A first-generation pediatric cancer dependency map.

Exciting therapeutic targets are emerging from CRISPR-based screens of high mutational-burden adult cancers. A key question, however, is whether functional genomic approaches will yield new targets in pediatric cancers, known for remarkably few mutations, which often encode proteins considered challenging drug targets. To address this, we created a first-generation pediatric cancer dependency map representing 13 pediatric solid and brain tumor types. Eighty-two pediatric cancer cell lines were subjected to genome-scale CRISPR-Cas9 loss-of-function screening to identify genes required for cell survival. In contrast to the finding that pediatric cancers harbor fewer somatic mutations, we found a similar complexity of genetic dependencies in pediatric cancer cell lines compared to that in adult models. Findings from the pediatric cancer dependency map provide preclinical support for ongoing precision medicine clinical trials. The vulnerabilities observed in pediatric cancers were often distinct from those in adult cancer, indicating that repurposing adult oncology drugs will be insufficient to address childhood cancers.

Discovering the anti-cancer potential of non-oncology drugs by systematic viability profiling.

Anti-cancer uses of non-oncology drugs have occasionally been found, but such discoveries have been serendipitous. We sought to create a public resource containing the growth inhibitory activity of 4,518 drugs tested across 578 human cancer cell lines. We used PRISM, a molecular barcoding method, to screen drugs against cell lines in pools. An unexpectedly large number of non-oncology drugs selectively inhibited subsets of cancer cell lines in a manner predictable from the cell lines' molecular features. Our findings include compounds that killed by inducing PDE3A-SLFN12 complex formation; vanadium-containing compounds whose killing depended on the sulfate transporter SLC26A2; the alcohol dependence drug disulfiram, which killed cells with low expression of metallothioneins; and the anti-inflammatory drug tepoxalin, which killed via the multi-drug resistance protein ABCB1. The PRISM drug repurposing resource (https://depmap.org/repurposing) is a starting point to develop new oncology therapeutics, and more rarely, for potential direct clinical translation.

PRMT1-Mediated Translation Regulation Is a Crucial Vulnerability of Cancer.

Through an shRNA screen, we identified the protein arginine methyltransferase Prmt1 as a vulnerable intervention point in murine p53/Rb-null osteosarcomas, the human counterpart of which lacks effective therapeutic options. Depletion of Prmt1 in p53-deficient cells impaired tumor initiation and maintenance in vitro and in vivo Mechanistic studies reveal that translation-associated pathways were enriched for Prmt1 downstream targets, implicating Prmt1 in translation control. In particular, loss of Prmt1 led to a decrease in arginine methylation of the translation initiation complex, thereby disrupting its assembly and inhibiting translation. p53/Rb-null cells were sensitive to p53-induced translation stress, and analysis of human cancer cell line data from Project Achilles further revealed that Prmt1 and translation-associated pathways converged on the same functional networks. We propose that targeted therapy against Prmt1 and its associated translation-related pathways offer a mechanistic rationale for treatment of osteosarcomas and other cancers that exhibit dependencies on translation stress response. Cancer Res; 77(17); 4613-25. ©2017 AACR.

Correlating chemical sensitivity and basal gene expression reveals mechanism of action.

Changes in cellular gene expression in response to small-molecule or genetic perturbations have yielded signatures that can connect unknown mechanisms of action (MoA) to ones previously established. We hypothesized that differential basal gene expression could be correlated with patterns of small-molecule sensitivity across many cell lines to illuminate the actions of compounds whose MoA are unknown. To test this idea, we correlated the sensitivity patterns of 481 compounds with ∼19,000 basal transcript levels across 823 different human cancer cell lines and identified selective outlier transcripts. This process yielded many novel mechanistic insights, including the identification of activation mechanisms, cellular transporters and direct protein targets. We found that ML239, originally identified in a phenotypic screen for selective cytotoxicity in breast cancer stem-like cells, most likely acts through activation of fatty acid desaturase 2 (FADS2). These data and analytical tools are available to the research community through the Cancer Therapeutics Response Portal.

Harnessing Connectivity in a Large-Scale Small-Molecule Sensitivity Dataset.

UNLABELLED: Identifying genetic alterations that prime a cancer cell to respond to a particular therapeutic agent can facilitate the development of precision cancer medicines. Cancer cell-line (CCL) profiling of small-molecule sensitivity has emerged as an unbiased method to assess the relationships between genetic or cellular features of CCLs and small-molecule response. Here, we developed annotated cluster multidimensional enrichment analysis to explore the associations between groups of small molecules and groups of CCLs in a new, quantitative sensitivity dataset. This analysis reveals insights into small-molecule mechanisms of action, and genomic features that associate with CCL response to small-molecule treatment. We are able to recapitulate known relationships between FDA-approved therapies and cancer dependencies and to uncover new relationships, including for KRAS-mutant cancers and neuroblastoma. To enable the cancer community to explore these data, and to generate novel hypotheses, we created an updated version of the Cancer Therapeutic Response Portal (CTRP v2). SIGNIFICANCE: We present the largest CCL sensitivity dataset yet available, and an analysis method integrating information from multiple CCLs and multiple small molecules to identify CCL response predictors robustly. We updated the CTRP to enable the cancer research community to leverage these data and analyses.

Dynamics of Pseudomonas aeruginosa genome evolution.

One of the hallmarks of the Gram-negative bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa is its ability to thrive in diverse environments that includes humans with a variety of debilitating diseases or immune deficiencies. Here we report the complete sequence and comparative analysis of the genomes of two representative P. aeruginosa strains isolated from cystic fibrosis (CF) patients whose genetic disorder predisposes them to infections by this pathogen. The comparison of the genomes of the two CF strains with those of other P. aeruginosa presents a picture of a mosaic genome, consisting of a conserved core component, interrupted in each strain by combinations of specific blocks of genes. These strain-specific segments of the genome are found in limited chromosomal locations, referred to as regions of genomic plasticity. The ability of P. aeruginosa to shape its genomic composition to favor survival in the widest range of environmental reservoirs, with corresponding enhancement of its metabolic capacity is supported by the identification of a genomic island in one of the sequenced CF isolates, encoding enzymes capable of degrading terpenoids produced by trees. This work suggests that niche adaptation is a major evolutionary force influencing the composition of bacterial genomes. Unlike genome reduction seen in host-adapted bacterial pathogens, the genetic capacity of P. aeruginosa is determined by the ability of individual strains to acquire or discard genomic segments, giving rise to strains with customized genomic repertoires. Consequently, this organism can survive in a wide range of environmental reservoirs that can serve as sources of the infecting organisms.