Short tandem repeat (STR) analysis, such as the AmpFlSTR® Identifiler® Plus kit, is a standard, PCR-based human genotyping method used in the field of forensics. Misidentification of cell line and tissue DNA can be costly if not detected early; therefore it is necessary to have quality control measures such as STR profiling in place. A major issue in large-scale research studies involving archival formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tissues is that varying levels of DNA degradation can result in failure to correctly identify samples using STR genotyping. PCR amplification of STRs of several hundred base pairs is not always possible when DNA is degraded. The Sample ID Plus® panel from Sequenom allows for human DNA identification and authentication using SNP genotyping. In comparison to lengthy STR amplicons, this multiplexing PCR assay requires amplification of only 76–139 base pairs, and utilizes 47 SNPs to discriminate between individual samples. In this study, we evaluated both STR and SNP genotyping methods of sample identification, with a focus on paired FFPE tumor/normal DNA samples intended for next-generation sequencing (NGS). The ability to successfully validate the identity of FFPE samples can enable cost savings by reducing rework.
505 Background: The International Cancer Genome Consortium and The Cancer Genome Atlas have had a global transformative impact on our understanding of cancer. These programs have mapped the genomic landscape of common and rare tumors setting the scene for a comprehensive change in the approach to cancer diagnosis and treatment. However, the task remains incomplete until these mutational events are linked to clinical outcomes in the context of current therapeutic intervention to drive future stratified medicine approaches. Methods: We performed targeted sequencing in patients from the Tamoxifen Exemestane Adjuvant Multicentre trial. DNA was extracted and a 101 gene panel analysed using a novel mutation calling pipeline. Both a priori and machine learning analyses were performed using distant recurrence free survival as the primary endpoint. Results: In 1,491 successfully analyzed samples 1,070 (71.76%) samples exhibited at least one single nucleotide mutation (range 0-94, 1.828+/-0.133, mean+/-s.e.). 98/101 genes were mutated in at least one patient. Only variants in PIK3CA, TP53, MLL3, CDH1 were detected in 5% or more of samples. Twenty genes were associated with increased risk of recurrence in multivariate analyses corrected for clinic-pathological variables, 50% of these genes were involved in transcriptional regulation or RNA/protein processing. In a multivariate analysis, two combined signalling modules were independently prognostic for residual risk following hormone therapy (HRvalidation 3.10 95%CI 1.78-5.40 and HRvalidation 2.70 95%CI 1.57-4.64). Conclusions: We successfully performed a signalling pathway-based targeted sequencing analysis within predefined signalling modules. In supervised and unsupervised analyses we identified multiple signalling cassettes linked to poor outcome in patients with ER+ve breast cancers treated with modern endocrine therapy in the context of a phase III clinical trial. These results identify novel candidates as targets to treat endocrine refractory breast cancers.
T-Helferzell (Th)-2 dominierte Immunreaktionen spielen eine wichtige Rolle in der Pathogenese fibrotischer Erkrankungen. Als ein zentraler Mediator der Th-2 Antwort gilt das Zytokin Interleukin (IL)-13. In dieser Studie untersuchten wir die Expression der IL-13 Rezeptor Isotypen IL-4R, IL-13Rα1 und IL-13Rα2 in Kontrollungen (n=8) und Lungen von Patienten mit Idiopathischer Lungenfibrose (IPF) (n=7). RT-PCR und immunhistochemische Analysen belegten eine signifikant erhöhte Expression von IL-13Rα2 in IPF Lungen, bei unveränderter Expression von IL-4R und IL-13Rα1. Immunhistochemische Untersuchungen zeigten eine starke Expression des IL-13Rα2 in glatten Gefäßmuskelzellen in normalen Lungen, sowie in glatten Gefäßmuskelzellen und Fibroblastenfoci in IPF Lungen. Für die funtionelle Untersuchung von IL-13-induzierten Effekten wurden frisch isolierte glatte Gefäßmuskelzellen der A. pulmonalis von 3 Spendern verwendet. IL-13 Stimulation induzierte einen dosis- und zeitabhängigen antiproliferativen Effekt, welcher nicht durch Apoptose verursacht wurde. Zellzyklus Untersuchungen zeigten ferner, dass der antiproliferative Effekt von IL-13 auf einen G0/G1 Arrest der Zellen zurückzuführen ist, und dieser durch STAT3 und STAT6 Phosphorylierung bedingt ist. Unsere Studien geben einen ersten Anhalt für einen potentiell wichtigen Einfluss des IL-13 Decoy Rezeptors IL-13Rα2 auf die Entwicklung fibrotischer Erkrankungen. IL-13 bedingter Wachstumsstop von glatten Gefäßmuskelzellen kann durch erhöhte Expresion des Decoy Rezeptors IL-13Rα2 aufgehoben werden, was zu einer selektiven Expansion des Myofibroblastenpools bei IPF führen kann.
Abstract Prostate cancer (CaP) remains the most common male malignancy worldwide, leading to over 300,000 deaths per year. In Western countries, most prostate tumours are diagnosed while they are confined to the prostate and have relatively indolent histology, as assessed by the Gleason Score (GS). CaP is a C-class tumour, characterized by large number of driver copy-number aberrations and genomic rearrangements. Therefore, while previous sequencing studies have focused largely on the coding regions of late-stage disease, herein we comprehensively characterized the copy-number profiles of 250 localized prostate cancers and analyzed the whole genomes of 124 matched tumour/normal pairs derived from patients with GS6 and GS7 prostate cancer. Using this – the largest whole-genome sequencing dataset of prostate cancer to date – we confirm the C-class character of the disease and identify strong genomic subtypes that stretch across multiple types of somatic alteration, including SNVs, CNAs and genomic rearrangements. We provide the first assessments of localized hyper-mutation phenomena (chromothripsis and kataegis) in prostate cancer, and identify specific genes driving higher levels of these hyper-mutations. We identify unexpected biases in the location and role of both non-coding SNVs and genomic rearrangements, including clear association with epigenetic processes, and with genome-wide profiling of methylation in 92 samples. Finally, we demonstrate a stark paucity of clinically-actionable mutations in localized GS6 and GS7 disease, even lacking those common in high-risk localized disease, indicating that novel therapeutic development against the recurrent targets identified here will be key to allowing less-aggressive, targeted treatment of early-stage disease. Citation Format: Michael E. Fraser, Veronica Y. Sabelnykova, Takafumi N. Yamaguchi, Alice Meng, Lawrence E. Heisler, Junyan Zhang, Julie Livingstone, Vincent Huang, Andre P. Masella, Fouad Yousif, Michael Xie, Nicholas J. Harding, Xihui Lin, Haiying Kong, Stephenie D. Prokopec, Alejandro Berlin, Dominique Trudel, Xuemei Luo, Timothy E. Beck, Richard de Borja, Alister D'Costa, Robert E. Denroche, Natalie S. Fox, Emilie Lalonde, Ada Wong, Taryne Chong, Michelle Sam, Jeremy Johns, Lee Timms, Nicholas Buchner, Michele Orain, Valerie Picard, Helene Hovington, Kenneth C. Chu, Christine P'ng, Bryan Lo, Francis Nguyen, Kathleen E. Houlahan, Christopher Cooper, Shaylan K. Govind, Clement Fung, Louis Lacombe, Colin C. Collins, Yves Fradet, Bernard Tetu, Theodorus van der Kwast, John McPherson, Thomas J. Hudson, Rob G. Bristow, Paul Boutros. The mutational landscape of localized gleason 6 and 7 prostate cancer. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 2966. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-2966
Abstract Men with localized prostate cancer vary widely in clinical outcome, with a 30-50% failure rate after primary treatment. There is thus significant interest in developing genomically refined prognostic groups. We sought to evaluate the extent of genetic heterogeneity, both between patients (inter-prostate) and within individual prostate glands (intra-prostate) to assess the impact of genetic heterogeneity on risk stratification within a tight clinical cohort. Copy number aberrations (CNAs) from 75 Gleason 7 patients were determined by OncoScan SNP microarrays. We measure the percentage of genome involved in a CNA, termed percent genome aberration (PGA), a proxy for genomic instability. Additionally, whole genome sequencing was applied to 10 intermediate-risk prostate tumours and matched blood, including multiple manually macro-dissected regions from 5 of the prostates (range 2 to 9). Somatic single nucleotide variants (SNVs) and genomic rearrangements (GR) were extracted from each patient. We find a high degree of inter-prostatic heterogeneity between the 75 Gleason 7 patients, with the number of CNAs per patient ranging from 0 to 929, corresponding to PGA 0 to 16.7%. Known prognostic markers can differentiate between patients at higher risk for biochemical recurrence, but only account for a fraction of the cohort. Notably, when these prognostic genes are examined within multiple regions of five independent tumours, they differ in copy number between cancerous regions of the same prostate. For example, TP53 is deleted in 1/2, 1/3, 4/9, 0/4, and 4/5 prostate regions. Indeed, phylogenetic analysis of geographically distinct regions revealed multi-clonal disease in two of the five patients; separate analyses based on SNVs, CNAs, and GRs all concluded that these patient have two genetically distinct cancers within their prostate. We demonstrate dramatic levels of inter- and intra- prostate genetic heterogeneity within pathologically identical or similar cancers. The observed intra-prostatic genomic heterogeneity, both in terms of multi-focal and multi-clonal disease, has critical implications for clinical management. Prognostic information obtained by biopsy may be inconsistent depending on the site of biopsy, and applying personalized medicine to prostate cancer will be challenging. This study highlights the need for further evaluation of how intra-prostatic heterogeneity is related to patient prognosis. Citation Information: Mol Cancer Ther 2013;12(11 Suppl):B129. Citation Format: Emilie Lalonde, Paul C. Boutros, Michael Fraser, Richard de Borja, Nicholas J. Harding, Dominique Trudel, Alice Meng, Pablo H. Hennings-Yeomans, Andrew McPherson, Amin Zia, Jianxin Wang, Timothy Beck, Natalie S. Fox, Taryne Chong, Michelle Sam, Jeremy Johns, Lee Timms, Nicholas Buchner, Sohrab Shah, Cenk Sahinalp, Thomas J. Hudson, John D. McPherson, Theodorus van der Kwast, Robert G. Bristow. Clinical implications of inter- and intra- prostatic heterogeneity. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference: Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2013 Oct 19-23; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2013;12(11 Suppl):Abstract nr B129.