Convergent mechanisms of somatic mutations in polycythemia vera.

Abstract

Polycythemia vera (PV) is an acquired blood disorder, with variable increase of clonal myeloid cells (erythrocytes, granulocytes and platelets) and mostly normal polyclonal T lymphocytes. Most patients have a somatic V617F gain-of-function mutation in JAK2 associated with acquired uniparental disomy (UPD) on chromosome 9p. Yet, the JAK2 V617F mutation is not a PV-initiating event and the family clustering of PV suggests a contribution of inherited genetic events. Using whole-genome SNP arrays, we assayed 34 T-cells and 66 granulocytes (including 32 pairs from the same patients), and identified multiple SNPs around JAK2 that are associated with PV susceptibility (rs11999802, P=1.8E-8, OR=4.4). We also developed a quantitative measure of the fraction of somatic single nucleotide variants (SNVs) based on allele-specific PCR, and a quantitative measure of somatic UPD based on "fractional copy-neutral loss-of-heterozygosity (LOH)" on SNP arrays. Somatic genomic changes in granulocytes revealed strong genetic heterogeneity, including 9p UPD and chromosomal gain. The magnitude of somatic 9p UPD was strongly associated with V617F dosage (r2=0.74, P=4.8E-12), suggesting that UPD preferentially increases the V617F subclone. In granulocytes with heterozygous rs11999802 genotypes, UPD increased the relative fraction of germline risk alleles (P=0.03). Thus, germline risk variants at JAK2 predispose to somatic point mutations within JAK2, whose allelic dosage can be further increased by a serial subclonal expansion of allele-specific UPD or copy number alteration, contributing to PV pathogenesis. We argue that PV represents a unique disease model to study the interplay between germline risk variants and convergent mechanisms of somatic mutations.