Implications of NRAS mutations in AML: a study of 2502 patients

We analyzed 2502 patients with acute myeloid leukemia at diagnosis for NRAS mutations around the hot spots at codons 12, 13, and 61 and correlated the results to cytomorphology, cytogenetics, other molecular markers, and prognostic relevance of these mutations. Two hundred fifty-seven (10.3%) of 2502 patients had NRAS mutations (NRAS(mut)). Most mutations (112 of 257; 43.6%) were found at codon 12, mostly resulting in changes from glycine to asparagine. The history of AML did not differ significantly in association with NRAS mutations. The subgroups with inv(16)/t(16;16) and inv(3)/t(3;3) showed a significantly higher frequency of NRAS(mut) (50 of 133, 37.6% P < .001, and 11 of 41, 26.8% P = .004, respectively) than the total cohort. In addition, in these 2 subgroups, mutations of codon 61 were significantly overrepresented (both P < .001). In contrast, NRAS mutations were significantly underrepresented in t(15;17) (2 of 102; 2%; P = .005) in the subgroup with MLL/11q23 rearrangements (3 of 77; 3.9%; P = .061) and in the complex aberrant karyotype (4 of 258; 1.6%; P < .001). Overall, we did not find a significant prognostic impact of NRAS(mut) for overall survival, event-free survival, and disease-free survival. However, there was a trend to better survival in most subgroups, especially when other molecular markers (FLT3-LM, MLL-PTD, and NPM) were taken into account.