The Exceptional Responders Initiative is a pilot study to investigate the underlying molecular factors driving exceptional treatment responses of cancer patients to drug therapies. Study researchers will examine molecular profiles of tumors from patients either enrolled in a clinical trial for an investigational drug(s) and who achieved an exceptional response relative to other trial participants, or who achieved an exceptional response to a non-investigational chemotherapy. An exceptional response is defined as achievement of either a complete response or a partial response for at least 6 months duration in a trial or treatment where the overall response rate is < 10%. The hope is to discover underlying molecular features that can be further investigated and may eventually predict benefit from a given drug or class of drugs for a particular patient. This pilot project will successfully characterize approximately 100 cases of tumor tissue and, when available, case-matched germline DNA. All samples will undergo whole exome sequencing, and cases with sufficient nucleic acids will undergo additional analyses (e.g. whole genome sequencing, mRNA-sequencing, mi RNA sequencing, promoter methylation analysis, SNP etc). Each case will be annotated with demographic and clinical information, along with follow-up information minimally sufficient to correlate molecular profiles with response. Both retrospective and prospective collections will be considered. The project will also accept sequencing data and clinical data from patients who have had sequencing performed outside of this project. All data will be de-identified and placed in a controlled access database so other investigators may use them for additional insights. Clinically annotated tissue specimens meeting the criteria will be provided by groups participating in the Exceptional Cases Initiative to a Biospecimen Core Resource (BCR), which will perform quality control on the tissues, and will use a standard operating procedure to isolate nucleic acids. The nucleic acids will be shipped to a sequencing center to perform whole exome sequencing and analysis. These findings will be made available to the broader cancer research community in a controlled access database.
The current understanding of tumorigenesis is largely centered on a monogenic driver oncogene model. This paradigm is incompatible with the prevailing clinical experience in most solid malignancies: monotherapy with a drug directed against an individual oncogenic driver typically results in incomplete clinical responses and eventual tumor progression1-7. By profiling the somatic genetic alterations present in over 2,000 cases of lung cancer, the leading cause of cancer mortality worldwide, we show that combinations of functional genetic alterations, i.e. genetic collectives dominate the landscape of advanced-stage disease. We highlight this polygenic landscape and evolution of advanced-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) through the spatial-temporal genomic profiling of 7 distinct tumor biopsy specimens and 6 plasma specimens obtained from an EGFR-mutant NSCLC patient at (1) initial diagnosis of early-stage disease, (2) metastatic progression, (3) sequential treatment and resistance to 2 EGFR inhibitors, (4) death. The comprehensive genomic analysis of this case, coupled with circulating free (cf) tumor DNA profiling of additional advanced-stage EGFR-mutant NSCLC clinical cohorts with associated treatment responses uncovered features of evolutionary selection for multiple concurrent gene alterations: including the presence of EGFR inhibitor-sensitive (EGFRL858R;EGFRexon19del) or inhibitor-resistant (EGFRT790M;EGFRC797S) forms of oncogenic EGFR along with cell cycle gene alterations (e.g. in CDK4/6, CCNE1, RB1) and activating alterations in WNT/β-catenin and PI3K pathway genes, which our data suggest can cooperatively impart non-redundant functions to limit EGFR targeted therapy response and/or promote tumor progression. Moreover, evidence of an unanticipated parallel evolution of both EGFR T790M and two distinct forms of oncogenic PIK3CA was observed. Our study provides a large-scale clinical and genetic dataset of advanced-stage EGFR-mutant NSCLC, a rationale for specific polytherapy strategies such as EGFR and CDK4/6 inhibitor co-treatment to potentially enhance clinical outcomes, and prompts a re-evaluation of the prevailing paradigm of monogenic-based molecular stratification for targeted therapy. Instead, our findings highlight an alternative model of genetic collectives that operate through epistasis to drive lung cancer progression and therapy resistance.
Security Overview The European Genome-phenome Archive (EGA) houses consented human data under controlled access. Access decisions are handled by the relevant Data Access Committee (DAC), which autonomously manages requests through the DAC Portal. This document provides an overview of EGA’s practices in ensuring the security of data stored at EGA. As security is a prime concern of the EGA, the EGA is a member of the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health (GA4GH) Data Security work stream. The EGA contributes and helps develop the recommendations outlined the GA4GH Security Technology Infrastructure document, which defines guidelines, best practices, and standards for building and operating an infrastructure that promotes responsible data sharing in accordance with the GA4GH Privacy and Security Policy. Explore the EGA dataflow to gain deeper insights! Accessing data in the EGA involves several steps. First, users need to create an EGA account. Once logged in, they can request access to data controlled by a DAC through the EGA website (see documentation). The DAC oversees these requests through the DAC Portal, and if approved, grants the necessary permissions to the user's EGA account, allowing them to access and download all relevant data and metadata for the requested dataset(s). The key points of EGA security strategy are: 1 Regular Risk Assessment The EGA regularly identifies and assesses risk related to the following: Breach of confidentiality,Breach of privacy or autonomy,Malicious or accidental corruption or destruction of data archived at EGA,Disruption of services provided by the EGA. 2 Risk mitigation The EGA implements and maintains safeguards to minimise the risks identified above in accordance with the 6 control objectives listed in Appendix 1 and outlined in the GA4GH Security and Infrastructure document.If a breach is discovered, the EGA applies a defined protocol to minimise damage. 3 Identity and authorisation management The EGA authenticates the identity of individuals or software accessing controlled access data held at the EGA.The EGA ensures an appropriate level of assurance (LoA) is applied to the identity consistent with the risk associated with that individual, such as multi-factor authentication for DACs.The EGA provides the minimum access rights and privileges consistent with the user’s identity, allowing access consistent with the GA4GH Privacy and Security Policy, as determined by the appropriate DAC. 4 Audit Logs The EGA maintains a set of logs recording: Changes to user access rights,Data access requests,Resource usage. 5 Cryptography, communication security, and data integrity The EGA ensures data transmission integrity using a hash function.All data transmitted to or from the EGA is end-to-end encrypted.All data at EGA is stored using strong encryption.Encryption keys are not stored in the same system as the encrypted data.All data archived at EGA must be accompanied by a signed submission statement ensuring appropriate consent or ethical approval has been obtained, and is in accordance with all applicable laws and regulations. The EGA has a defined protocol defining the response in the event of a security breach, and is continuing to work with the GA4GH Data Security Work Stream to help define best practice and associated standards for breach responses. Appendix 1 GA4GH Control Objectives Control Objective 1: Implement technology safeguards to minimise the risk of unauthorised access, use, or disclosure of confidential and private data.Control Objective 2: Implement technology safeguards to minimise the risk of discovery, access, and use of individuals’ clinical and genomic data, and individual identities, other than as authorised by applicable jurisdictional law, institutional policy, and individual consents.Control Objective 3: Implement technology safeguards to minimise the risk of accidental or malicious corruption or destruction of data.Control Objective 4: Implement technology safeguards to minimise the risk of disruption, degradation, and interruption of services enabling access to data.Control Objective 5: Implement technology safeguards to minimise the risk of potential security attacks and misuse of authorised accesses and privileges.Control Objective 6: Implement technology safeguards to promptly detect the failure to attain the above control objectives and to respond with proper countermeasures.Appendix 2Refer to the document below to learn more about EGA long-term data preservation policy and procedures at EMBL-EBI.Long-term data preservation
