DNMT3A mutation is a poor prognosis biomarker in AML: Results of a meta-analysis of 4500 AML patients

Somatic DNA methyl transferase 3A (DNMT3A) mutations have been recognized recently as recurrent molecular aberrations in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). The precise role of these mutations in leukemogenesis remains elusive but a number of studies have already been conducted to study their potential prognostic value in AML patients with variable results. We performed a meta-analysis on published data from over 4500 AML patients to provide robust evidence supporting DNMT3A mutation testing in clinical setting for AML patients. Our meta-analysis showed that DNMT3A mutations were associated with M4 and M5 AML subtypes. Those mutations conferred significantly worse prognosis with both shorter OS (p = 0.0004) and shorter RFS (p = 0.002). Notably, DNMT3A mutations appeared to be an independent adverse prognostic factor also in younger patients with normal cytogenetics AML (OS (p = 0.01) and RFS (p = 0.0005)) and also in the subgroup of patients with high risk genotypes defined according to the criteria of the European Leukemia Net (ELN) (OS (p = 0.002)). Therefore, DNMT3A mutational status can improve the risk stratification of AML patients in the setting of integrated mutational profiling.