Clonal origin and development of high hyperdiploidy in childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 1658
• Main Authors: Woodward, Eleanor L., Yang, Minjun, Moura-Castro, Larissa H., van den Bos, Hilda, Gunnarsson, Rebeqa, Olsson-Arvidsson, Linda, Spierings, Diana C. J., Castor, Anders, Duployez, Nicolas, Zaliova, Marketa, Zuna, Jan, Johansson, Bertil, Foijer, Floris, Paulsson, Kajsa
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 25.03.2023; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 45/23; 45/61; 631/114/2397; 631/67/2329; 631/67/2332; 692/4028/67/69; 692/699/1541/1990/283/2125; Acute lymphoblastic leukemia; Aneuploidy; Basic Medicine; Bone marrow; Cancer and Oncology; Cancer och onkologi; Children; Chromosomal Instability; Chromosome Aberrations; Chromosomes; Clinical Medicine; Copy number; Diploids; Diploidy; Evolution; Gene sequencing; Genomes; Genomic instability; Heterogeneity; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Klinisk medicin; Leukemia; Leukemogenesis; Lymphatic leukemia; Malignancy; Medical and Health Sciences; Medical Genetics; Medicin och hälsovetenskap; Medicinsk genetik; Medicinska och farmaceutiska grundvetenskaper; Mitosis; multidisciplinary; Precursor Cell Lymphoblastic Leukemia-Lymphoma - genetics; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Whole genome sequencing
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-37356-5

High hyperdiploid acute lymphoblastic leukemia (HeH ALL), one of the most common childhood malignancies, is driven by nonrandom aneuploidy (abnormal chromosome numbers) mainly comprising chromosomal gains. In this study, we investigate how aneuploidy in HeH ALL arises. Single cell whole genome sequencing of 2847 cells from nine primary cases and one normal bone marrow reveals that HeH ALL generally display low chromosomal heterogeneity, indicating that they are not characterized by chromosomal instability and showing that aneuploidy-driven malignancies are not necessarily chromosomally heterogeneous. Furthermore, most chromosomal gains are present in all leukemic cells, suggesting that they arose early during leukemogenesis. Copy number data from 577 primary cases reveals selective pressures that were used for in silico modeling of aneuploidy development. This shows that the aneuploidy in HeH ALL likely arises by an initial tripolar mitosis in a diploid cell followed by clonal evolution, in line with a punctuated evolution model. High hyperdiploid acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (HeH ALL) is driven by nonrandom chromosomal gains, which have been suggested to arise early - even before birth. Here, the authors use single-cell whole genome sequencing and in silico modelling to show that HeH ALL aneuploidies could originate early and follow punctuated evolution.