Loss of the Y chromosome predicts a high relapse risk in younger adult male patients with t(8;21) acute myeloid leukemia on high-dose cytarabine consolidation therapy: a retrospective multicenter study

Abstract

The prognostic significance of loss of the Y chromosome (LOY) in patients with t(8;21)(q22;q22) acute myeloid leukemia (AML) remains poorly understood. To investigate this issue, 226 younger adult male patients with t(8;21) AML from 15 Chinese hematology research centers were retrospectively evaluated, among which, 50.4% had LOY. In patients receiving high-dose cytarabine (HiDAC) consolidation therapy, LOY was associated with a significantly higher cumulative incidence of relapse (CIR, HR = 2.18, p = .048), worse relapse-free survival (RFS, HR = 2.39, p = .026), and worse but not significant overall survival (OS, HR = 2.71, p = .166). A multivariate analysis adjusted for age, WBC, KIT mutations, and minimal residual disease showed LOY to be an independent adverse prognostic factor for relapse in patients on HiDAC consolidation therapy. Our results suggest that LOY may be associated with a high relapse risk in t(8;21) AML patients receiving HiDAC therapy during consolidation.

Keywords:

• Loss of the Y chromosome
• acute myeloid leukemia
• t(8;21) AML
• cytarabine
• consolidation therapy

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank all participants from following institutions for their support of our research, including Professor Jianmin Luo from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Hebei Medical University; Professor Wei Li from the First Affiliated Hospital, Jilin University; Professor Jianliang Shen from the Navy General Hospital; Professor Liangding Hu from the 307 Hospital of PLA; Professor Qingming Yang from the First Affiliated Hospital of PLA General Hospital; Professor Meiyun Fang from the First Affiliated Hospital of Dalian Medical University; Professor Hengxiang Wang from the General Hospital of the Air Force; Professor Xiaoyan Ke from the Peking University Third Hospital; Professor Zhao Wang from the Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University; Professor Jingwen Wang from the Beijing Tongren Hospital, Capital Medical University; Professor Feng Liu from the Xiyuan Hospital, China Academy of Chinese Traditional Medical Sciences; Professor Hui Liu from the Beijing Hospital; Professor Yigai Ma from the China-Japan Friendship Hospital and Professor Huiren Chen from the General Hospital of Beijing Military Region.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 81670162 and 81800135) and the Natural Science Foundation of Beijing Municipality (Grant No. 7151009).