Integrative analysis of prognostic factors in Chinese core binding factor leukemia

The characteristics of core binding factor (CBF) leukemia appear to differ between Chinese and Caucasian patients. In this study, we analyzed the biological and clinical characteristics of 76 Chinese CBF leukemia patients out of 425 newly diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients. The frequency of CBF AML was 17.9%. Patients harboring t(8;21) were predominant in CBF AML. The incidence of c-kit mutation in CBF AML was 28.9%. The N822K mutation appeared to be more prevalent in Chinese CBF AML patients. Multivariate analysis showed that c-kit mutation and high white blood cell count could negatively impact overall survival (OS) (HR = 2.74 and 6.24, P = 0.007 and 0.022, respectively) but did not affect relapse-free survival (RFS). Kaplan–Meier analysis showed a significant difference in both OS and RFS between wild-type and mutated c-kit patients. Although we had included recently reported prognostic indicators in our analysis, our results demonstrated that only c-kit mutation and high white blood cell count had prognostic impact on Chinese CBF AML patients.

► There were much more t(8;21) case than inv(16) case in Chinese CBF AML.
► There were no predominant c-kit mutation types, but N822K mutation is more common in Chinese CBF AML.
► C-kit mutation and high white blood cell count are responsible for poorer survival of Chinese CBF AML patients.