Mutational Spectrum of Fanconi Anemia Associated Myeloid Neoplasms

Individuals with Fanconi anemia (FA) have a high risk of developing myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) and acute myeloid leukemia (AML), yet the secondary somatic mutations lending to these malignancies remain to be further elucidated. We employed a next-generation sequencing myeloid neoplasia gene panel to determine the mutational spectrum of FA-related MDS/AML. Ten of 16 patients showed missense, nonsense, insertion or duplication mutations in 13 genes. In contrast to findings in MDS in the general population, mutations in genes involved in RNA splicing were rarely affected. Mutations in RUNX1 and genes of the RAS pathway appeared more instrumental in the pathogenesis of FA myeloid malignancies. RUNX1 mutations were associated with more advanced disease. Interestingly, one patient with refractory anemia with ring sideroblasts harbored the SF3B1 p.K700E mutation highlighting the mutation's causative role in MDS with ring sideroblasts even in the context of FA. On the whole, our findings implicate a different genetic architecture of FA MDS/AML from adult sporadic MDS. Notably, the genetic events resemble those described in pediatric MDS.