarabine/*adverse effects ; Etoposide/*adverse effects ; Female ; Gene Rearrangement ; Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation/*adverse effects ; Humans ; Leukemia, Myeloid, Acute/*etiology/genetics ; Lymphoma, Non-Hodgkin/*therapy ; Myelodysplastic Syndromes/*etiology/genetics ; Neoplasms, Second Primary/*etiology ; Pelvis ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Complications, Neoplastic/*therapy ; Transplantation, Autologous