Abstract B027: A meta-metastasis analysis identifies pan-cancer markers and therapeutic targets

Introduction: Targeting metastasis has the potential to reduce the lethality of cancer, instead making it a manageable disease. While metastasis has been studied extensively in individual forms of cancer, less attention has been paid to aspects of metastatic progression conserved across cancers. Here, we identify mechanisms consistently associated with metastasis in primary tumors from 4106 patients across 12 different cancers via comparison of primary-site tumors with no lymph node involvement to those with staging in other tissues or lymph nodes. Methods: Leveraging RNA-seq data collected by The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), we identify genes differentially expressed between primary tumors from patients with primary-site, node-negative disease (M0, N0) compared to primary tumors from patients with node-positive disease (N1, N2, or N3) and/or distant metastases (M1). Differentially expressed genes were first determined within each cancer type, to reduce tissue- or disease-specific effects. Subsequently via meta-analysis, we combine these results to identify commonality across 12 different types of cancer. Results: Twenty-six genes passed a threshold of adj. P Citation Format: Kevin D. Fowler, Jason M. Funt, Sarah Kolitz, Jenny Zhang, Matthew Ung, Renan Escalante-Chong, Andrew C. Lysaght, Gregory Koytiger, Yoonjeong Cha, Benjamin Zeskind. A meta-metastasis analysis identifies pan-cancer markers and therapeutic targets [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference: Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics; 2017 Oct 26-30; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2018;17(1 Suppl):Abstract nr B027.