Discovering the drivers of clonal hematopoiesis

Mutations in genes that confer a selective advantage to hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) drive clonal hematopoiesis (CH). While some CH drivers have been identified, the compendium of all genes able to drive CH upon mutations in HSCs remains incomplete. Exploiting signals of positive selection in blood somatic mutations may be an effective way to identify CH driver genes, analogously to cancer. Using the tumor sample in blood/tumor pairs as reference, we identify blood somatic mutations across more than 12,000 donors from two large cancer genomics cohorts. The application of IntOGen, a driver discovery pipeline, to both cohorts, and more than 24,000 targeted sequenced samples yields a list of close to 70 genes with signals of positive selection in CH, available at . This approach recovers known CH genes, and discovers other candidates.

Automated summary

Positive selection signals can be used to identify genes that drive clonal hematopoiesis in hematopoietic stem cells. By analyzing samples from two large cancer genomics cohorts, we obtained a list of nearly 70 candidate genes with positive selection signals. This approach can discover new CH genes and validate known CH genes.