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PURPOSE A previous study by the International Berlin-Frankfurt-Münster Study Group (I-BFM-SG) on childhood KMT2A-rearranged ( KMT2A-r) AML demonstrated the prognostic value of the fusion partner. This I-BFM-SG study investigated the value of flow cytometry-based measurable residual disease (flow-MRD) and evaluated the benefit of allogeneic stem-cell transplantation (allo-SCT) in first complete remission (CR1) in this disease. METHODS A total of 1,130 children with KMT2A-r AML, diagnosed between January 2005 and December 2016, were assigned to high-risk (n = 402; 35.6%) or non–high-risk (n = 728; 64.4%) fusion partner-based groups. Flow-MRD levels at both end of induction 1 (EOI1) and 2 (EOI2) were available for 456 patients and were considered negative (RESULTS The high-risk group had inferior EFS (30.3% high risk v 54.0% non-high risk; P < .0001), CIR (59.7% v 35.2%; P < .0001), and OS (49.2% v 70.5%; P < .0001). EOI2 MRD negativity was associated with superior EFS (n = 413; 47.6% MRD negativity v n = 43; 16.3% MRD positivity; P < .0001) and OS (n = 413; 66.0% v n = 43; 27.9%; P < .0001), and showed a trend toward lower CIR (n = 392; 46.1% v n = 26; 65.4%; P = .016). Similar results were obtained for patients with EOI2 MRD negativity within both risk groups, except that within the non–high-risk group, CIR was comparable with that of patients with EOI2 MRD positivity. Allo-SCT in CR1 only reduced CIR (hazard ratio, 0.5 [95% CI, 0.4 to 0.8]; P = .00096) within the high-risk group but did not improve OS. In multivariable analyses, EOI2 MRD positivity and high-risk group were independently associated with inferior EFS, CIR, and OS. CONCLUSION EOI2 flow-MRD is an independent prognostic factor and should be included as risk stratification factor in childhood KMT2A-r AML. Treatment approaches other than allo-SCT in CR1 are needed to improve prognosis.

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Fusion oncogenes are prevalent in several pediatric cancers, yet little is known about the specific associations between age and phenotype. We observed that fusion oncogenes, such as ETO2–GLIS2, are associated with acute megakaryoblastic or other myeloid leukemia subtypes in an age-dependent manner. Analysis of a novel inducible transgenic mouse model showed that ETO2–GLIS2 expression in fetal hematopoietic stem cells induced rapid megakaryoblastic leukemia whereas expression in adult bone marrow hematopoietic stem cells resulted in a shift toward myeloid transformation with a strikingly delayed in vivo leukemogenic potential. Chromatin accessibility and single-cell transcriptome analyses indicate ontogeny-dependent intrinsic and ETO2–GLIS2-induced differences in the activities of key transcription factors, including ERG, SPI1, GATA1, and CEBPA. Importantly, switching off the fusion oncogene restored terminal differentiation of the leukemic blasts. Together, these data show that aggressiveness and phenotypes in pediatric acute myeloid leukemia result from an ontogeny-related differential susceptibility to transformation by fusion oncogenes.Significance:This work demonstrates that the clinical phenotype of pediatric acute myeloid leukemia is determined by ontogeny-dependent susceptibility for transformation by oncogenic fusion genes. The phenotype is maintained by potentially reversible alteration of key transcription factors, indicating that targeting of the fusions may overcome the differentiation blockage and revert the leukemic state.See related commentary by Cruz Hernandez and Vyas, p. 1653.This article is highlighted in the In This Issue feature, p. 1631

Supplementary Tables 1 to 11

International audience; Fanconi anemia (FA) patients experience chromosome instability, yielding hematopoietic stem/progenitor cell (HSPC) exhaustion and predisposition to poor-prognosis myeloid leukemia. Based on a longitudinal cohort of 335 patients, we performed clinical, genomic, and functional studies in 62 patients with clonal evolution. We found a unique pattern of somatic structural variants and mutations that shares features of BRCA-related cancers, the FA-hallmark being unbalanced, microhomology-mediated translocations driving copy-number alterations. Half the patients developed chromosome 1q gain, driving clonal hematopoiesis through MDM4 trisomy downmodulating p53 signaling later followed by secondary acute myeloid lukemia genomic alterations. Functionally, MDM4 triplication conferred greater fitness to murine and human primary FA HSPCs, rescued inflammation-mediated bone marrow failure, and drove clonal dominance in FA mouse models, while targeting MDM4 impaired leukemia cells in vitro and in vivo. Our results identify a linear route toward secondary leukemogenesis whereby early MDM4-driven downregulation of basal p53 activation plays a pivotal role, opening monitoring and therapeutic prospects.

Better knowledge of genetic aberrations in pediatric acute myeloid leukemia is essential to adapt treatment intensity. RUNX1 mutations are well described in adult AML and known to be associated with a poor outcome. In children, first studies showed similar results but because of their low frequency, prognosis impact remains unclear. RUNX1 deletions have rarely been described. Among 386 children enrolled in the French ELAM02 trial, we observed 29 (8%) patients with RUNX1 abnormalities: 24 mutations and 5 deletions. We found no significant association with any clinical presentation. RUNX1 alteration was more likely associated with AML0 cytological subtype; often presented with normal karyotype but no rearrangement classified as good prognosis markers (KMT2A or CBF-AML). RUNX1 mutated patients had higher number of co-mutations, such as FLT3-ITD, EZH2 and BCOR mutations but were never associated with NPM1 or CEBPA. Five years EFS was 32.5% for RUNX1 mutated and deleted patients versus 61.4% for RUNX1 wild type (p=0.003), and OS was 33.6% versus 75.7% (p

Pediatric acute myeloid leukemia expressing the ETO2::GLIS2 fusion oncogene is associated with dismal prognosis. Previous studies have shown that ETO2::GLIS2 can efficiently induce leukemia development associated with strong transcriptional changes but those amenable to pharmacological targeting remained to be identified. By studying an inducible ETO2::GLIS2 cellular model, we uncovered that de novo ETO2::GLIS2 expression in human cells led to increased CASP3 transcription, CASP3 activation, and cell death. Patient-derived ETO2::GLIS2

BRAF inhibitors are an effective treatment for BRAF

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International audience

International audience; BRAF inhibitors are an effective treatment for BRAFV600E-mutated, risk-organ-positive Langerhans cell histiocytosis (RO+ LCH). However, cell-free BRAFV600E DNA often persists during therapy and recurrence frequently occurs after therapy discontinuation. To identify a pathological reservoir of BRAFV600E-mutated cells, we studied peripheral blood cells obtained from six infants with RO+ multisystem (MS) LCH that received targeted therapy. After cell sorting, the BRAFV600E mutation was detected in monocytes (n = 5), B lymphocytes (n = 3), T lymphocytes (n = 2), and myeloid and plasmacytoid dendritic cells (n = 2 each). This biomarker may offer an interesting tool for monitoring the effectiveness of new therapeutic approaches for weaning children with RO+ LCH from targeted therapy.

The authors thank Paola Romecin and Virginia Rodriguez-Cortez for technical assistance. This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (SAF2016-80481R, PID2019-108160RBI00), the Obra Social La Caixa (LCF/PR/HR19/52160011), Interreg V-A programme (POCTEFA) 2014-2020 (grant PROTEOblood EFA360/19), Health Canada (H4080-144541), and Deutsche Josep Carreras Leukämie Stiftung (P.M.). Additional funding was provided by Consejería de Salud y Familia (PI- 0119-2019) (R.D.d.l.G.), Health Institute Carlos III (ISCIII/FEDER, PI17/01028) and Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer (C.B.), Health Institute Carlos III/FEDER (CPII17/00032) (V.R.-M.), and Fundación Hay Esperanza (E.A.). CERCA/Generalitat de Catalunya and Fundación Josep Carreras-Obra Social la Caixa provided institutional support. B.L.-M. was supported by a Lady Tata Memorial Trust International Award and Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer (INVES20011LÓPE). O.M. and T.V.-H. were supported by Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer (INVES211226MOLI) and a Marie Sklodowska Curie Fellowship (792923), respectively. P.M. is an investigator in the Spanish Cell Therapy Network., Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is the most common acute leukemia in adults. Disease heterogeneity is well documented, and patient stratification determines treatment decisions. Patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) from risk-stratified AML are crucial for studying AML biology and testing novel therapeutics. Despite recent advances in PDX modeling of AML, reproducible engraftment of human AML is primarily limited to high-risk (HR) cases, with inconsistent or very protracted engraftment observed for favorable-risk (FR) and intermediate-risk (IR) patients. We used NSGS mice to characterize the engraftment robustness/kinetics of 28 AML patient samples grouped according to molecular/ cytogenetic classification and assessed whether the orthotopic coadministration of patientmatched bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells (BM MSCs) improves AML engraftment. PDX event-free survival correlated well with the predictable prognosis of risk-stratified AML patients. The majority (85-94%) of the mice were engrafted in bone marrow (BM) independently of the risk group, although HR AML patients showed engraftment levels that were significantly superior to those of FR or IR AML patients. Importantly, the engraftment levels observed in NSGS mice by week 6 remained stable over time. Serial transplantation and long-term culture-initiating cell (LTC-IC) assays revealed long-term engraftment limited to HR AML patients, fitter leukemia-initiating cells (LICs) in HR AML samples, and the presence of AML LICs in the CD342 leukemic fraction, regardless of the risk group. Finally, orthotopic coadministration of patient-matched BM MSCs and AML cells was dispensable for BM engraftment levels but favored peripheralization of engrafted AML cells. This comprehensive characterization of human AML engraftment in NSGS mice offers a valuable platform for in vivo testing of targeted therapies in risk-stratified AML patient samples., Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (SAF2016-80481R, PID2019-108160RBI00), Obra Social La Caixa (LCF/PR/HR19/52160011), Interreg V-A programme (POCTEFA) 2014-2020 (grant PROTEOblood EFA360/19), Health Canada (H4080-144541), Deutsche Josep Carreras Leukämie Stiftung, Consejer ıa de Salud y Familia (PI- 0119-2019), Health Institute Carlos III (ISCIII/FEDER, PI17/01028), Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer, Health Institute Carlos III/FEDER (CPII17/00032), Fundación Hay Esperanza, CERCA/Generalitat de Catalunya, Fundació Josep Carreras-Obra Social la Caixa, Lady Tata Memorial Trust International Award, Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer (INVES20011LÓPE), Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer (INVES211226MOLI), Marie Sklodowska Curie Fellowship (792923)

Acute erythroleukemia (AEL or acute myeloid leukemia [AML]-M6) is a rare but aggressive hematologic malignancy. Previous studies showed that AEL leukemic cells often carry complex karyotypes and mutations in known AML-associated oncogenes. To better define the underlying molecular mechanisms driving the erythroid phenotype, we studied a series of 33 AEL samples representing 3 genetic AEL subgroups including TP53-mutated, epigenetic regulator-mutated (eg, DNMT3A, TET2, or IDH2), and undefined cases with low mutational burden. We established an erythroid vs myeloid transcriptome-based space in which, independently of the molecular subgroup, the majority of the AEL samples exhibited a unique mapping different from both non-M6 AML and myelodysplastic syndrome samples. Notably, >25% of AEL patients, including in the genetically undefined subgroup, showed aberrant expression of key transcriptional regulators, including SKI, ERG, and ETO2. Ectopic expression of these factors in murine erythroid progenitors blocked in vitro erythroid differentiation and led to immortalization associated with decreased chromatin accessibility at GATA1-binding sites and functional interference with GATA1 activity. In vivo models showed development of lethal erythroid, mixed erythroid/myeloid, or other malignancies depending on the cell population in which AEL-associated alterations were expressed. Collectively, our data indicate that AEL is a molecularly heterogeneous disease with an erythroid identity that results in part from the aberrant activity of key erythroid transcription factors in hematopoietic stem or progenitor cells.

Resume L’exploration d’une thrombopenie prolongee est une situation classique en pediatrie. La cause la plus frequente reste le purpura thrombopenique immunologique. Cependant, il est important de savoir remettre en cause ce diagnostic en cas d’atypie, d’association syndromique, d’antecedents familiaux de thrombopenie ou d’hemopathie myeloide maligne, ou d’evolution inhabituelle, et d’evoquer l’hypothese d’une thrombopenie constitutionnelle. Il s’agit d’un vaste groupe de pathologies qui a beneficie ces dernieres annees des avancees de la genetique et de la biologie moleculaire. Ceci a permis la description d’un grand nombre d’entites clinicobiologiques formant un large spectre de pathologies aux pronostics et aux profils evolutifs diverses. Ameliorer les connaissances sur ces pathologies, pour certaines de description recente, a pour but d’adapter au mieux la prise en charge et la surveillance des patients. Devant le nombre croissant d’anomalies genetiques decrites, nous proposons une classification des thrombopenies constitutionnelles basees sur deux donnees simples : le caractere isole ou syndromique de la thrombopenie et la taille des plaquettes ou le volume plaquettaire moyen, avec une revue de la litterature recente. Notre but est de faciliter une demarche diagnostique rationnelle et ciblee au sein d’un groupe de pathologies en evolution constante. Malgre les progres spectaculaires des connaissances, la moitie des patients atteints d’une thrombopenie constitutionnelle n’ont pas a ce jour de diagnostic genetique etiologique. Cette proportion sera probablement reduite dans les prochaines annees, ce qui permettra d’ameliorer la qualite de la prise en charge des patients.

Chromosomal rearrangements of the human MLL/KMT2A gene are associated with infant, pediatric, adult and therapy-induced acute leukemias. Here we present the data obtained from 2345 acute leukemia patients. Genomic breakpoints within the MLL gene and the involved translocation partner genes (TPGs) were determined and 11 novel TPGs were identified. Thus, a total of 135 different MLL rearrangements have been identified so far, of which 94 TPGs are now characterized at the molecular level. In all, 35 out of these 94 TPGs occur recurrently, but only 9 specific gene fusions account for more than 90% of all illegitimate recombinations of the MLL gene. We observed an age-dependent breakpoint shift with breakpoints localizing within MLL intron 11 associated with acute lymphoblastic leukemia and younger patients, while breakpoints in MLL intron 9 predominate in AML or older patients. The molecular characterization of MLL breakpoints suggests different etiologies in the different age groups and allows the correlation of functional domains of the MLL gene with clinical outcome. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the MLL recombinome in acute leukemia and demonstrates that the establishment of patient-specific chromosomal fusion sites allows the design of specific PCR primers for minimal residual disease analyses for all patients.

Introduction KMT2A-rearranged (KMT2A-r) acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a heterogeneous genetic subgroup with a frequency of about 25% in children with AML. At the 62 nd ASH annual meeting last year, we reported on the differences in outcome of various KMT2A subgroups based on translocation partner and the significance of minimal residual disease (MRD) status during and after induction as a follow-up study of Balgobind et al., Blood 2009. The impact of allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) in first complete remission (CR1) and the presence of additional cytogenetic aberrations (ACAs) on prognosis have not yet been described for our cohort. Methods Data on allo-HSCT in CR1 and the presence of ACAs of 1256 KMT2A-r de novo pediatric AML patients from 15 AML study groups affiliated with the I-BFM Study Group, diagnosed between 2005 and 2016, were retrospectively collected and studied. Karyotypes were reviewed and classified by two of the authors (RW&CH). Based on translocation partners, patients were classified to the KMT2A high-risk subgroup (6q27, 10p11.2, 10p12, 4q21, and 19p13.3) or non-high-risk subgroup (9p22, 19p13, 19p13.1, 1q21, Xq24, 17q21, 1p32, and 17q12). These two categories have been used to estimate a Cox model. Patients with unknown translocation partners were excluded from these analyses (n=126). Flow cytometry MRD levels at the end of induction course 1 (EOI1) and 2 (EOI2) Results Of 1256 pediatric patients with KMT2A-r AML, data on HSCT in CR1 and ACAs were available for 1186 (94.4%) and 1204 patients (95.9%), respectively; 211 (17.8%) patients received HSCT in CR1 and ACAs were present in 601 (49.9%) patients. Compared with the KMT2A non-high-risk subgroup, patients in the KMT2A high-risk subgroup underwent HSCT in CR1 more often (23.8% vs 15.0%; P < .001). ACAs were borderline significantly more common in the KMT2A high-risk subgroup (54.1% vs 46.4%; P = .015). Univariate analysis of the probability of DFS (Table 1) showed that the KMT2A high-risk subgroup (HR 2.1; 95% CI, 1.7-2.5), age ≥10 years (HR 1.4; 95% CI, 1.2-1.7), and MRD ≥0.1 at EOI1 (HR 1.5; 95% CI, 1.1-1.9) were associated with DFS. HSCT in CR1 was a borderline significant prognostic factor (HR 0.7; 95% CI, 0.6-0.9). In a multivariate analysis for DFS (n=515) (Table 1), the KMT2A high-risk subgroup (HR 2.0; 95% CI, 1.6-2.6), MRD ≥0.1 at EOI1 (HR 1.7; 95% CI, 1.2-2.3), and HSCT in CR1 (HR 0.6; 95% CI, 0.4-0.9) were associated with DFS. Univariate analysis of the probability of OS (Table 1) showed that the KMT2A high-risk subgroup (HR 1.8; 95% CI, 1.5-2.2), age ≥10 years (HR 1.6; 95% CI 1.3-2.0), WBC ≥100 x10 9/L (HR 1.4; 95% CI, 1.1-1.7), the presence of ACAs (HR 1.4; 95% CI, 1.2-1.7), and MRD ≥0.1 at EOI1 (HR 2.1; 95% CI, 1.6-2.7) were associated with OS. HSCT in CR1 was not associated with OS. The effect of HSCT in CR1 was not significantly different between the KMT2A high-risk and non-high-risk subgroups. In a multivariate analysis for OS (n=557) (Table 1), the KMT2A high-risk subgroup (HR 1.9; 95% CI, 1.4-2.5), age ≥10 years (HR 1.5; 95% CI, 1.1-1.9), the presence of ACAs (HR 1.6; 95% CI, 1.2-2.1), and MRD positivity at EOI1 (HR 1.9; 95% CI, 1.4-2.5) were associated with OS. Conclusions In this cohort of KMT2A-r pediatric AML patients, the presence of ACAs at diagnosis was independently associated with inferior OS, but not with DFS. This may be due to the exclusion of refractory patients in DFS analysis, who were significantly more common in the group of patients with ACAs. Analysis has yet to be performed to distinguish karyotype complexity. In addition, allo-HSCT in CR1 was an independent predictor of improved DFS, but was not a prognostic factor for OS. Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures Abrahamsson: wedish Children´s Cancer Foundation. Research grants and 50% senior research position for clinical research on pediatric leukemia: Research Funding. Locatelli: Amgen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Novartis: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Miltenyi: Speakers Bureau; Medac: Speakers Bureau; Jazz Pharamceutical: Speakers Bureau; Takeda: Speakers Bureau.

BACKGROUND: NK cells play a crucial role in the immune surveillance of malignant hemopathies. They undergo fine regulation by the microenvironment and by integrating activating and inhibiting signals trough several receptor/ligand couple interactions, hereafter referred to as "NK synapse". The ligands are expressed by a variety of cell types in the hematopoietic niche, including most immature leukemic stem cells CD34+CD38-. High expression of inhibiting ligands on AML (acute myeloid leukemia) blasts was associated with adverse clinical outcome . This observation highlights the relevance of identifying new ligand/receptor (L/R) pairs that could be targeted to prevent inhibiting interactions at the NK synapse. Relevant interactions to be blocked would display both ligand and receptor expressions on the leukemic cells and NK cells respectively. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 23 pediatric AML patients from the pediatric MyeChild01 protocol including in CONECT-AML French national collaborative network project diagnosed between 2018 and 2019 were included in this study. Reference bone marrows used were regenerative (4) or healthy bone marrows (5) . Multicolour flowcytometry protocole used fresh EDTA bone marrow at AML diagnosis and immunostaining with fluorochrome-coupled antibodies using 14 colour panel of L/R couples (Figure 1). Data was acquired on the FORTESSA Becton Dickinson with the Diva software and analysis using script R-PCA and FlowJo . RESULTS: We studied 5 inhibiting NK synapses (iinhibitory ligand/receptor pairs) . Four out of five inhibiting synapses (TIGIT/CD155; PD1-1/PD-L1; CD94/HLA-E and KIR2DL/HLA-A-B-C), showed not significant expression of ligand associated with the corresponding receptor expression. The CD200/CD200R synapse was the only one in which high ligand expression in blasts was significantly associated with high receptor expression on NK cells (Figure 2). This synapse could thus be of interest to develop targeting therapies for CD200-positive pediatric AML, with the strong advantage that patient eligibility could be easily identified at diagnosis. We then realized a principal component analysis, using the R software (PCA), integrating the MFIs of the 5 inhibiting NK synapses and 6 activating NK synapses (Figure 1) for the pediatric AML cohort (ID #1 to #23 ) together with reference bone marrows (healthy donors (n=5; ID #24 to #28) and regenerative bone marrows (n=4; ID #29 to #32)) . The CD200/CD200R synapse was identified as the main variable, explaining the distribution of patients and healthy donors as both CD200 and CD200R expressions happened to be among the most contributive to PCA axes. Interestingly, healthy donors clustered together, close to regenerative bone marrows. Pediatric AML patients distributed heterogeneously (Figure 3). In parallel, we evaluated whether CD200 expression on bulk leukemia blasts including most immature CD34+CD38- LSC was associated with exhaustion markers on NK cells. We found that patients with high and intermediate expression of CD200 on blasts (MFI > 3 rd quartile and comprised between 2 nd and 3 rd quartile, respectively) displayed strong PD-1 and TIGIT expressions on NK cells. Reciprocally, patients with low CD200 expression (MFI< 2 nd quartile) displayed a moderate PD-1 expression on NK cells, and TIGIT expression was more heterogeneous among individuals (Figure 4). CONCLUSIONS: Here, we identified CD200 expression in AML blasts including LSC as a marker that could be associated with NK cell exhaustion. at diagnosis. A PCA strategy allowed to observe that this marker differentiated pediatric AML patients NK synapse profiles from healthy donors and regenerative bone marrows sugesting a potential deregulation of bone marrow niche including NK-LSC escape. This suggests that CD200 expression assessment on blasts at diagnosis could be a tool to evaluate NK cell antitumor potential. Indeed, direct NK cell assessment by flow cytometry can be challenging because of blast invasion in the bone marrow. Nevertheless, it remains to be elucidated whether this clustering and exhaustion markers on NK cells correlated with patient clinical outcomes and MRD kinetics including CD34+CD38- LSC flow frequency evaluation that should be useful in most clinical trials to overcome chemoresistance of LSC. These results should be confirmed in a prospectively larger cohort of patients in future clinical trials. Figure 1 Figure 1. Disclosures Renard: Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Research Funding.

Introduction: Congenital neutropenia (CN) is characterized by chronic neutropenia due to a constitutional genetic defect.1 To date, these diseases have not been considered to be frequently associated with malignant solid tumors, unlike the risk of secondary myelodysplastic syndrome leukemia, which is well-known in CN. Methods: The French Severe Chronic Neutropenia Registry (FSCNR) has prospectively enrolled CN patients since 1993. Solid tumors, identified during routine patient follow-up, were classified according to WHO criteria. We included localized lymphoma in the spectrum of malignant solid tumors. We calculated the incidence of malignant solid tumors in a cohort of CN patients. Results: Among 868 patients with various CN subtypes followed for a total of 16617 person-years, 24 patients who developed a malignant solid tumor were identified. Those cancers are described in Table 1, including the CN genetic anomaly. Cancers were almost always diagnosed in adulthood, with median age at diagnosis of 38.1 (range 10-72) years; only 3 cancers were diagnosed before age of 20 years. The cancer rate was 1.2% at 30 years of age, 7% at 40 years and 24% at 50 years (Fig. 1A). The risk-of-cancer percentages depended mainly on the associated genetic deficiency. Solid tumors were roughly distributed as follows: 33% among WHIM (CXCR4) patients, 5.3% among GATA2 patients, 2.7% among ELANE patients, 1.9 % among SBDS patients and 0.8% among for all other subtypes combined (Fig. 1B). Human papillomavirus (HPV) was the cause of cancer for 2/5 in WHIM patients and 2/6 in GATA2 patients. Three Lymphoma were identified, one in GATA2 patient and 2 in WHIM patients. Notably, our cohort's follow-up is skewed to the right, with less efficient monitoring of adults, with still limited long-term follow-up beyond 40 years. Therefore, we probably underestimated the solid-tumor risk in CN patients, as many patients, if alive, are no longer followed in hematology centers. Among 103 patients who underwent hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT), 76 were long-term survivors. None of them developed solid tumors, which differs strikingly from the high malignancy risk associated with Fanconi anemia post-HSCT. Lastly, the FSCNR also includes and follows patients with idiopathic neutropenia. Among the 232 idiopathic neutropenia patients, followed for a total of 2866 person-years, no malignancy has been observed so far. Conclusion: Our data lead us to advance that CN patients should be considered at risk of developing solid cancers, especially after the age of 30 years. This risk, at first glance, depended on the CN-associated genetic anomaly, with CXCR4 mutation, GATA2, SBDS and ELANE being the most frequent. HSCT was not associated with a higher risk and may, in contrast, be protective. These findings warrant confirmation but represent a compelling reason to prolong follow-up into adulthood of CN patients diagnosed during childhood. No indication was found of a specific high solid-tumor risk associated with idiopathic neutropenia. Reference Donadieu J, Beaupain B, Fenneteau O, Bellanne-Chantelot C. Congenital neutropenia in the era of genomics: classification, diagnosis, and natural history. Br.J.Haematol. 2017; 179(4): 557-574. Acknowledgments: The French SCN registry is supported by grants from Amgen, Chugai, Prolong Pharma, X4 Pharma, Inserm, the Association 111 les Arts, the Association RMHE, the Association Sportive de Saint Quentin Fallavier. The authors thank the association IRIS and Mrs Grosjean and Mr Gonnot(ASSQF), the association Barth France for their support. Disclosures Hermine: Roche: Consultancy; Celgene BMS: Consultancy, Research Funding; AB Science: Consultancy, Current equity holder in publicly-traded company, Honoraria, Patents & Royalties, Research Funding; Alexion: Research Funding; Novartis: Research Funding. Blaise:Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Honoraria. Sicre de Fontbrune:Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc.: Honoraria, Research Funding. cohen Beaussant:X4 Pharmaceuticals, Inc.: Current Employment.

Introduction : Hematological complications (HC) as Aplastic anemia (AA) and myelodysplasia and acute leukemia (MDS/AL) are frequent and life threatening in patients with Shwachman Diamond Syndrome (SDS) with SBDS mutations. The therapy of such events is based on Hematopoetic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), which results remain quite poor, especially in case of malignancy. So far, it is difficult to anticipate to such HC and a lot is expected from the study of clonal evolution prior HC. Methods: A Targeted panel of 43 genes involved in MDS/AL (sensibility 1%) has been evaluated in 80 patients with SBDS mutation, representative of a nation based cohort of 154 patients. This cross sectional study has been completed by a prospective study for 40 patients evaluated at several time points. Results: The evaluation was performed in various situations: steady state i.e. no haematological complication, in MDS/AL and AA and lastly after HSCT. At the first evaluation, somatic mutation was found in 21 patients (30%) among the 70 in steady state and in 7 of the 8 cases with HC (6/6 cases with MDS/AL, in 1 among the 2 cases with AA) while the 1 of the 2 patients long term survivors after HSCT have no mutation and the other one kept a TP53 clone with a normal blood count and a low (1.5%) variant allele frequency (VAF). Among the 40 patients with several time points, 17 have a mutation at the first time points, but 10 others had additional mutation later. Globally, the most frequent gene involved was TP53 (82%) while mutations in other genes have been observed rarely. VAF in patients with vs without HC is lower (median VAF 0% vs 22.8% respectively p < 0.001) . Complex caryotype, monosomy 7, Iso7q were associated with P53 clone while in Del20q, 8 patients out 14 have a P53 mutations. The comparison between blood and bone marrow results allow the possibility to monitor such mutations in blood. Clonal evolution in one patient who presents a MDS in the course of the follow up had shown a competition between clones. Conclusion: Acquired TP53 is extremely frequent in patients with SBDS mutations, even in the absence of HC, but the prevalence as well as the VAF increased in case of HC. When sequential evaluation could be performed, competition between clones is frequent and a clinical decision remains therefore difficult, just on the evaluation of a time point. Acknowledgments: The French SCN registry is supported by grants from Amgen, Chugai, Prolong Pharma, X4 Pharma, Inserm, the Association 111 les Arts, the Association RMHE, the Association Sportive de Saint Quentin Fallavier. The authors thank the association IRIS and Mrs Grosjean and Mr Gonnot(ASSQF), the association Barth France for their support. Disclosures Sicre de Fontbrune: Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc.: Honoraria, Research Funding. Renard:Jazz Pharmaceuticals: Research Funding. Tournilhac:ABBVIE: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Travle grant; INNATE Pharma: Consultancy, Honoraria; GILEAD: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Travel Grant; Takeda: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Travel grant; Janssen: Consultancy, Honoraria, Other: Travel grant.

Introduction Outcome of KMT2A-rearranged (KMT2A-r) pediatric AML (pAML) is in general poor with a 5-year probability of event-free survival (5y-pEFS) and overall survival (5y-pOS) of 44% and 56%, respectively (Balgobind et al., 2009). However, over the past decades, the heterogeneity of KMT2A-r pAML has emerged, showing differences in outcome between subgroups based on translocation partners. The predictive value of MRD in KMT2A-r pAML is undefined. This retrospective study aimed to confirm the outcome of pediatric KMT2A subgroups (Balgobind et al., 2009) in a more recent era and to study the significance of MRD status during and after induction. Methods Outcome and MRD data of 1257 KMT2A-rde novo pAML patients from 15 AML groups affiliated with the I-BFM-AML study group, diagnosed between 2005 and 2016 were retrospectively collected. Patients were assigned to KMT2A subgroups, or to the KMT2A-other group in case of unknown translocation partner. Flow cytometry MRD levels Results The 1257 patients were assigned to 13 KMT2A subgroups, or the KMT2A-other group. Two novel subgroups were identified: t(X;11)(q24;q23) (n=21, 2%) and t(1;11)(p32;q23) (n=12, 1%). The median age was 2.5 years (range, 0-18.9). The median WBC was 21.4 x 109/L (range, 0.2-727). Overall complete remission rate was 91%. The 5y-pEFS was 46% [SE, 2%] and the 5y-pOS was 62% [SE, 2%]. Differences across subgroups in 5y-pEFS (Figure 1) ranged from 24% [SE, 5%] to 76% [SE, 9%], and in 5y-pOS from 25% [SE, 13%] to 92% [SE, 8%] (both p The subgroups t(10;11)(p12;q23) (HR 1.7, p100 x 10^9/L (HR 1.3, p=.006), and age >10y (HR 1.3, p=.005) were revealed as independent predictors of poor EFS. These factors also predicted OS. MRD data after induction course one were available for n=635 (MRD-positivity (range, 0.1-94) n=126, 20%) and after course two for n=527 (MRD-positivity (range, 0.1-88) n=51, 10%). In the four KMT2A poor-risk subgroups, MRD-positivity was not significantly more common after induction course one (p=.0232) or two (p=.066), compared with the other subgroups. MRD-positivity was associated with inferior 5y-pDFS after both induction course one (36% [SE, 4%] vs 48% [SE, 2%]; p=.002) and course two (28% [SE, 6%] vs 49% [SE, 2%]; p10y (HR 1.5, p=.002) were revealed as independent predictors of poor DFS. Within the group of patients with MRD-negativity after induction course two, the subgroups t(10;11)(p12;q23) and t(10;11)(p11.2;q23) were independent predictors of poor EFS (5y-pEFS 35%, HR 1.7, p=.003 and 5y-pEFS 18%, HR 2.7, p=.004, respectively). Conclusion Outcome for KMT2A-r pAML patients has improved slightly, but similar subgroups were identified as poor risk (Balgobind et al., 2009), including t(10;11)(p12;q23), t(10;11)(p11.2;q23) and t(6;11)(q27;q23). In our study, t(4;11)(q21;q23) was poor risk as well. These subgroups should be considered for high-risk pAML therapy protocols. The favorable risk of t(1;11)(q21;q23) could not be confirmed in our cohort. MRD status is highly predictive of outcome within KMT2A subgroups. In MRD-negative patients after induction course two, both t(10;11) KMT2A subgroups were associated with poor outcome. Disclosures Guest: Syndax Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy. Locatelli:Medac: Speakers Bureau; Miltenyi: Speakers Bureau; Bellicum Pharmaceutical: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Novartis: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Amgen: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees, Speakers Bureau; Jazz Pharmaceeutical: Speakers Bureau. Rubnitz:AbbVie Inc.: Research Funding. Kaspers:Helsinn Healthcare: Ended employment in the past 24 months; Boehringer Ingelheim: Membership on an entity's Board of Directors or advisory committees; Janssen R&D: Ended employment in the past 24 months; AbbVie: Ended employment in the past 24 months.

Introduction: Congenital neutropenia (CN) is characterized by chronic neutropenia caused by a constitutional genetic defect and can be considered an orphan disease. Nationwide estimations of its incidence and prevalence are poorly documented but would provide key information to better follow-up of CN patients. Notably, orphan-drug status also is accorded based on such epidemiological parameters. Methods: The French Severe Chronic Neutropenia Registry (FSCNR) has prospectively enrolled CN patients since 1993, with multiple source verifications in France of that information: pediatric and adult hemato-immunology units, diagnostic labs... We also actively collect all cases followed in France, regardless of the healthcare facility monitoring the patient. To calculate incidence at birth, we considered subjects born between 1/1/1995 and 12/31/2017, because information completeness has been validated for this 22-year period. Number of births per year was provided by the French National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE). We used American College of Medical Genetics class 4 and 5 variants for genetic classification and the overall CN classification developed elsewhere.1 To estimate expected prevalence, we assumed 50-year life expectancy for these patients and compared ongoing enrolment to the prevalence estimation and calculated FNSCR coverage. A Poisson distribution was assumed. Results: On 15 July 2020, the FSCNR had identified 3205 patients. Reasons for non-enrolment of 2096 were, mainly: autoimmune neutropenia (n=501), foreign residency (n=214), other diagnosis (n=882) and diagnostic work-up not completed (n=249). Among the 1109 patients who fulfilled Chronic Neutropenia criteria, 242 had idiopathic neutropenia2 and 867 patients were considered to have CN1. Global results are presented in Table 1. In France, the CN incidence at birth (all subtypes combined) was 2.6×10-5 (95% CI: 2.04-2.8×10-5), which represents a mean of 23 new cases/year in a country with ~870,000 births/year. For all CN combined, the expected prevalence, assuming 50-year life expectancy, would be 1131 cases in a country of 65×106 inhabitants while the FCSNR currently has 867 cases enrolled or an estimated 77% nationwide coverage. Based on our results and our assumptions for life expectancy, estimated prevalence of CN for 10 millions inhabitants is therefore 174 CN. Genetic subtype representation is as follows: 20% SBDS, 17% ELANE (8% cyclic, 9% permanent), 9% GATA2, 7% SLC37A4, ~4-5% each of TAZ and CXCR4 and VPS13B, while the other subtypes are even rarer. At present, no cause has been identified for 25% of the cases. Conclusion: The results of this analysis provide an estimation of the major CN-descriptive epidemiological parameters and the relative frequencies of several subtypes. Despite the FSCNR's quite large registry, we estimate that about a quarter of the prevalent cases in France were missed, mainly those followed as adults. References 1 Donadieu J, Beaupain B, Fenneteau O, Bellanne-Chantelot C. Congenital neutropenia in the era of genomics: classification, diagnosis, and natural history. Br.J.Haematol. 2017; 179(4): 557-574. 2 Sicre De Fontbrune F, Moignet A, Beaupain B et al. Severe chronic primary neutropenia in adults: report on a series of 108 patients. Blood 2015; 126(14): 1643-1650. Acknowledgments: The French SCN registry is supported by grants from Amgen, Chugai, Prolong Pharma, X4 Pharma, Inserm, the Association 111 les Arts, the Association RMHE, the Association Sportive de Saint Quentin Fallavier. The authors thank the association IRIS and Mrs Grosjean and Mr Gonnot(ASSQF), the association Barth France for their support. Disclosures Sicre de Fontbrune: Alexion Pharmaceuticals Inc.: Honoraria, Research Funding. cohen Beaussant:X4 Pharmaceuticals, Inc.: Current Employment.

Fusion proteins involving Nucleoporin 98 (NUP98) are recurrently found in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) and are associated with poor prognosis. Lack of mechanistic insight into NUP98-fusion–dependent oncogenic transformation has so far precluded the development of rational targeted therapies. We reasoned that different NUP98-fusion proteins deregulate a common set of transcriptional targets that might be exploitable for therapy. To decipher transcriptional programs controlled by diverse NUP98-fusion proteins, we developed mouse models for regulatable expression of NUP98/NSD1, NUP98/JARID1A, and NUP98/DDX10. By integrating chromatin occupancy profiles of NUP98-fusion proteins with transcriptome profiling upon acute fusion protein inactivation in vivo, we defined the core set of direct transcriptional targets of NUP98-fusion proteins. Among those, CDK6 was highly expressed in murine and human AML samples. Loss of CDK6 severely attenuated NUP98-fusion–driven leukemogenesis, and NUP98-fusion AML was sensitive to pharmacologic CDK6 inhibition in vitro and in vivo. These findings identify CDK6 as a conserved, critical direct target of NUP98-fusion proteins, proposing CDK4/CDK6 inhibitors as a new rational treatment option for AML patients with NUP98-fusions.

The clinical and biological characteristics of children under 2 years (infants) with acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are different from those of older children. We aimed to describe the specific characteristics of this population and the potential factors that influence the prognosis. We analyzed data concerning 438 children with newly-diagnosed AML treated in the ELAM02 protocol between March 2005 and December 2011, of which 103 were under 2 years old at diagnosis. The evaluation criteria were overall survival (OS) and event-free survival (EFS) of infants vs older children. The clinical and biological features were secondary criteria. Infants presented more frequent extra-medullary presentation than older children. They had a significantly higher proportion of skin lesions and central nervous system involvement (15% vs 3%, p

Fusion oncogenes are prevalent in several pediatric cancers, yet little is known about the specific associations between age and phenotype. We observed that fusion oncogenes, such as ETO2–GLIS2, are associated with acute megakaryoblastic or other myeloid leukemia subtypes in an age-dependent manner. Analysis of a novel inducible transgenic mouse model showed that ETO2–GLIS2 expression in fetal hematopoietic stem cells induced rapid megakaryoblastic leukemia whereas expression in adult bone marrow hematopoietic stem cells resulted in a shift toward myeloid transformation with a strikingly delayed in vivo leukemogenic potential. Chromatin accessibility and single-cell transcriptome analyses indicate ontogeny-dependent intrinsic and ETO2–GLIS2-induced differences in the activities of key transcription factors, including ERG, SPI1, GATA1, and CEBPA. Importantly, switching off the fusion oncogene restored terminal differentiation of the leukemic blasts. Together, these data show that aggressiveness and phenotypes in pediatric acute myeloid leukemia result from an ontogeny-related differential susceptibility to transformation by fusion oncogenes. Significance: This work demonstrates that the clinical phenotype of pediatric acute myeloid leukemia is determined by ontogeny-dependent susceptibility for transformation by oncogenic fusion genes. The phenotype is maintained by potentially reversible alteration of key transcription factors, indicating that targeting of the fusions may overcome the differentiation blockage and revert the leukemic state. See related commentary by Cruz Hernandez and Vyas, p. 1653. This article is highlighted in the In This Issue feature, p. 1631

Mutations in receptor tyrosine kinase/RAS signaling pathway genes are frequent in core-binding factor (CBF) acute myeloid leukemias (AMLs), but their prognostic relevance is debated. A subset of CBF AML patients harbors several signaling gene mutations. Genotyping of colonies and of relapse samples indicates that these arise in independent clones, thus defining a process of clonal interference (or parallel evolution). Clonal interference is pervasive in cancers, but the mechanisms underlying this process remain unclear, and its prognostic impact remains unknown. We analyzed a cohort of 445 adult and pediatric patients with CBF AML treated with intensive chemotherapy and with deep sequencing of 6 signaling genes (KIT, NRAS, KRAS, FLT3, JAK2, CBL). A total of 152 (34%), 167 (38%), and 126 (28%) patients harbored no, a single, and multiple signaling clones (clonal interference), respectively. Clonal interference of signaling mutations was associated with older age (P = .004) and inv(16) subtype (P = .025) but not with white blood cell count or mutations in chromatin or cohesin genes. The median allele frequency of signaling mutations was 31% in patients with a single clone or clonal interference (P = .14). The repertoire of KIT, FLT3, and NRAS/KRAS variants differed between groups. Clonal interference did not affect complete remission rate or minimal residual disease after 1-2 courses, but it did convey inferior event-free survival (P < 10-4), whereas the presence of a single signaling clone did not (P = .44). This inferior outcome was independent of clinical parameters and of the presence of specific signaling clones. Our results suggest that specific clonal architectures can herald distinct prognoses in AML.

Supplemental Digital Content is available in the text, Despite major treatment improvements over the past decades, pediatric acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is still a life-threatening malignancy with relapse rates up to 30% and survival rates below 75%. A better description of the pattern of molecular aberrations in childhood AML is needed to refine prognostication in such patients. We report here the comprehensive molecular landscape using both high-throughput sequencing focused on 36 genes and ligation-dependent RT-PCR in 385 children with de novo AML enrolled in the prospective ELAM02 trial and we evaluated their prognostic significance. Seventy-six percent of patients had at least 1 mutation among the genes we screened. The most common class of mutations involved genes that control kinase signaling (61%) followed by transcription factors (16%), tumor suppressors (14%), chromatin modifiers (9%), DNA methylation controllers (8%), cohesin genes (5%), and spliceosome (3%). Moreover, a recurrent transcript fusion was detected in about a half of pediatric patients. Overall, CBF rearrangements, NPM1 and double CEBPA mutations represented 37% of the cohort and defined a favorable molecular subgroup (3 years OS: 92.1%) while NUP98 fusions, WT1, RUNX1, and PHF6 mutations (15% of the cohort) segregated into a poor molecular subgroup (3 years OS: 46.1%). KMT2A-rearrangements (21% of the cohort) were associated with an intermediate risk. Despite some overlaps, the spectrum of molecular aberrations and their prognostic significance differ between childhood and adult AML. These data have important implications to contribute in refining risk stratification of pediatric AML and show the need for further validations in independent pediatric cohorts.

Risk stratification in childhood T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is mainly based on minimal residual disease (MRD) quantification. Whether oncogenetic mutation profiles can improve the discrimination of MRD-defined risk categories was unknown. Two hundred and twenty FRALLE2000T-treated patients were tested retrospectively for NOTCH1/FBXW7/RAS and PTEN alterations. Patients with NOTCH1/FBXW7 (N/F) mutations and RAS/PTEN (R/P) germ line (GL) were classified as oncogenetic low risk (gLoR; n = 111), whereas those with N/F GL and R/P GL mutations or N/F and R/P mutations were classified as high risk (gHiR; n = 109). Day 35 MRD status was available for 191 patients. Five-year cumulative incidence of relapse (CIR) and disease-free survival were 36% and 60% for gHiR patients and 11% and 89% for gLoR patients, respectively. Importantly, among the 60% of patients with MRD

International audience; We report the outcome of 27 children with de novo acute megakaryoblastic leukemia (AMKL) (excluding Down syndrome) enrolled in the French multicenter prospective study ELAM02 (2005-2011). There was no difference in gender, initial leukocyte count, CNS involvement, and complete remission rate (88.9%), as compared to other acute myeloid leukemia (AML) subtypes. AMKL patients had a significantly poorer outcome (5-year overall survival 54% [CI 95% 33%-71%] than children with other AML subtypes (5-year overall survival 73% [CI 95% 68%-77%] p = 0.02). Gender, age, CNS leukemia, hyperleukocytosis, complete remission or cytogenetic subgroups were not significant prognostic factors of disease-free survival. AMKL (excluding Down syndrom) remains an AML subgroup with inferior outcome.