Molecular profiling of Chinese R-CHOP treated DLBCL patients: Identifying a high-risk subgroup

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is a clinically aggressive and heterogenous disease. Although most patients can be cured by immunochemotherapy, 30% to 40% patient will ultimately develop relapsed or refractory disease. Here, we investigated the molecular landscapes of patients with diverse responses to R-CHOP. We performed capture-based targeted sequencing on baseline samples of 105 DLBCL patients using a panel consisting of 112 lymphoma-related genes. Subsequently, 81 treatment-naïve patients with measurable disease and followed for over 1 year were included for survival analysis. Collectively, the most commonly seen mutations included IGH fusion (69%), PIM1(33%), MYD88 (29%), BCL2 (29%), TP53 (29%), CD79B (25%) and KMT2D (24%). Patients with TP53 mutations were more likely to have primary refractory disease (87.0% vs 50.0%, P = .009). For those with TP53 disruptive mutations, 91.7% patients were in the primary refractory group. Interestingly, BCL-2 somatic hypermutation was only seen in patients without primary refractory disease (P = .014). In multivariate analysis, BCL-2 amplification (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.94, P = .022), B2M mutation (HR = 2.99, P = .017) and TP53 mutation (HR = 3.19, P < .001) were independently associated with shorter time to progression (TTP). Furthermore, TP53 mutations was correlated with worse overall survival (P = .049). Next, we investigated mutation landscape in patients with wild-type (WT) TP53 (n = 58) and found that patients harboring MYD88 L265P had significantly inferior TTP than those with WT or non-265P (P = .046). Our study reveals the mutation spectrum of treatment-naive Chinese DLBCL patients. It also confirms the clinical significance of TP53 mutations and indicates the prognostic value of MYD88 L265P in TP53 WT patients.