Abstract
B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) is a highly heterogeneous disease with a challenging prognosis, particularly in adult patients. We enrolled 88 adult B-ALL patients with transcriptomic and mutation profiles for classification system identification, and a comprehensive system for B-ALL patients (COMBAT) was developed. COMBAT stratified patients into three cohorts: (1) COMBAT1, characterized by high stem/myeloid antigen expression, low immune infiltration, high infiltration of endothelial cells, and hypo-CIMP (CpG island methylator phenotype); (2) COMBAT2, defined as an inflamed subtype with immune exhaustion, moderate myeloid antigen expression, and hypo-CIMP; and (3) COMBAT3, marked by proliferative profiles with MYC pathway activation and hypomethylation at enhancer regions in patients characterized by CIMP. The molecular features of the three COMBATs were verified in two external cohorts, the GSE34861 (N = 194) and GSE66005 (N = 109) datasets. In univariate analysis, only COMBAT classification presented significance for OS, and patients of COMBAT3 presented significantly superior survival than COMBAT1/2 in Ph-negative ALL. Ph-negative ALL patients undergoing allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) in the COMBAT3 group showed better overall survival (OS) than those in the COMBAT1-2 groups (estimated 3-year OS: 100% vs. 65.6%, P = 0.034), suggesting a prognostic benefit of this subtype. In summary, the COMBAT system redefines the characteristics of adult B-ALL subtypes and guides the selection of allo-HSCT for Ph-negative patients.