Molecular characteristics and outcomes in Hispanic and non-Hispanic patients with acute myeloid leukemia

Hispanic patients have been reported to have an increased incidence of AML and possibly inferior outcomes compared to non-Hispanics. We conducted a retrospective study of 225 AML patients (58 Hispanic and 167 non-Hispanic) at two academic medical centers in Florida. Disease characteristics, cytogenetics, mutation profiles, and clinical outcomes were assessed. Hispanic patients were younger at presentation than non-Hispanics (p = 0.0013). We found associations between single gene mutations and ethnicity, with IDH1 mutations being more common in non-Hispanics (95.2% vs. 4.8%, p = 0.0182) and WT1 mutations more common in Hispanics (62.5% vs. 37.5%, p = 0.0455). We also found an emerging trend towards adverse risk cytogenetics in Hispanic patients (p = 0.1796), as well as high risk fusions such as MLL-r (70% vs. 30%, p = 0.004). There was no difference in overall survival (OS) between Hispanic and non-Hispanics patients. When examining only newly diagnosed patients (n = 105), there was improved OS in Hispanics (median 44.7 months vs. 14 months, p = 0.026) by univariate analysis and equivalent OS by multivariate analysis (hazard ratio = 1.52 [95% CI = 0.74-3.15]). Hispanics with a driver mutation not class-defining had improved survival compared to non-Hispanics. Our study demonstrates significant genetic differences between Floridian Hispanics and non-Hispanics, but no difference in OS in patients treated at an academic medical center.