Prognostic relevance of clonal hematopoiesis in myeloid neoplastic transformation in patients with follicular lymphoma treated with radioimmunotherapy

While novel radioisotope therapies continue to advance cancer care, reports of therapy -related myeloid neoplasms (t -MN) have generated concern. The prevalence and role of clonal hematopoiesis (CH) in this process remain to be defined. We hypothesized that: (i) CH is prevalent in relapsed follicular lymphoma and is associated with t -MN transformation, and (ii) radiation in the form of radioimmunotherapy (RIT) plays a role in clonal progression. In this retrospective cohort study, we evaluated the prevalence and prognostic impact of CH on clinical outcomes in 58 heavily pre-treated follicular lymphoma patients who received RIT. Patients had been given a median of four lines of therapy before RIT. The prevalence of CH prior to RIT was 46%, while it was 67% (P=0.15) during the course of RIT and subsequent therapies in the paired samples. Fourteen (24%) patients developed t -MN. Patients with t -MN had a higher variant allele fraction (38% vs. 15%; P=0.02) and clonal complexity (P=0.03) than those without. The spectrum of CH differed from that in age -related CH, with a high prevalence of DNA damage repair and response pathway mutations, absence of spliceosome mutations, and a paucity of signaling mutations. While there were no clear clinical associations between RIT and t -MN, or overall survival, patients with t -MN had a higher mutant clonal burden, along with extensive chromosomal abnormalities (median survival, afer t -MN diagnosis, 0.9 months). The baseline prevalence of CH was high, with an increase in prevalence on exposure to RIT and subsequent therapies. The high rates of t -MN with marked clonal complexities and extensive chromosomal damage underscore the importance of better identifying and studying genotoxic stressors accentuated by therapeutic modalities.