Search Results - EGA European Genome-Phenome Archive

ICGC Oesophageal adenocarcinoma - lymph-node samples

The oesophageal project will focus on adenocarcinoma which is increasing in incidence in the UK and other developed countries and has a very poor outcome. The primary aims of this project are to deeply sequence tumour and normal genomic DNA (including the precursor condition Barrett’s oesophagus when material is available) to provide a comprehensive catalogue of somatic mutations. This will be achieved through a UK-wide network of hospitals involved in a research collaboration called the OCCAMS consortium. The goal of this project is to use high quality clinical material with accurately annotated clinic-pathological, treatment and outcome data.

Study EGAS00001000727

Patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma

Samples from three patients with urothelial carcinoma and paired lymph node metastases and distant metastases. Patient 1: Muscle invasive tumor and lymph node metastasis. Patient 2: Muscle invasive tumor, lymph node metastasis, and distant metastasis in the small intestine. Patient 3: T1b tumor, lymph node metastasis, and distant metastasis in the lung

Study EGAS00001002114

Next-Generation Sequencing of RNA and DNA Isolated from Paired Fresh-Frozen and Formalin-Fixed Paraffin-Embedded Samples of Human Cancer and Normal Tissue

Formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissues are an invaluable resource for clinical research. However, nucleic acids extracted from FFPE tissues are fragmented and chemically modified making them challenging to use in molecular studies. We analysed 23 fresh-frozen (FF), 35 FFPE and 38 paired FF/FFPE specimens, representing six different human tissue types (bladder, prostate and colon carcinoma; liver and colon normal tissue; reactive tonsil) in order to examine the potential use of FFPE samples in next-generation sequencing (NGS) based retrospective and prospective clinical studies. Two methods for DNA and three methods for RNA extraction from FFPE tissues were compared and were found to affect nucleic acid quantity and quality. DNA and RNA from selected FFPE and paired FF/FFPE specimens were used for exome and transcriptome analysis. Preparations of DNA Exome-Seq libraries was more challenging (29.5 % success) than that of RNA-Seq libraries, presumably because of modifications to FFPE tissue-derived DNA. Libraries could still be prepared from RNA isolated from two-decade old FFPE tissues. Data were analysed using the CLC Bio Genomics Workbench and revealed systematic differences between FF and FFPE tissue-derived nucleic acid libraries. In spite of this, pairwise analysis of DNA Exome-Seq data showed concordance for 70-80 % of variants in FF and FFPE samples stored for fewer than three years. RNA-Seq data showed high correlation of expression profiles in FF/FFPE pairs (Pearson Correlations of 0.90 +/- 0.05), irrespective of storage time (up to 244 months) and tissue type. A common set of 1,494 genes was identified with expression profiles that were significantly different between paired FF and FFPE samples irrespective of tissue type. Our results are promising and suggest that NGS can be used to study FFPE specimens in both prospective and retrospective archive-based studies in which FF specimens are not available.

Study EGAS00001000737

Long-read sequencing of diagnosis and post-therapy medulloblastoma reveals complex rearrangement patterns and epigenetic signatures

Cancer genomes harbor a broad spectrum of structural variants (SV) driving tumorigenesis, a relevant subset of which are likely to escape discovery in short reads. We employed Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) sequencing in a paired diagnostic and post-therapy medulloblastoma to unravel the haplotype-resolved somatic genetic and epigenetic landscape. We assemble complex rearrangements and such associated with telomeric sequences, including a 1.55 Megabasepair chromothripsis event. We uncover a complex SV pattern termed "templated insertion thread", characterized by short (mostly less than 1kb) insertions showing prevalent self-concatenation into highly amplified structures of up to 50kbp in size. Templated insertion threads occur in 3% of cancers, with a prevalence ranging to 74% in liposarcoma, and frequent colocalization with chromothripsis. We also perform long-read based methylome profiling and discover allele-specific methylation (ASM) effects, complex rearrangements exhibiting differential methylation, and differential promoter methylation in seven cancer-driver genes. Our study shows the potential of long-read sequencing in cancer.

Study EGAS00001006576

Targeted_analysis_of_chondrosarcoma_cancer_genes

Targeted analysis of chondrosarcoma cancer genes

Study EGAS00001001765

Study of pediatric hepatocellular carcinoma caused by bile salt export pump deficiency

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is almost invariably associated with an underlying inflammatory state, whose direct contribution to the acquisition of critical genomic changes is unclear. We mapped the acquired genomic alterations in human and mouse HCCs induced by defects in hepatocyte biliary transporters, which expose hepatocytes to bile salts and cause the onset of chronic inflammation that develops into cancer. In both human and mouse cancer genomes we found few somatic point mutations with no impairment of cancer genes, but instead massive gene amplification and rearrangements. This genomic landscape differs greatly from that of virus- and alcohol-associated liver cancer. Copy number gains preferentially occurred at late stages of cancer development and frequently targeted the MAPK signaling pathway, and in particular direct regulators of JNK. The pharmacological inhibition of JNK retarded cancer progression in the mouse. Our study demonstrates that intrahepatic cholestasis leading to hepatocyte exposure to bile acids and inflammation promotes cancer through genomic modifications that can be clearly distinguished from those determined by other etiological factors.

Study EGAS00001000749

Cell fate mapping of human glioblastoma reveals an invariant stem cell hierarchy pre- and post-treatment

Human glioblastomas (GBMs) are thought to harbour a subpopulation of glioblastoma stem cells (GSCs) that initiate tumour formation and regrowth following treatment. However, the origin of their proliferative heterogeneity during tumour growth pre- and post-treatment remains poorly understood. Here we study the clonal evolution of DNA barcoded GBMs following their serial propagation in xenograft mouse models to define the fate behaviour of individual GBM cells. Through quantitative analysis of clone sizes scored across multiple passages, we show that the growth of GBM clones in vivo are consistent with a remarkably neutral process resulting from a conserved proliferative hierarchy. In this model, slow-cycling stem-like cells give rise to a more rapidly cycling progenitor population with extensive self-maintenance capacity, that in turn generates short-lived cells that lack proliferative ability. We also identify rare "outlier" clones that deviate from these dynamics, and further show that chemotherapy reproducibly facilitates the selective expansion of pre-existing drug-resistant GBM lineages. Finally, we show that coexisting, functionally distinct GSCs may be targeted separately with epigenetic compounds. These findings show that, independent of an evolving mutational signature, the clonal dynamics of human GBM can be surprisingly robust, with intratumoural heterogeneity derived primarily from the defined stochastic fate behaviour of tumour cells within a conserved proliferative hierarchy.

Study EGAS00001002424

The_genomic_architecture_of_mesothelioma_

The genome-wide landscape of somatically acquired mutations in mesothelioma has not been deeply characterised to date, but advances in DNA sequencing technology now allow this to be addressed comprehensively. Harnessing massively parallel DNA sequencing platforms, we will identify somatically acquired point mutations in all coding regions of the genome from patients with mesothelioma. In addition, using paired-end sequencing, we will map copy number changes and genomic rearrangements from the same patients.

Study EGAS00001000353

ChIP-seq data of Hodgkin lymphoma cell line L-428

ChIP-seq data (H3K4Me3, H3K27Ac histone modifications) of Hodgkin lymphoma cell line L-428. Samples were processed as previously described (Sud et al., 2018). The files are in bam format, aligned to build 37.

Study EGAS00001003033

Genomic analyses of gynecologic carcinosarcomas reveal frequent mutations in chromatin remodeling genes

Malignant Mixed Müllerian Tumors, also known as carcinosarcomas, are rare tumors of gynecological origin. Here we perform whole exome analyses of 22 tumors using massively parallel sequencing to determine the mutational landscape of this tumor type. On average, we identify 43 mutations per tumor, excluding four cases with a mutator phenotype that harbored inactivating mutations in mismatch repair genes. In addition to mutations in TP53 and KRAS, we identify genetic alterations in chromatin remodeling genes, ARID1A and ARID1B, in histone methyltransferase MLL3, in histone deacetylase modifier SPOP, and in chromatin assembly factor BAZ1A, in nearly two thirds of cases. Alterations in genes with potential clinical utility are observed in more than three quarters of the cases and included members of the PI 3-kinase and homologous DNA repair pathways. These findings highlight the importance of the dysregulation of chromatin remodeling in carcinosarcoma tumorigenesis and suggest new avenues for personalized therapy.

Study EGAS00001000941

PD-L1 blockade immunotherapy rewires cancer-induced emergency myelopoiesis

Introduction Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) immunotherapy has revolutionized cancer treatment, demonstrating exceptional clinical responses in a wide range of cancers. Despite the success, a significant proportion of patients still fail to respond, highlighting the existence of unappreciated mechanisms of immunotherapy resistance. Delineating such mechanisms is paramount to minimize immunotherapy failures and optimize the clinical benefit. Methods In this study, we treated tumour-bearing mice with PD-L1 blockage antibody (aPD-L1) immunotherapy, to investigate its effects on cancer-induced emergency myelopoiesis, focusing on bone marrow HSPCs. We examined the impact of aPD-L1 treatment on HSPC quiescence, proliferation, transcriptomic profile, and functionality. Results Herein, we reveal that aPD-L1 in tumour-bearing mice targets the hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPCs) in the bone marrow (ΒΜ), mediating their exit from quiescence and promoting their proliferation. Notably, disruption of the PDL1/PD1 axis induces transcriptomic reprogramming in HSPCs, observed in both individuals with Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) and tumour-bearing mice, shifting towards an inflammatory state. Furthermore, HSPCs from aPDL1-treated mice demonstrated resistance to cancer-induced emergency myelopoiesis, evidenced by a lower generation of MDSCs compared to control-treated mice. Discussion: Our findings shed light on unrecognized mechanisms of action of ICB immunotherapy in cancer, which involves targeting of BM-driven HSPCs and reprogramming of cancer-induced emergency myelopoiesis.

Study EGAS00001007873

Transcriptional and translational alterations induced by BET protein inhibition and its combination with Omaveloxolone in acute myeloid leukemia

The inhibition of bromodomain and extra-terminal domain (BET) protein family achieved promising preclinical results as epigenetic therapy in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). However, clinical data showed a limited activity of bromodomain inhibitor (BETi) as single agent. We aimed to investigate the role of hypoxia in the response of AML cells to BET inhibition in order to identify a novel therapeutic combination targeting leukemia stem-progenitor cells (LSPCs) in their niche. BETi maintained an anti-proliferative and pro-apoptotic activity at low oxygen concentration by modulating the leukemic transcriptional, translational and metabolic programs towards reduced ribosome biogenesis, altered polyamine metabolism and activation of a TNF- via NF-B signature at translational level, especially in hypoxic conditions. Accordingly, Omaveloxolone, a clinical-stage NF-B inhibitor and NFR2 activator approved for Friedreich’s ataxia, significantly enhanced the efficacy of BETi against AML cell lines in hypoxia and normoxia by reducing cell viability and enhancing apoptosis. At molecular level, the drug combination converged to the downregulation of MYC, the DNA replication and oxidative phosphorylation signatures while forcing the expression of antioxidant genes. Overall, the combination of BETi and Oma disrupts key metabolic and transcriptional programs essential to AML cell survival and LSPC maintenance in the hypoxic microenvironment.

Study EGAS00001008404

Drug screening reveals new insight for chemoresistant hepatoblastoma

Hepatoblastoma (HB) is the most prevalent form of pediatric liver cancer. Although the standard treatment, primarily based on cisplatin, is effective in 80% of patients, it falls short in high-risk cases due to the development of chemoresistance. To identify new therapies overcoming this resistance, we screened 101 individual therapeutic compounds and 58 combinations, across 8 pediatric liver cancer cell lines. We identified ATR as a critical target to reverse cisplatin resistance. The ATR inhibitor elimusertib demonstrated the greatest synergy with cisplatin in 2D and 3D cultures and in subcutaneous xenograft models of cisplatin-resistant HB. This combination was found to enhance DNA damage and induces apoptosis through strong p53 activation. In conclusion, our study underscores the crucial role of ATR in cisplatin resistance and highlights the promising anti-proliferative effects of the Elimusertib/Cisplatin combination in cisplatin-resistant HB models, offering a potential new therapeutic option for treating high-risk and refractory HB.

Study EGAS00001007916

Novel paediatric case of a spinal high-grade astrocytoma with piloid features in a patient with Noonan Syndrome

Noonan Syndrome (NS) is associated with an increased risk of low-grade central nervous system tumours in children but only very rarely associated with high-grade gliomas. Here we describe the first reported case of a spinal high-grade astrocytoma with piloid features (HGAP) in a child with NS. This case was a diagnostic and treatment dilemma, prior to whole-genome germline and tumour sequencing, tumour transcriptome sequencing and DNA methylation analysis. The methylation profile matched strongly with HGAP and sequencing identified somatic FGFR1 and NF1 variants and a PTPN11 germline pathogenic variant. Therapeutic targets were identified but also alterations novel to HGAP such as differential expression of VEGFA and PD-L1. The germline PTPN11 finding has not been previously described in individuals with HGAP.  This case underscores the power of precision medicine from a diagnostic, therapeutic and clinical management perspective, and describes an association between HGAP and NS which has not previously been reported.

Study EGAS00001007937

Distinct portrayal of lesions in synchronous multifocal lung adenocarcinoma revealed by genome sequencing

Distinguishing multiple primary lung cancers in the synchronous multifocal intrapulmonary lesions has important significance on clinical staging and therapeutic decision. To investigate genomic aberration profiles, we applied whole genome and whole exome sequencing, and microarray-based comparative genomic hybridization on 15 intrapulmonary tumors derived from six patients with synchronous multifocal lung cancers having similar histological diagnosis. Any pair of intrapulmonary tumors in a single patient, which shared the identical genetic background and environment, showed an extinctive heterogeneity between each other. Phylogenetic relationship analysis indicated an independently branched evolution among all the tumors, suggesting they were multiple primary lung cancers. EGFR or KRAS mutations were found in 7 or 3 out of the 15 tumors, from 3 or 2 patients, respectively. Somatic mutational heterogeneity of these two genes in a single patient was also observed. Our analysis indicates genomic aberration profiling is valuable for identification of multiple primary lung cancer, especially when high histopathological concordance was observed between lesions. We also suggest a thoroughly molecular diagnosis against therapeutic target genes should be taken for each accessible nodule before making a plan for adjuvant therapy.

Study EGAS00001001572

Burden_of_Disease_in_Sarcoma

Genomic libraries (500 bps) will be generated from total genomic DNA derived from cancer samples and subjected to 50 bp, paired end sequencing on the llumina HiSeq 2000. Paired reads will be mapped to build 37 of the human reference genome to facilitate the generation of genome wide copy number information, and the identification of novel rearranged cancer genes and gene fusions.

Study EGAS00001000087

Spatio-temporal evolution of the primary glioblastoma genome

Tumor recurrence following treatment is the major cause of mortality for glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) patients. Thus, insights on the evolutionary process at recurrence are critical for improved patient care. Here, we describe our genomic analyses of 38 GBM patients with the initial and recurrent tumor specimens for each individual. A substantial divergence in the landscape of driver alterations was associated with distant appearance of a recurrent tumor from the initial tumor, suggesting that the genomic profile of the initial tumor can mislead targeted therapies for the distally recurred tumor. In addition, in contrast to IDH1-mutated gliomas, IDH1-wild-type primary GBMs rarely developed hypermutation following temozolomide (TMZ) treatment, indicating low risk of TMZ-induced hypermutation for these patients under the standard regimen.

Study EGAS00001001041

Osteosarcoma_X10

This is a continuation of the osteosarcoma work we have undertaken.

Study EGAS00001002167

The molecular landscape of glioma in patients with Neurofibromatosis 1.

Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is a common tumor predisposition syndrome in which glioma is one of the most prominent tumor type. Gliomagenesis in NF1 results in heterogeneous spectrum of tumors, from low grade to high grade glioma, occurring during the entire patient lifespan. In this study, we present the molecular landscape of low- and high-grade glioma in children and adults affected by NF1 (NF1-glioma). 59 tumor samples from 56 NF1-glioma patients with 43 matched normal were profiled with Whole Exome Sequencing, DNA Methylation array (31 tumors) and RNA sequencing (29 tumors).

Study EGAS00001003186

Whole genome and RNA sequencing of paediatric glioblastoma in the ICGC PedBrain project

Paediatric glioblastoma (pedGBM) is characterised by substantial intertumoural heterogeneity. In order to identify the genetic lesions underlying tumourigenesis, we analysed whole genomes and transcriptomes of pedGBMs and in vitro model systems by next generation sequencing. Novel fusions of the receptor tyrosine kinase MET lead us to investigate targeted therapy using MET inhibitors. This study is part of the International Cancer Genome Consortium PedBrain Tumor Project (ICGC PedBrain, http://www.pedbraintumor.org/).

Study EGAS00001001139

Automated system for scoring hematoxylin and eosin-stained ovarian cancer sections by identifying single cells uncovered that stromal cell ratio is a significant predictor for overall survival and progression-free survival.

Concerted efforts in genomic studies have revealed profound insights in prognostic ovarian cancer subtypes. On the other hand, abundant histology slides have been generated to date, yet their uses remain very limited and largely qualitative. Our goal is to develop automated histology analysis as an alternative subtyping technology for ovarian cancer that is cost-efficient and do not rely on DNA quality. We develop an automated system for scoring hematoxylin and eosin-stained (H&E) primary tumour sections of 91 late-stage ovarian cancer to identify single cells including cancer and stromal cells. We demonstrated high accuracy of our system based on expert pathologists’ scores (cancer=97.1%, stromal=89.1%) as well as compared to immunohistochemistry scoring (correlation=0.87). Quantitative stromal cell ratio is significantly associated with poor overall survival after controlling for clinical parameters including debulking status and age (multivariate analysis p=0.0021, HR=2.54, CI=1.40-4.60) and progression-free survival (multivariate analysis p=0.022, HR=1.75, CI=1.09–2.82). We demonstrate how automated image analysis enables objective quantification of microenvironmental composition of ovarian tumours. Our analysis reveals a strong effect of the tumour microenvironment on ovarian cancer progression and highlights the potential of therapeutic interventions that target the stromal compartment or cancer-stroma signalling in the stroma-high, late-stage ovarian cancer subset.

Study EGAS00001001694

463 newly diagnosed patients with Multiple Myeloma underwent whole exome sequencing of tumour and peripheral blood DNA.

463 newly diagnosed patients from the UK Myeloma XI clinical trial (NCT01554852) underwent whole exome sequencing plus targeted capture of the IGH/K/L and MYC loci. 200 ng of DNA were processed using NEBNext DNA library prepartion kit and hybridised to the SureSelect Human All Exon V5 Plus. Four samples were pooled and run on one lane of a HiSeq 2000 using 76-bp paired end reads. DNA from CD138+ selected bone marrow cells (myeloma tumour) as well as peripheral white blood cells were analysed and somatic mutations detected.

Study EGAS00001001147

Comprehensive miRNA Sequence Analysis Reveals Survival Differences in Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma Patients

Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (DLBCL) is an aggressive disease, with 30-40% of patients failing to achieve complete responses to standard therapy. miRNAs are RNA molecules that attenuate expression of their mRNA targets. To characterize the DLBCL miRNome, we sequenced miRNAs from 92 DLBCL and 15 benign centroblast fresh frozen samples and from 140 DLBCL formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissue (FFPET) samples for validation.

Study EGAS00001001025

The Berlin (BLN) panel of glioblastoma cell lines: RNAseq of human gliomasphere cell lines and matched parental tumors

We generated a panel of nine glioma stem-like cell lines under serum-free cell culture conditions from human glioblastoma samples. In addition to clinical annotation, MR imaging and histological characterization of the parental tumor, as well as xenograft studies of tumorigenecity, transcriptomic profiling of tumor/cell line pairs by RNA sequencing has been performed.

Study EGAS00001001167

Multi-omic and functional analysis for classification and treatment of sarcomas with FUS-TFCP2 or EWSR1-TFCP2 fusions(H021/INF)

Many rare cancers are not well understood, and pathogenesis-directed therapies are often lacking, resulting in poor patient outcomes. Leveraging two (inter)national precision oncology trials that enroll large numbers of rare cancers, we investigated the clinical, histopathologic, molecular, and functional characteristics of rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) with fusions of FUS or EWSR1 to the TFCP2 transcription factor, a recently discovered ultra-rare entity whose classification, pathogenesis, and optimal treatment are unclear. Unusually for fusion-driven sarcomas, most cases had highly rearranged genomes, including chromothripsis, and signs of defective homologous recombination DNA repair. All tumors showed extreme expression of a truncated TERT variant and the ALK receptor tyrosine kinase, which was additionally affected by intragenic deletions and aberrant splicing, resulting in the expression of shortened variants in 58% of cases. Three ALK variants were oncogenic in immortalized cells, and patient-derived tumor cells expressing two variants responded to certain ALK inhibitors. Other recurrent alterations included CDKN2A/MTAP co-deletions and mutations in PAPPA2, encoding an IGFBP5-specific proteinase, in 67% and 25% of cases, respectively. DNA methylation analysis, along with 19 other soft-tissue sarcoma classes, revealed a close relationship with undifferentiated sarcoma but not other RMS subtypes, suggesting that TFCP2-rearranged RMS is a separate entity, possibly arising from a distinct cell of origin. Expression of TFCP2 fusions in immortalized human cells blocked late myogenic differentiation and significantly induced genes that were also highly expressed in patient tumors, including ALK, TERT, and two known regulators of skeletal muscle cells, IGFBP5 and PTH1R. Genome-wide chromatin profiling demonstrated direct binding of FUS-TFCP2 to the ALK and TERT loci outside their regular promoters, which correlated with the expression of alternative transcript variants. Finally, FUS-TFCP2 inhibited the repair of DNA double-strand breaks in immortalized cells, rendering them sensitive to treatment with cisplatin. This study provides insight into the pathogenesis and therapeutic vulnerabilities of a new RMS subtype and illustrates the value of linking comprehensive molecular diagnostics and functional annotation within multicenter consortia to improve the understanding and clinical management of rare cancers.

Study EGAS00001006939

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