Simultaneous detection of lung fusions using a multiplex RT-PCR next generation sequencing-based approach: a multi-institutional research study.

BACKGROUND: Gene fusion events resulting from chromosomal rearrangements play an important role in initiation of lung adenocarcinoma. The recent association of four oncogenic driver genes, ALK, ROS1, RET, and NTRK1, as lung tumor predictive biomarkers has increased the need for development of up-to-date technologies for detection of these biomarkers in limited amounts of material. METHODS: We describe here a multi-institutional study using the Ion AmpliSeq™ RNA Fusion Lung Cancer Research Panel to interrogate previously characterized lung tumor samples. RESULTS: Reproducibility between laboratories using diluted fusion-positive cell lines was 100%. A cohort of lung clinical research samples from different origins (tissue biopsies, tissue resections, lymph nodes and pleural fluid samples) were used to evaluate the panel. We observed 97% concordance for ALK (28/30 positive; 71/70 negative samples), 95% for ROS1 (3/4 positive; 19/18 negative samples), and 93% for RET (2/1 positive; 13/14 negative samples) between the AmpliSeq assay and other methodologies. CONCLUSION: This methodology enables simultaneous detection of multiple ALK, ROS1, RET, and NTRK1 gene fusion transcripts in a single panel, enhanced by an integrated analysis solution. The assay performs well on limited amounts of input RNA (10 ng) and offers an integrated single assay solution for detection of actionable fusions in lung adenocarcinoma, with potential savings in both cost and turn-around-time compared to the combination of all four assays by other methods.

Validation of an NGS mutation detection panel for melanoma.

BACKGROUND: Knowledge of the genotype of melanoma is important to guide patient management. Identification of mutations in BRAF and c-KIT lead directly to targeted treatment, but it is also helpful to know if there are driver oncogene mutations in NRAS, GNAQ or GNA11 as these patients may benefit from alternative strategies such as immunotherapy. METHODS: While polymerase chain reaction (PCR) methods are often used to detect BRAF mutations, next generation sequencing (NGS) is able to determine all of the necessary information on several genes at once, with potential advantages in turnaround time. We describe here an Ampliseq hotspot panel for melanoma for use with the IonTorrent Personal Genome Machine (PGM) which covers the mutations currently of most clinical interest. RESULTS: We have validated this in 151 cases of skin and uveal melanoma from our files, and correlated the data with PCR based assessment of BRAF status. There was excellent agreement, with few discrepancies, though NGS does have greater coverage and picks up some mutations that would be missed by PCR. However, these are often rare and of unknown significance for treatment. CONCLUSIONS: PCR methods are rapid, less time-consuming and less expensive than NGS, and could be used as triage for patients requiring more extensive diagnostic workup. The NGS panel described here is suitable for clinical use with formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) samples.

The evidence base for circulating tumour DNA blood-based biomarkers for the early detection of cancer: a systematic mapping review.

BACKGROUND: The presence of circulating cell-free DNA from tumours in blood (ctDNA) is of major importance to those interested in early cancer detection, as well as to those wishing to monitor tumour progression or diagnose the presence of activating mutations to guide treatment. In 2014, the UK Early Cancer Detection Consortium undertook a systematic mapping review of the literature to identify blood-based biomarkers with potential for the development of a non-invasive blood test for cancer screening, and which identified this as a major area of interest. This review builds on the mapping review to expand the ctDNA dataset to examine the best options for the detection of multiple cancer types. METHODS: The original mapping review was based on comprehensive searches of the electronic databases Medline, Embase, CINAHL, the Cochrane library, and Biosis to obtain relevant literature on blood-based biomarkers for cancer detection in humans (PROSPERO no. CRD42014010827). The abstracts for each paper were reviewed to determine whether validation data were reported, and then examined in full. Publications concentrating on monitoring of disease burden or mutations were excluded. RESULTS: The search identified 94 ctDNA studies meeting the criteria for review. All but 5 studies examined one cancer type, with breast, colorectal and lung cancers representing 60% of studies. The size and design of the studies varied widely. Controls were included in 77% of publications. The largest study included 640 patients, but the median study size was 65 cases and 35 controls, and the bulk of studies (71%) included less than 100 patients. Studies either estimated cfDNA levels non-specifically or tested for cancer-specific mutations or methylation changes (the majority using PCR-based methods). CONCLUSION: We have systematically reviewed ctDNA blood biomarkers for the early detection of cancer. Pre-analytical, analytical, and post-analytical considerations were identified which need to be addressed before such biomarkers enter clinical practice. The value of small studies with no comparison between methods, or even the inclusion of controls is highly questionable, and larger validation studies will be required before such methods can be considered for early cancer detection.

Development of a semi-conductor sequencing-based panel for genotyping of colon and lung cancer by the Onconetwork consortium.

BACKGROUND: The number of predictive biomarkers that will be necessary to assess in clinical practice will increase with the availability of drugs that target specific molecular alterations. Therefore, diagnostic laboratories are confronted with new challenges: costs, turn-around-time and the amount of material required for testing will increase with the number of tests performed on a sample. Our consortium of European clinical research laboratories set out to test if semi-conductor sequencing provides a solution for these challenges. METHODS: We designed a multiplex PCR targeting 87 hotspot regions in 22 genes that are of clinical interest for lung and/or colorectal cancer. The gene-panel was tested by 7 different labs in their own clinical setting using ion-semiconductor sequencing. RESULTS: We analyzed 155 samples containing 112 previously identified mutations in the KRAS, EGFR en BRAF genes. Only 1 sample failed analysis due to poor quality of the DNA. All other samples were correctly genotyped for the known mutations, even as low as 2%, but also revealed other mutations. Optimization of the primers used in the multiplex PCR resulted in a uniform coverage distribution over the amplicons that allows for efficient pooling of samples in a sequencing run. CONCLUSIONS: We show that a semi-conductor based sequencing approach to stratify colon and lung cancer patients is feasible in a clinical setting.

Folliculin interacts with p0071 (plakophilin-4) and deficiency is associated with disordered RhoA signalling, epithelial polarization and cytokinesis.

Inherited mutations in the folliculin (FLCN) gene cause the Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome of familial hair follicle tumours (fibrofolliculomas), lung cysts and kidney tumours. Though folliculin has features of a tumour suppressor, the precise function of the FLCN gene product is not well characterized. We identified plakophilin-4 (p0071) as a potential novel folliculin interacting protein by yeast two-hybrid analysis. We confirmed the interaction of folliculin with p0071 by co-immunoprecipitation studies and, in view of previous studies linking p0071 to the regulation of rho-signalling, cytokinesis and intercellular junction formation, we investigated the effect of cell folliculin status on p0071-related functions. Folliculin and p0071 partially co-localized at cell junctions and in mitotic cells, at the midbody during cytokinesis. Previously, p0071 has been reported to regulate RhoA signalling during cytokinesis and we found that folliculin deficiency was associated with increased expression and activity of RhoA and evidence of disordered cytokinesis. Treatment of folliculin-deficient cells with a downstream inhibitor of RhoA signalling (the ROCK inhibitor Y-27632) reversed the increased cell migration phenotype observed in folliculin-deficient cells. Deficiency of folliculin and of p0071 resulted in tight junction defects and mislocalization of E-cadherin in mouse inner medullary collecting duct-3 renal tubular cells. These findings suggest that aspects of folliculin tumour suppressor function are linked to interaction with p0071 and the regulation of RhoA signalling.

Birt Hogg-Dubé syndrome-associated FLCN mutations disrupt protein stability.

Germline mutations in the FLCN gene cause Birt-Hogg-Dubé syndrome, familial spontaneous pneumothorax, or apparently nonsyndromic inherited RCC. The vast majority of reported FLCN mutations are predicted to result in a truncated/absent gene product and so infrequent missense and inframe-deletion (IFD) FLCN mutations might indicate critical functional domains. To investigate this hypothesis we (1) undertook an in silico evolutionary analysis of the FLCN sequence and (2) investigated in vitro the functional effects of naturally occurring FLCN missense/IFD mutations. The folliculin protein sequence evolved more slowly and was under stronger purifying selection than the average gene, most notably at a region between codons 100 and 230. Pathogenic missense and IFD FLCN mutations that impaired folliculin tumor suppressor function significantly disrupted the stability of the FLCN gene product but two missense substitutions initially considered to be putative mutations did not impair protein stability, growth suppression activity, or intracellular localization of folliculin. These findings are consistent with the distribution of FLCN mutations throughout the coding sequence, and suggest that multiple protein domains contribute to folliculin stability and tumor suppressor activity. In vitro assessment of protein stability and tumor suppressor activity provides a practical strategy for assessing the pathogenicity of potential FLCN mutations.

Modeling ATM mutant proteins from missense changes confirms retained kinase activity.

Ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM) is the gene mutated in the cancer-predisposing disorder ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T). We modeled ATM sequence variants identified in UK A-T patients to determine the stability and kinase activity of the resulting proteins as well as the distribution of these mutations across the coding region. Of 20 missense changes modeled, 10 proteins showed ATM kinase activity and 10 showed none. In the majority of cases the mutant ATM protein was unstable, although this was variable. Reduction in ATM kinase activity can result either from the presence of low levels of unstable mutant protein with relatively normal specific kinase activity or from stable mutant protein with deficient ATM kinase activation. Indeed, ATM mutant proteins without kinase activity toward downstream targets were still able to autophosphorylate on serine 1981, although in a much less efficient manner, suggesting that this was not sufficient for ATM activation. In terms of function, green fluorescent protein (GFP)-tagged kinase inactive ATM proteins could form ionizing radiation (IR)-induced foci (IRIF), at least temporarily, which colocalized with the DNA double-strand break (DSB) marker gammaH2AX. Consistent with this, both kinase active and inactive mutant ATM proteins were able to interfere with phosphorylation of targets by endogenous ATM. Since the majority of missense mutations occurred C-terminal to aa1966, including all 10 mutations with absence of kinase activity, the implication was that mutations N-terminal to this, with exceptions, are less likely to result in loss of kinase activity and therefore, are less likely to be identified in A-T patients.

Pathogenic ATM mutations occur rarely in a subset of multiple myeloma patients.

Ataxia Telangiectasia (A-T) patients have biallelic inactivation of the ATM gene and exhibit a 200-fold-increased frequency of lymphoid tumours. ATM mutations have been found in a number of adult lymphoid malignancies but there is no data on the occurrence of ATM mutations in multiple myeloma tumours. The purpose of our work was to investigate the occurrence of ATM mutations in multiple myeloma and to this end we screened 45 sporadic cases for ATM mutations using denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography analysis and DNA sequencing. Pathogenic ATM mutations were identified in 2/45 of the myelomas compared with a published estimate of ATM mutant allele frequency in the UK population of 2/521 (P = 0.033). One was the missense mutation 7181C>T which was then modelled in an expression system and the S2394L protein shown to have no ATM kinase activity. The second myeloma had the pathogenic ATM splice site mutation IVS40-1G>C leading to loss of exon 41. We also report a 48-year-old ataxia telangiectasia patient who developed multiple myeloma. Taken together our study suggests that ATM mutation may play a role in the pathogenesis of a subset of multiple myelomas.

Molecular testing for familial hypercholesterolaemia-associated mutations in a UK-based cohort: development of an NGS-based method and comparison with multiplex polymerase chain reaction and oligonucleotide arrays.

Background Detection of disease-associated mutations in patients with familial hypercholesterolaemia is crucial for early interventions to reduce risk of cardiovascular disease. Screening for these mutations represents a methodological challenge since more than 1200 different causal mutations in the low-density lipoprotein receptor has been identified. A number of methodological approaches have been developed for screening by clinical diagnostic laboratories. Methods Using primers targeting, the low-density lipoprotein receptor, apolipoprotein B, and proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9, we developed a novel Ion Torrent-based targeted re-sequencing method. We validated this in a West Midlands-UK small cohort of 58 patients screened in parallel with other mutation-targeting methods, such as multiplex polymerase chain reaction (Elucigene FH20), oligonucleotide arrays (Randox familial hypercholesterolaemia array) or the Illumina next-generation sequencing platform. Results In this small cohort, the next-generation sequencing method achieved excellent analytical performance characteristics and showed 100% and 89% concordance with the Randox array and the Elucigene FH20 assay. Investigation of the discrepant results identified two cases of mutation misclassification of the Elucigene FH20 multiplex polymerase chain reaction assay. A number of novel mutations not previously reported were also identified by the next-generation sequencing method. Conclusions Ion Torrent-based next-generation sequencing can deliver a suitable alternative for the molecular investigation of familial hypercholesterolaemia patients, especially when comprehensive mutation screening for rare or unknown mutations is required.

KRAS mutation analysis by PCR: a comparison of two methods.

BACKGROUND: KRAS mutation assays are important companion diagnostic tests to guide anti-EGFR antibody treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer. Direct comparison of newer diagnostic methods with existing methods is an important part of validation of any new technique. In this this study, we have compared the Therascreen (Qiagen) ARMS assay with Competitive Allele-Specific TaqMan PCR (castPCR, Life Technologies) to determine equivalence for KRAS mutation analysis. METHODS: DNA was extracted by Maxwell (Promega) from 99 colorectal cancers. The ARMS-based Therascreen and a customized castPCR assay were performed according to the manufacturer's instructions. All assays were performed on either an Applied Biosystems 7500 Fast Dx or a ViiA7 real-time PCR machine (both from Life Technologies). The data were collected and discrepant results re-tested with newly extracted DNA from the same blocks in both assay types. RESULTS: Of the 99 tumors included, Therascreen showed 62 tumors to be wild-type (WT) for KRAS, while 37 had KRAS mutations on initial testing. CastPCR showed 61 tumors to be wild-type (WT) for KRAS, while 38 had KRAS mutations. Thirteen tumors showed BRAF mutation in castPCR and in one of these there was also a KRAS mutation. The custom castPCR plate included several other KRAS mutations and BRAF V600E, not included in Therascreen, explaining the higher number of mutations detected by castPCR. Re-testing of discrepant results was required in three tumors, all of which then achieved concordance for KRAS. CastPCR assay Ct values were on average 2 cycles lower than Therascreen. CONCLUSION: There was excellent correlation between the two methods. Although castPCR assay shows lower Ct values than Therascreen, this is unlikely to be clinically significant.

Gene expression and protein array studies of folliculin-regulated pathways.

The familial cancer syndrome Birt-Hogg-Dube syndrome is characterised by the development of skin (fibrofolliculomas) and renal tumours (and lung cysts) and is caused by mutations in the FLCN tumour suppressor gene. Though the FLCN gene product (folliculin) has been linked to the regulation of a variety of signalling pathways (e.g. the mTOR, AMPK, TGFbeta and hyoxia-responsive genes) the precise function of the folliculin protein is not well-defined. In order to identify potential novel pathways linked to folliculin function we analysed paired isogenic folliculin-deficient and folliculin-expressing cell lines by gene expression and protein (Kinexus) arrays. Gene expression microarray analysis in the folliculin +/- non-renal cancer line (FTC133), revealed 708 differentially expressed targets (fold change >2 and p<0.001) with enrichment of genes in the cadherin and Wnt signalling pathways. Comparison of the differentially expressed genes in the FTC133 datasets and previously reported gene expression data for a folliculin-deficient renal tumour and the UOK257 renal cell carcinoma cell line, revealed that RAB27B was dysregulated in all three datasets (increased expression in folliculin-deficient cells). The Kinexus protein array analysis suggested 73 candidate, differentially expressed, proteins and further investigation by western blot analysis of 5 candidates that were also differentially expressed in the FTC133 gene expression microarray data, revealed that EIF2AK2 (PKR) and CASP1 were reduced and PLCG2 was increased in folliculin-deficient FTC133 cells and in a BHD renal tumour. In view of the role of CASP1 in apoptosis we investigated whether other apoptosis-related proteins might be regulated by folliculin and found increased levels of SMAC/Diablo and HtrA2 in folliculin-expressing FTC133 cells. These findings identify novel pathways and targets linked to folliculin tumour suppressor activity.

Therapeutic targeting the loss of the birt-hogg-dube suppressor gene.

Brit-Hogg-Dubé (BHD) syndrome, an autosomal dominant familial cancer, is associated with increased risk of kidney cancer. BHD syndrome is caused by loss-of-function mutations in the folliculin (FLCN) protein. To develop therapeutic approaches for renal cell carcinoma (RCC) in BHD syndrome, we adopted a strategy to identify tumor-selective growth inhibition in a RCC cell line with FLCN inactivation. The COMPARE algorithm was used to identify candidate anticancer drugs tested against the NCI-60 cell lines that showed preferential toxicity to low FLCN expressing cell lines. Fifteen compounds were selected and detailed growth inhibition (SRB) assays were done in paired BHD RCC cell lines (UOK257 derived from a patient with BHD). Selective sensitivity of FLCN-null over FLCN-wt UOK257 cells was observed in seven compounds. The most selective growth-inhibitory sensitivity was induced by mithramycin, which showed an approximately 10-fold difference in GI(50) values between FLCN-null (64.2 ± 7.9 nmol/L, n = 3) and FLCN-wt UOK257 cells (634.3 ± 147.9 nmol/L, n = 4). Differential ability to induce caspase 3/7 activity by mithramycin was also detected in a dose-dependent manner. Clonogenic survival studies showed mithramycin to be approximately 10-fold more cytotoxic to FLCN-null than FLCN-wt UOK257 cells (200 nmol/L). Following mithramycin exposure, UOK257-FLCN-null cells were mainly arrested and blocked in S and G(2)-M phases of the cell cycle and low dose of rapamycin (1 nmol/L) potentiated mithramycin sensitivity (1.5-fold in G(2)-M population and 2-fold in G(2)-M period time, 2xGI(50), 48 hours). These results provide a basis for further evaluation of mithramycin as a potential therapeutic drug for RCC associated with BHD.

Cancer risks and mortality in heterozygous ATM mutation carriers.

BACKGROUND: Homozygous or compound heterozygous mutations in the ATM gene are the principal cause of ataxia telangiectasia (A-T). Several studies have suggested that heterozygous carriers of ATM mutations are at increased risk of breast cancer and perhaps of other cancers, but the precise risk is uncertain. METHODS: Cancer incidence and mortality information for 1160 relatives of 169 UK A-T patients (including 247 obligate carriers) was obtained through the National Health Service Central Registry. Relative risks (RRs) of cancer in carriers, allowing for genotype uncertainty, were estimated with a maximum-likelihood approach that used the EM algorithm. Maximum-likelihood estimates of cancer risks associated with three groups of mutations were calculated using the pedigree analysis program MENDEL. All statistical tests were two-sided. RESULTS: The overall relative risk of breast cancer in carriers was 2.23 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.16 to 4.28) compared with the general population but was 4.94 (95% CI = 1.90 to 12.9) in those younger than age 50 years. The relative risk for all cancers other than breast cancer was 2.05 (95% CI = 1.09 to 3.84) in female carriers and 1.23 (95% CI = 0.76 to 2.00) in male carriers. Breast cancer was the only site for which a clear risk increase was seen, although there was some evidence of excess risks of colorectal cancer (RR = 2.54, 95% CI = 1.06 to 6.09) and stomach cancer (RR = 3.39, 95% CI = 0.86 to 13.4). Carriers of mutations predicted to encode a full-length ATM protein had cancer risks similar to those of people carrying truncating mutations. CONCLUSION: These results confirm a moderate risk of breast cancer in A-T heterozygotes and give some evidence of an excess risk of other cancers but provide no support for large mutation-specific differences in risk.