KIT mutations, and not FLT3 internal tandem duplication, are strongly associated with a poor prognosis in pediatric acute myeloid leukemia with t(8;21): a study of the Japanese Childhood AML Cooperative Study Group.

Patients with t(8;21) acute myeloid leukemia (AML) are considered to have a good prognosis; however, approximately 50% of them relapse. The genetic alterations associated with a poor outcome in t(8;21) AML remain unknown. Recently, aberrations of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) were frequently found in patients with AML. However, the prevalence and prognostic impact of RTK aberrations in pediatric t(8;21) AML remains undetermined. Here, we found the kinase domain mutations of the KIT gene in 8 (17.4%) of 46 patients with t(8;21) AML among newly diagnosed pediatric patients with AML treated on the AML99 protocol in Japan. Significant differences between patients with or without KIT mutations were observed in the 4-year overall survival (50.0% versus 97.4%, P = .001), disease-free survival (37.5% versus 94.7%, P < .001) and relapse rate (47.0% versus 2.7%, P < .001). Furthermore, FLT3 internal tandem duplication was found in only 2 (4.3%) patients. These results suggested that KIT mutations are strongly associated with a poor prognosis in pediatric t(8;21) AML.