Mosaic chromosome 20q deletions are more frequent in the aging population

Deletions on the long-arm of chromosome 20, del(20q), are common karyotypic abnormalities in myeloid disorders. Bioinformatic analyses of the B-allele frequency and log R ratio values from genome-wide association data have identified individuals who are mosaic for large structural abnormalities (>2 Mb). We investigated the most common autosomal event, namely mosaic del(20q), in 46 254 nonhematologic cancer cases and 36 229 cancer-free controls. We detected 91 mosaic del(20q) in leukocytes (80%) and buccal material (20%). The mosaic del(20q) mapped to a well-characterized minimally deleted region (MDR) reported in myeloid disorders. Common breakpoint clusters map to the coordinates of 29.9 to 31.5 Mb on the centromeric side of mosaic del(20q), and 42.0 to 45.4 Mb and 48.1 to 50.7 Mb on the telomeric end (GRCh36). Multivariate analyses suggest del(20q) increases with age, and is more common in males but less common in individuals of African ancestry. No conclusive associations were noted between the presence of mosaic del(20q) and subsequent solid tumor risk. Our observations demonstrate that the MDR of del(20q) is the most common large scale mosaic autosomal abnormality in whole blood and has a frequency of ∼1 in every 1000 adults over the age of 50, which exceeds the expected incidence of myeloid leukemia in the population. Our results indicate that subclonal mosaic events of a region implicated in myeloid disorders on 20q are more frequent than the predicted population-estimated incidence of myeloid diseases, and thus suggest that these events can be tolerated until additional events accumulate that drive myeloid disorders.