Clinical implications of SRSF2 mutations in AML patients undergoing allogeneic stem cell transplantation

Abstract

The SRSF2 mutations are frequently found in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and mostly affect the P95 residue. Mutations in this splicing factor mediate abnormal splicing associated with exon skipping events, including EZH2 as a crucial target. While SRSF2 mutations are enriched in secondary AML and associated with worse outcomes following chemotherapy consolidation, very little is known about the associated biological and clinical implications in AML patients consolidated with allogeneic hematopoietic stemcell transplantation (HSCT). Here we retrospectively analyzed 263 adult AML patients who received an allogeneic HSCT regarding the biological and clinical implications of the SRSF2 mutation status at diagnosis and in morphologic remission at HSCT. We found 12.5% of the patients to be SRSF2 mutated at diagnosis. Mutated patients had increased EZH2 missplicing events with P95H likely driving this pathobiology most effectively. However, the amount of EZH2 missplicing events, as a functional surrogate marker did not associate with relevant biological or clinical characteristics. We observed a persistence of mutations in remission before HSCT in the majority (93%) of SRSF2 mutated AML patients. Importantly, the variant allele frequency (VAF) levels of SRSF2 mutations in remission at HSCT did not correlate with outcomes following HSCT consolidation, limiting the applicability of SRSF2 mutations as a marker for residual AML disease. Following allogeneic HSCT SRSF2 mutated AML patients experienced a 2-year overall survival of 77%, indicating that SRSF2 mutated AML patients may benefit from HSCT consolidation.