Genome-wide linkage scan for colorectal cancer susceptibility genes supports linkage to chromosome 3q

Background: Colorectal cancer is one of the most common causes of cancer-related mortality. The disease is clinically and genetically heterogeneous though a strong hereditary component has been identified. However, only a small proportion of the inherited susceptibility can be ascribed to dominant syndromes, such as Hereditary Non-Polyposis Colorectal Cancer (HNPCC) or Familial Adenomatous Polyposis (FAP). In an attempt to identify novel colorectal cancer predisposing genes, we have performed a genome-wide linkage analysis in 30 Swedish non-FAP/non-HNPCC families with a strong family history of colorectal cancer.Methods: Statistical analysis was performed using multipoint parametric and nonparametric linkage.Results: Parametric analysis under the assumption of locus homogeneity excluded any common susceptibility regions harbouring a predisposing gene for colorectal cancer. However, several loci on chromosomes 2q, 3q, 6q, and 7q with suggestive linkage were detected in the parametric analysis under the assumption of locus heterogeneity as well as in the nonparametric analysis. Among these loci, the locus on chromosome 3q21.1- q26.2 was the most consistent finding providing positive results in both parametric and nonparametric analyses Heterogeneity LOD score (HLOD) = 1.90, alpha = 0.45, Non-Parametric LOD score (NPL) = 2.1).Conclusion: The strongest evidence of linkage was seen for the region on chromosome 3. Interestingly, the same region has recently been reported as the most significant finding in a genome-wide analysis performed with SNP arrays; thus our results independently support the finding on chromosome 3q

Investigation of genetic factors involved in colorectal cancer predisposition

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the leading causes of cancer-related death in the western world. Several hereditary CRC predisposing syndromes have been described and their genetic component has been elucidated. Taken together, these syndromes account for at most 5% of all CRC cases. Twin studies have, however, suggested a much stronger contribution of genetic factors suggesting that a number of CRC predisposing genes remain to be identified. The genome-wide linkage analysis in 18 non-FAP/non-HNPCC colorectal cancer families revealed regions of interest on three chromosomes, when the analysis was performed under the assumption of locus heterogeneity. The region on chromosome 22q was suggested in the parametric analysis, while the results of both parametric and nonparametric analysis provided support for the regions on chromosomes 11q and 14q. After finemapping of the regions on chromosomes 11q and 14q both the HLOD score and the NPL scores were reduced but still within the range of suggestive linkage. Families exhibiting linkage to chromosomes 11 and 14 were identified and overlapping regions were determined (1 1q13.2-13.4, 1 1q22.1- 23.1 and 14q23.1-24.1). (Paper I) The SMARCA3 gene has been shown to be a common target for methylation in colon and gastric cancer. Germline mutation screening of the SMARCA3 gene was performed in order to evaluate the role of this gene among Swedish colorectal cancer patients, some of whom also had a family history of gastric cancer. The lack of pathogenic germline mutations suggests that the gene has very little role, if any, in the predisposition to colorectal and gastric cancer. Several identified variants in the SMARCA3 gene could act as modifying or low-risk alleles, however additional studies are needed to determine their role. (Paper II) The CHEK2 1100delC, novel low-risk breast cancer predisposing allele, has been found at particularly high frequency in families with both colorectal and breast cancer. To investigate the possible role of this variant in CRC predisposition the variant frequency was determined in CRC cases and controls. No over-representation of the variant was detected in cases. However, due to the low frequency of the variant in the Swedish population, a very low penetrance effect of CHEK2 1100delC could not be excluded. (Paper III) Bi-allelic germline mutations in the MUTYH gene are known to predispose to recessively inherited MAP syndrome, characterized by the occurrence of an increased number of colonic polyps. We found no evidence for the contribution of MUTYH in familial CRC with a low polyp number. The two most common MUTYH mutations, Y165C and G382D, have been identified in the Swedish population and evidence for a slightly increased CRC risk among heterozygote carriers of these mutations was seen. In addition, three novel variants affecting the same amino acid position, R423Q, R423P and R423R, have been detected among sporadic CRC cases, however their significance remains to be determined. (Paper IV

Loss of DIP2C in RKO cells stimulates changes in DNA methylation and epithelial-mesenchymal transition

Background: The disco-interacting protein 2 homolog C (DIP2C) gene is an uncharacterized gene found mutated in a subset of breast and lung cancers. To understand the role of DIP2C in tumour development we studied the gene in human cancer cells. Methods: We engineered human DIP2C knockout cells by genome editing in cancer cells. The growth properties of the engineered cells were characterised and transcriptome and methylation analyses were carried out to identify pathways deregulated by inactivation of DIP2C. Effects on cell death pathways and epithelial-mesenchymal transition traits were studied based on the results from expression profiling. Results: Knockout of DIP2C in RKO cells resulted in cell enlargement and growth retardation. Expression profiling revealed 780 genes for which the expression level was affected by the loss of DIP2C, including the tumour-suppressor encoding CDKN2A gene, the epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) regulator-encoding ZEB1, and CD44 and CD24 that encode breast cancer stem cell markers. Analysis of DNA methylation showed more than 30,000 sites affected by differential methylation, the majority of which were hypomethylated following loss of DIP2C. Changes in DNA methylation at promoter regions were strongly correlated to changes in gene expression, and genes involved with EMT and cell death were enriched among the differentially regulated genes. The DIP2C knockout cells had higher wound closing capacity and showed an increase in the proportion of cells positive for cellular senescence markers. Conclusions: Loss of DIP2C triggers substantial DNA methylation and gene expression changes, cellular senescence and epithelial-mesenchymal transition in cancer cells

Gene rearrangements in hormone receptor negative breast cancers revealed by mate pair sequencing

Background: Chromosomal rearrangements in the form of deletions, insertions, inversions and translocations are frequently observed in breast cancer genomes, and a subset of these rearrangements may play a crucial role in tumorigenesis. To identify novel somatic chromosomal rearrangements, we determined the genome structures of 15 hormone-receptor negative breast tumors by long-insert mate pair massively parallel sequencing. Results: We identified and validated 40 somatic structural alterations, including the recurring fusion between genes DDX10 and SKA3 and translocations involving the EPHA5 gene. Other rearrangements were found to affect genes in pathways involved in epigenetic regulation, mitosis and signal transduction, underscoring their potential role in breast tumorigenesis. RNA interference-mediated suppression of five candidate genes (DDX10, SKA3, EPHA5, CLTC and TNIK) led to inhibition of breast cancer cell growth. Moreover, downregulation of DDX10 in breast cancer cells lead to an increased frequency of apoptotic nuclear morphology. Conclusions: Using whole genome mate pair sequencing and RNA interference assays, we have discovered a number of novel gene rearrangements in breast cancer genomes and identified DDX10, SKA3, EPHA5, CLTC and TNIK as potential cancer genes with impact on the growth and proliferation of breast cancer cells

Restoration of KMT2C/MLL3 in human colorectal cancer cells reinforces genome-wide H3K4me1 profiles and influences cell growth and gene expression

Background The histone 3 lysine 4 (H3K4) monomethylase KMT2C is mutated across several cancer types; however, the effects of mutations on epigenome organization, gene expression, and cell growth are not clear. A frequently recurring mutation in colorectal cancer (CRC) with microsatellite instability is a single nucleotide deletion within the exon 38 poly-A(9) repeat (c.8390delA) which results in frameshift preceding the functional carboxy-terminal SET domain. To study effects ofKMT2Cexpression in CRC cells, we restored one allele to wild typeKMT2Cin the two CRC cell lines RKO and HCT116, which both are homozygous c.8390delA mutant. Results Gene editing resulted in increasedKMT2Cexpression, increased H3K4me1 levels, altered gene expression profiles, and subtle negative effects on cell growth, where higher dependence and stronger effects ofKMT2Cexpression were observed in RKO compared to HCT116 cells. Surprisingly, we found that the two RKO and HCT116 CRC cell lines have distinct baseline H3K4me1 epigenomic profiles. In RKO cells, a flatter genome-wide H3K4me1 profile was associated with more increased H3K4me1 deposition at enhancers, reduced cell growth, and more differential gene expression relative to HCT116 cells when KMT2C was restored. Profiling of H3K4me1 did not indicate a highly specific regulation of gene expression as KMT2C-induced H3K4me1 deposition was found globally and not at a specific enhancer sub-set in the engineered cells. Although we observed variation in differentially regulated gene sets between cell lines and individual clones, differentially expressed genes in both cell lines included genes linked to known cancer signaling pathways, estrogen response, hypoxia response, and aspects of immune system regulation. Conclusions Here, KMT2C restoration reduced CRC cell growth and reinforced genome-wide H3K4me1 deposition at enhancers; however, the effects varied depending upon the H3K4me1 status of KMT2C deficient cells. Results indicate that KMT2C inactivation may promote colorectal cancer development through transcriptional dysregulation in several pathways with known cancer relevance

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase is hyperactivated in homologous recombination-defective cells.

Poly(ADP-ribose) (PAR) polymerase 1 (PARP1) is activated by DNA single-strand breaks (SSB) or at stalled replication forks to facilitate DNA repair. Inhibitors of PARP efficiently kill breast, ovarian, or prostate tumors in patients carrying hereditary mutations in the homologous recombination (HR) genes BRCA1 or BRCA2 through synthetic lethality. Here, we surprisingly show that PARP1 is hyperactivated in replicating BRCA2-defective cells. PARP1 hyperactivation is explained by the defect in HR as shRNA depletion of RAD54, RAD52, BLM, WRN, and XRCC3 proteins, which we here show are all essential for efficient HR and also caused PARP hyperactivation and correlated with an increased sensitivity to PARP inhibitors. BRCA2-defective cells were not found to have increased levels of SSBs, and PAR polymers formed in HR-defective cells do not colocalize to replication protein A or gammaH2AX, excluding the possibility that PARP hyperactivity is due to increased SSB repair or PARP induced at damaged replication forks. Resistance to PARP inhibitors can occur through genetic reversion in the BRCA2 gene. Here, we report that PARP inhibitor-resistant BRCA2-mutant cells revert back to normal levels of PARP activity. We speculate that the reason for the sensitivity of HR-defective cells to PARP inhibitors is related to the hyperactivated PARP1 in these cells. Furthermore, the presence of PAR polymers can be used to identify HR-defective cells that are sensitive to PARP inhibitors, which may be potential biomarkers

Comparative analysis of targeted next-generation sequencing panels for the detection of gene mutations in chronic lymphocytic leukemia : an ERIC multi-center study

Next-generation sequencing (NGS) has transitioned from research to clinical routine, yet the comparability of different technologies for mutation profiling remains an open question. We performed a European multicenter (n=6) evaluation of three amplicon-based NGS assays targeting 11 genes recurrently mutated in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Each assay was assessed by two centers using 48 pre-characterized chronic lymphocytic leukemia samples; libraries were sequenced on the Illumina MiSeq instrument and bioinformatics analyses were centralized. Across all centers the median percentage of target reads >= 100x ranged from 94.299.8%. In order to rule out assay-specific technical variability, we first assessed variant calling at the individual assay level i.e., pairwise analysis of variants detected amongst partner centers. After filtering for variants present in the paired normal sample and removal of PCR/sequencing artefacts, the panels achieved 96.2% (Multiplicom), 97.7% (TruSeq) and 90% (HaloPlex) concordance at a variant allele frequency (VAF) 5%). We sought to investigate low-frequency mutations further by using a high-sensitivity assay containing unique molecular identifiers, which confirmed the presence of several minor subclonal mutations. Thus, while amplicon-based approaches can be adopted for somatic mutation detection with VAF 5%, after rigorous validation, the use of unique molecular identifiers may be necessary to reach a higher sensitivity and ensure consistent and accurate detection of low-frequency variants