Application of Next-Generation Sequencing-Based Mutational Profiling in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia

This article identifies avenues within the landscape of adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) where mutational data hold the opportunity to enhance understanding of disease biology and patient care.Recent FindingsNGS-based assessment of measurable residual disease (MRD) after ALL treatment allows for a sensitive and specific molecular survey that is at least comparable, if not superior, to existing techniques. Mutational assessment by NGS has unraveled complex signaling networks that drive pathogenesis of T-cell ALL. Sequencing of patients with familial clustering of ALL has also identified novel germline mutations whose inheritance predisposes to disease development in successive generations.SummaryWhile NGS-based assessment of hematopoietic malignancies often provides actionable information to clinicians, patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia are left underserved due to a lack of disease classification and prognostication schema that integrate molecular data. Ongoing research is positioned to enrich the molecular toolbox available to clinicians caring for adult ALL patients and deliver new insights to guide therapeutic selection, monitor clinical response, and detect relapse.
Source: Current Hematologic Malignancy Reports - Category: Hematology Source Type: research