Gene mutation landscape of a rare patient with acute megakaryoblastic leukemia after treatment of intracranial germ cell tumor

Abstract

Introduction: It was first reported that germ cell tumor patients suffer from hematologic malignancies 37 years ago. Since then, the number of relevant reports has increased each year, with most cases being mediastinal germ cell tumor. Theories have been proposed to explain this phenomenon, including a shared origin of progenitor cells, the effects of treatment, and independent development. However, up to now, no widely accepted explanation exists. The case with acute megakaryoblastic leukemia and intracranial germ cell tumor has never been reported before and the association is far less known.

Methods: We used whole exome sequencing and gene mutation analysis to study the relationship between intracranial germ cell tumor and acute megakaryoblastic leukemia of our patient.

Results: We report a patient who developed acute megakaryoblastic leukemia after treatment for an intracranial germ cell tumor. Through whole exome sequencing and gene mutation analysis, we identified that both tumors shared the same mutation genes and mutation sites, suggesting they originated from the same progenitor cells and differentiated in the later stage.

Discussion: Our findings provide the first evidence supporting the theory that acute megakaryoblastic leukemia and intracranial germ cell tumor has the same progenitor cells.

Keywords: acute megakaryoblastic leukemia; gene mutation; intracranial germ cell tumor; tumor origin; whole exome sequencing.