This review presents the latest molecular genetic diagnostic and clinical aspects
related to clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP). CHIP belongs to
the continuously expanding group of pre-cancerous conditions, increasingly recognized
in routine patient care due to the development of molecular diagnostic tools and the
increase in life expectancy. The incidence of CHIP mutations increases with age (1-2%
in individuals aged 50 years, 15-45% in those aged 80 years). According to international
studies, 5-8% of examinations performed on solid tumors may contain erroneous results
due to the presence of leukocytes. This rate increases to 10-15% in case of liquid
biopsy samples. To avoid misleading diagnostic results, it is recommended to perform
comparative analysis of samples from different tissue origins, blood/tumor sample
pairs. The authors illustrate CHIP-related alterations affecting targeted therapies
for solid tumors (e.g. KRAS, ATM, IDH1, TP53). The impact of CHIP on the detection
of germline genetic alterations is also discussed.
