Allelic imbalances in radiation-associated acute myeloid leukemia

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) can develop as a secondary malignancy following radiotherapy, but also following low-dose environmental or occupational radiation exposure. Therapy-related AML frequently carries deletions of chromosome 5q and/or 7, but for low-dose exposure associated AML this has not been described. For the present study we performed genome-wide screens for loss-of-heterozygosity (LOH) in a set of 19 AML cases that developed after radiation-exposure following the Chernobyl accident. Using Affymetrix SNP arrays we found large regions of LOH in 16 of the cases. Eight cases (42%) demonstrated LOH at 5q and/or 7, which is a known marker of complex karyotypic changes and poor prognosis. In accordance with literature data, the overall survival for these patients was significantly shorter as compared to patients without this alteration (P=0,014). We could show here for the first time that exposure to low-dose ionizing radiation induces AML with molecular alterations similar to those seen in therapy-related cases.