[Clinical Significance of RAS Gene Mutations in Patients with Acute Myeloid Leukemia].

Objective: To investigate the clinical characteristics of RAS gene mutations in patients with acute myeloid leukemia (AML).

Methods: 43 myeloid gene mutations were detected using next-generation sequencing (NGS) in 180 patients with AML who were first diagnosed between May 2011 and February 2021. The molecular and clinical features of RAS gene mutations and their effects on efficacy and survival of patients were retrospectively analyzed.

Results: Among 180 AML patients, the proportion of mutations in RAS pathway-related genes were NRAS (14.4%), KRAS (2.2%), FLT3-ITD (13.8%), PTPN11 (7.7%), KIT (5.0%), FLT3-TKD (3.8%) and CBL (2.7%). Seventy-three (40.6%) AML patients had gene mutations associated with the RAS pathway.The number of peripheral blood white blood cells and the proportion of bone marrow primitive juvenile cells in patients with NRAS/KRAS gene mutation were higher than those of patient with RAS wild-type, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05). NRAS/KRAS gene mutations were significantly associated with the CBL gene mutation(r=0.287). In young AML patients (age <60 years), there were no significant differences in complete response rate (CR), progression-free survival (PFS), and overall survival (OS) between patients with RAS gene mutation and those with wild-type(P>0.05). In elderly AML patients (age≥60 years), PFS and OS in RAS mutants were significantly lower than those in wild-type patients(P<0.05).

Conclusion: In AML patients, RAS gene mutation is relatively common, and RAS gene mutation is associated with clinical characteristics and efficacy of patients, and may be a molecular marker of poor prognosis for elderly AML.