Exome sequencing identifies frequent mutation of the SWI/SNF complex gene PBRM1 in renal carcinoma.

The genetics of renal cancer is dominated by inactivation of the VHL tumour suppressor gene in clear cell carcinoma (ccRCC), the commonest histological subtype. A recent large-scale screen of ∼3,500 genes by PCR-based exon re-sequencing identified several new cancer genes in ccRCC including UTX (also known as KDM6A), JARID1C (also known as KDM5C) and SETD2 (ref. 2). These genes encode enzymes that demethylate (UTX, JARID1C) or methylate (SETD2) key lysine residues of histone H3. Modification of the methylation state of these lysine residues of histone H3 regulates chromatin structure and is implicated in transcriptional control. However, together these mutations are present in fewer than 15% of ccRCC, suggesting the existence of additional, currently unidentified cancer genes. Here, we have sequenced the protein coding exome in a series of primary ccRCC and report the identification of the SWI/SNF chromatin remodelling complex gene PBRM1 (ref. 4) as a second major ccRCC cancer gene, with truncating mutations in 41% (92/227) of cases. These data further elucidate the somatic genetic architecture of ccRCC and emphasize the marked contribution of aberrant chromatin biology.

Tandem duplication of chromosomal segments is common in ovarian and breast cancer genomes.

The application of paired-end next generation sequencing approaches has made it possible to systematically characterize rearrangements of the cancer genome to base-pair level. Utilizing this approach, we report the first detailed analysis of ovarian cancer rearrangements, comparing high-grade serous and clear cell cancers, and these histotypes with other solid cancers. Somatic rearrangements were systematically characterized in eight high-grade serous and five clear cell ovarian cancer genomes and we report here the identification of > 600 somatic rearrangements. Recurrent rearrangements of the transcriptional regulator gene, TSHZ3, were found in three of eight serous cases. Comparison to breast, pancreatic and prostate cancer genomes revealed that a subset of ovarian cancers share a marked tandem duplication phenotype with triple-negative breast cancers. The tandem duplication phenotype was not linked to BRCA1/2 mutation, suggesting that other common mechanisms or carcinogenic exposures are operative. High-grade serous cancers arising in women with germline BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation showed a high frequency of small chromosomal deletions. These findings indicate that BRCA1/2 germline mutation may contribute to widespread structural change and that other undefined mechanism(s), which are potentially shared with triple-negative breast cancer, promote tandem chromosomal duplications that sculpt the ovarian cancer genome.

Somatic structural rearrangements in genetically engineered mouse mammary tumors.

BACKGROUND: Here we present the first paired-end sequencing of tumors from genetically engineered mouse models of cancer to determine how faithfully these models recapitulate the landscape of somatic rearrangements found in human tumors. These were models of Trp53-mutated breast cancer, Brca1- and Brca2-associated hereditary breast cancer, and E-cadherin (Cdh1) mutated lobular breast cancer. RESULTS: We show that although Brca1- and Brca2-deficient mouse mammary tumors have a defect in the homologous recombination pathway, there is no apparent difference in the type or frequency of somatic rearrangements found in these cancers when compared to other mouse mammary cancers, and tumors from all genetic backgrounds showed evidence of microhomology-mediated repair and non-homologous end-joining processes. Importantly, mouse mammary tumors were found to carry fewer structural rearrangements than human mammary cancers and expressed in-frame fusion genes. Like the fusion genes found in human mammary tumors, these were not recurrent. One mouse tumor was found to contain an internal deletion of exons of the Lrp1b gene, which led to a smaller in-frame transcript. We found internal in-frame deletions in the human ortholog of this gene in a significant number (4.2%) of human cancer cell lines. CONCLUSIONS: Paired-end sequencing of mouse mammary tumors revealed that they display significant heterogeneity in their profiles of somatic rearrangement but, importantly, fewer rearrangements than cognate human mammary tumors, probably because these cancers have been induced by strong driver mutations engineered into the mouse genome. Both human and mouse mammary cancers carry expressed fusion genes and conserved homozygous deletions.