Cytotoxic lymphocytes target characteristic biophysical vulnerabilities in cancer.

Immune cells identify and destroy tumors by recognizing cellular traits indicative of oncogenic transformation. In this study, we found that myocardin-related transcription factors (MRTFs), which promote migration and metastatic invasion, also sensitize cancer cells to the immune system. Melanoma and breast cancer cells with high MRTF expression were selectively eliminated by cytotoxic lymphocytes in mouse models of metastasis. This immunosurveillance phenotype was further enhanced by treatment with immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) antibodies. We also observed that high MRTF signaling in human melanoma is associated with ICB efficacy in patients. Using biophysical and functional assays, we showed that MRTF overexpression rigidified the filamentous actin cytoskeleton and that this mechanical change rendered mouse and human cancer cells more vulnerable to cytotoxic T lymphocytes and natural killer cells. Collectively, these results suggest that immunosurveillance has a mechanical dimension, which we call mechanosurveillance, that is particularly relevant for the targeting of metastatic disease.

Phylogenetic and Genomic Analyses Resolve the Origin of Important Plant Genes Derived from Transposable Elements.

Once perceived as merely selfish, transposable elements (TEs) are now recognized as potent agents of adaptation. One way TEs contribute to evolution is through TE exaptation, a process whereby TEs, which persist by replicating in the genome, transform into novel host genes, which persist by conferring phenotypic benefits. Known exapted TEs (ETEs) contribute diverse and vital functions, and may facilitate punctuated equilibrium, yet little is known about this process. To better understand TE exaptation, we designed an approach to resolve the phylogenetic context and timing of exaptation events and subsequent patterns of ETE diversification. Starting with known ETEs, we search in diverse genomes for basal ETEs and closely related TEs, carefully curate the numerous candidate sequences, and infer detailed phylogenies. To distinguish TEs from ETEs, we also weigh several key genomic characteristics including repetitiveness, terminal repeats, pseudogenic features, and conserved domains. Applying this approach to the well-characterized plant ETEs MUG and FHY3, we show that each group is paraphyletic and we argue that this pattern demonstrates that each originated in not one but multiple exaptation events. These exaptations and subsequent ETE diversification occurred throughout angiosperm evolution including the crown group expansion, the angiosperm radiation, and the primitive evolution of angiosperms. In addition, we detect evidence of several putative novel ETE families. Our findings support the hypothesis that TE exaptation generates novel genes more frequently than is currently thought, often coinciding with key periods of evolution.

Discovery of novel genes derived from transposable elements using integrative genomic analysis.

Complex eukaryotes contain millions of transposable elements (TEs), comprising large fractions of their nuclear genomes. TEs consist of structural, regulatory, and coding sequences that are ordinarily associated with transposition, but that occasionally confer on the organism a selective advantage and may thereby become exapted. Exapted transposable element genes (ETEs) are known to play critical roles in diverse systems, from vertebrate adaptive immunity to plant development. Yet despite their evident importance, most ETEs have been identified fortuitously and few systematic searches have been conducted, suggesting that additional ETEs may await discovery. To explore this possibility, we develop a comprehensive systematic approach to searching for ETEs. We use TE-specific conserved domains to identify with high precision genes derived from TEs and screen them for signatures of exaptation based on their similarities to reference sets of known ETEs, conventional (non-TE) genes, and TE genes across diverse genetic attributes including repetitiveness, conservation of genomic location and sequence, and levels of expression and repressive small RNAs. Applying this approach in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana, we discover a surprisingly large number of novel high confidence ETEs. Intriguingly, unlike known plant ETEs, several of the novel ETE families form tandemly arrayed gene clusters, whereas others are relatively young. Our results not only identify novel TE-derived genes that may have practical applications but also challenge the notion that TE exaptation is merely a relic of ancient life, instead suggesting that it may continue to fundamentally drive evolution.

A gene family derived from transposable elements during early angiosperm evolution has reproductive fitness benefits in Arabidopsis thaliana.

The benefits of ever-growing numbers of sequenced eukaryotic genomes will not be fully realized until we learn to decipher vast stretches of noncoding DNA, largely composed of transposable elements. Transposable elements persist through self-replication, but some genes once encoded by transposable elements have, through a process called molecular domestication, evolved new functions that increase fitness. Although they have conferred numerous adaptations, the number of such domesticated transposable element genes remains unknown, so their evolutionary and functional impact cannot be fully assessed. Systematic searches that exploit genomic signatures of natural selection have been employed to identify potential domesticated genes, but their predictions have yet to be experimentally verified. To this end, we investigated a family of domesticated genes called MUSTANG (MUG), identified in a previous bioinformatic search of plant genomes. We show that MUG genes are functional. Mutants of Arabidopsis thaliana MUG genes yield phenotypes with severely reduced plant fitness through decreased plant size, delayed flowering, abnormal development of floral organs, and markedly reduced fertility. MUG genes are present in all flowering plants, but not in any non-flowering plant lineages, such as gymnosperms, suggesting that the molecular domestication of MUG may have been an integral part of early angiosperm evolution. This study shows that systematic searches can be successful at identifying functional genetic elements in noncoding regions and demonstrates how to combine systematic searches with reverse genetics in a fruitful way to decipher eukaryotic genomes.

Genomewide SNP variation reveals relationships among landraces and modern varieties of rice.

Rice, the primary source of dietary calories for half of humanity, is the first crop plant for which a high-quality reference genome sequence from a single variety was produced. We used resequencing microarrays to interrogate 100 Mb of the unique fraction of the reference genome for 20 diverse varieties and landraces that capture the impressive genotypic and phenotypic diversity of domesticated rice. Here, we report the distribution of 160,000 nonredundant SNPs. Introgression patterns of shared SNPs revealed the breeding history and relationships among the 20 varieties; some introgressed regions are associated with agronomic traits that mark major milestones in rice improvement. These comprehensive SNP data provide a foundation for deep exploration of rice diversity and gene-trait relationships and their use for future rice improvement.

Improved prediction of immune checkpoint blockade efficacy across multiple cancer types.

Only a fraction of patients with cancer respond to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) treatment, but current decision-making procedures have limited accuracy. In this study, we developed a machine learning model to predict ICB response by integrating genomic, molecular, demographic and clinical data from a comprehensively curated cohort (MSK-IMPACT) with 1,479 patients treated with ICB across 16 different cancer types. In a retrospective analysis, the model achieved high sensitivity and specificity in predicting clinical response to immunotherapy and predicted both overall survival and progression-free survival in the test data across different cancer types. Our model significantly outperformed predictions based on tumor mutational burden, which was recently approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for this purpose1. Additionally, the model provides quantitative assessments of the model features that are most salient for the predictions. We anticipate that this approach will substantially improve clinical decision-making in immunotherapy and inform future interventions.

Functional landscapes of POLE and POLD1 mutations in checkpoint blockade-dependent antitumor immunity.

Defects in pathways governing genomic fidelity have been linked to improved response to immune checkpoint blockade therapy (ICB). Pathogenic POLE/POLD1 mutations can cause hypermutation, yet how diverse mutations in POLE/POLD1 influence antitumor immunity following ICB is unclear. Here, we comprehensively determined the effect of POLE/POLD1 mutations in ICB and elucidated the mechanistic impact of these mutations on tumor immunity. Murine syngeneic tumors harboring Pole/Pold1 functional mutations displayed enhanced antitumor immunity and were sensitive to ICB. Patients with POLE/POLD1 mutated tumors harboring telltale mutational signatures respond better to ICB than patients harboring wild-type or signature-negative tumors. A mutant POLE/D1 function-associated signature-based model outperformed several traditional approaches for identifying POLE/POLD1 mutated patients that benefit from ICB. Strikingly, the spectrum of mutational signatures correlates with the biochemical features of neoantigens. Alterations that cause POLE/POLD1 function-associated signatures generate T cell receptor (TCR)-contact residues with increased hydrophobicity, potentially facilitating T cell recognition. Altogether, the functional landscapes of POLE/POLD1 mutations shape immunotherapy efficacy.

Response Rates to Anti-PD-1 Immunotherapy in Microsatellite-Stable Solid Tumors With 10 or More Mutations per Megabase.

IMPORTANCE: In June 2020, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the anti-programmed cell death 1 drug pembrolizumab for patients with malignant solid tumors of any histologic type with high tumor mutational burden (TMB; ≥10 mutations per megabase). The predictive value of this universal cutoff for high TMB is not well understood. OBJECTIVE: To examine the performance of a universal definition of high TMB in an independent cohort of patients with solid tumors treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: This retrospective cohort study included 1678 patients at a single cancer referral center treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2018. Patients had 16 different cancer types and were treated with anti-programmed cell death 1 or programmed cell death ligand-1 immunotherapy. Tumors underwent next-generation sequencing. EXPOSURES: At least 1 dose of immune checkpoint inhibitors. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Best overall response to immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. The hypothesis tested was formulated after data collection and prior to analysis. RESULTS: Of 1678 patients, 924 (55%) were male, and the median age was 64 years (interquartile range, 55-71 years). Using the universal cutoff of 10 mutations per megabase, 416 tumors (25%) were categorized as having high TMB. Across cancer types, the proportion of TMB-high tumors ranged from 0% of kidney cancers to 53% of melanomas (113 of 214). Tumors categorized as TMB-high had higher response rates compared with TMB-low tumors in only 11 of 16 cancer types. In the entire cohort, response rates increased with higher cutoffs for TMB-high categorization, reaching 41% (169 of 416) for TMB more than 10 and 56% (90 of 161) for TMB more than 18, the highest TMB decile. Response rates also increased with TMB percentile within cancer type. Using cancer-specific cutoffs, 457 tumors (27%) were categorized as TMB-high. Response rates within cancer type ranged from 4% for pancreatic cancer (1 of 26) to 70% for melanoma (46 of 66). Cancer-specific cutoffs were associated with numerically higher response rates for TMB-high compared with TMB-low tumors in 14 of 16 cancer types. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: The data from this cohort study validate the finding of generally higher response rates following immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy for tumors with TMB of 10 or more mutations per megabase, across multiple cancer types. However, the predictive value of a universal numerical threshold for TMB-high was limited, owing to variability across cancer types and unclear associations with survival outcomes. Further investigation will help define cancer type-specific TMB cutoffs to guide decision-making.

The association between tumor mutational burden and prognosis is dependent on treatment context.

In multiple cancer types, high tumor mutational burden (TMB) is associated with longer survival after treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). The association of TMB with survival outside of the immunotherapy context is poorly understood. We analyzed 10,233 patients (80% non-ICI-treated, 20% ICI-treated) with 17 cancer types before/without ICI treatment or after ICI treatment. In non-ICI-treated patients, higher TMB (higher percentile within cancer type) was not associated with better prognosis; in fact, in many cancer types, higher TMB was associated with poorer survival, in contrast to ICI-treated patients in whom higher TMB was associated with longer survival.

Pretreatment neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio and mutational burden as biomarkers of tumor response to immune checkpoint inhibitors.

Treatment with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) has demonstrated clinical benefit for a wide range of cancer types. Because only a subset of patients experience clinical benefit, there is a strong need for biomarkers that are easily accessible across diverse practice settings. Here, in a retrospective cohort study of 1714 patients with 16 different cancer types treated with ICI, we show that higher neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is significantly associated with poorer overall and progression-free survival, and lower rates of response and clinical benefit, after ICI therapy across multiple cancer types. Combining NLR with tumor mutational burden (TMB), the probability of benefit from ICI is significantly higher (OR = 3.22; 95% CI, 2.26-4.58; P < 0.001) in the NLR low/TMB high group compared to the NLR high/TMB low group. NLR is a suitable candidate for a cost-effective and widely accessible biomarker, and can be combined with TMB for additional predictive capacity.

Mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 differentially affect the tumor microenvironment and response to checkpoint blockade immunotherapy.

Immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) has improved outcomes for patients with advanced cancer, but the determinants of response remain poorly understood. Here we report differential effects of mutations in the homologous recombination genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 on response to ICB in mouse and human tumors, and further show that truncating mutations in BRCA2 are associated with superior response compared to those in BRCA1. Mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 result in distinct mutational landscapes and differentially modulate the tumor-immune microenvironment, with gene expression programs related to both adaptive and innate immunity enriched in BRCA2-deficient tumors. Single-cell RNA sequencing further revealed distinct T cell, natural killer, macrophage, and dendritic cell populations enriched in BRCA2-deficient tumors. Taken together, our findings reveal the divergent effects of BRCA1 and BRCA2-deficiency on ICB outcome, and have significant implications for elucidating the genetic and microenvironmental determinants of response to immunotherapy.

A pan-cancer analysis of PBAF complex mutations and their association with immunotherapy response.

There is conflicting data regarding the role of PBAF complex mutations and response to immune checkpoint blockade (ICB) therapy in clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC) and other solid tumors. We assess the prevalence of PBAF complex mutations from two large cohorts including the pan-cancer TCGA project (n = 10,359) and the MSK-IMPACT pan-cancer immunotherapy cohort (n = 3700). Across both cohorts, PBAF complex mutations, predominantly PBRM1 mutations, are most common in ccRCC. In multivariate models of ccRCC patients treated with ICB (n = 189), loss-of-function (LOF) mutations in PBRM1 are not associated with overall survival (OS) (HR = 1.24, p = 0.47) or time to treatment failure (HR = 0.85, p = 0.44). In a series of 11 solid tumors (n = 2936), LOF mutations are not associated with improved OS in a stratified multivariate model (HR = 0.9, p = 0.7). In a current series of solid tumors treated with ICB, we are unable to demonstrate favorable response to ICB in patients with PBAF complex mutations.

Immunogenic neoantigens derived from gene fusions stimulate T cell responses.

Anti-tumor immunity is driven by self versus non-self discrimination. Many immunotherapeutic approaches to cancer have taken advantage of tumor neoantigens derived from somatic mutations. Here, we demonstrate that gene fusions are a source of immunogenic neoantigens that can mediate responses to immunotherapy. We identified an exceptional responder with metastatic head and neck cancer who experienced a complete response to immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy, despite a low mutational load and minimal pre-treatment immune infiltration in the tumor. Using whole-genome sequencing and RNA sequencing, we identified a novel gene fusion and demonstrated that it produces a neoantigen that can specifically elicit a host cytotoxic T cell response. In a cohort of head and neck tumors with low mutation burden, minimal immune infiltration and prevalent gene fusions, we also identified gene fusion-derived neoantigens that generate cytotoxic T cell responses. Finally, analyzing additional datasets of fusion-positive cancers, including checkpoint-inhibitor-treated tumors, we found evidence of immune surveillance resulting in negative selective pressure against gene fusion-derived neoantigens. These findings highlight an important class of tumor-specific antigens and have implications for targeting gene fusion events in cancers that would otherwise be less poised for response to immunotherapy, including cancers with low mutational load and minimal immune infiltration.

Abiotic Stress Phenotypes Are Associated with Conserved Genes Derived from Transposable Elements.

Plant phenomics offers unique opportunities to accelerate our understanding of gene function and plant response to different environments, and may be particularly useful for studying previously uncharacterized genes. One important type of poorly characterized genes is those derived from transposable elements (TEs), which have departed from a mobility-driven lifestyle to attain new adaptive roles for the host (exapted TEs). We used phenomics approaches, coupled with reverse genetics, to analyze T-DNA insertion mutants of both previously reported and novel protein-coding exapted TEs in the model plant Arabidopsis thaliana. We show that mutations in most of these exapted TEs result in phenotypes, particularly when challenged by abiotic stress. We built statistical multi-dimensional phenotypic profiles and compared them to wild-type and known stress responsive mutant lines for each particular stress condition. We found that these exapted TEs may play roles in responses to phosphate limitation, tolerance to high salt concentration, freezing temperatures, and arsenic toxicity. These results not only experimentally validate a large set of putative functional exapted TEs recently discovered through computational analysis, but also uncover additional novel phenotypes for previously well-characterized exapted TEs in A. thaliana.

A call for benchmarking transposable element annotation methods.

DNA derived from transposable elements (TEs) constitutes large parts of the genomes of complex eukaryotes, with major impacts not only on genomic research but also on how organisms evolve and function. Although a variety of methods and tools have been developed to detect and annotate TEs, there are as yet no standard benchmarks-that is, no standard way to measure or compare their accuracy. This lack of accuracy assessment calls into question conclusions from a wide range of research that depends explicitly or implicitly on TE annotation. In the absence of standard benchmarks, toolmakers are impeded in improving their tools, annotators cannot properly assess which tools might best suit their needs, and downstream researchers cannot judge how accuracy limitations might impact their studies. We therefore propose that the TE research community create and adopt standard TE annotation benchmarks, and we call for other researchers to join the authors in making this long-overdue effort a success.

An atlas of over 90,000 conserved noncoding sequences provides insight into crucifer regulatory regions.

Despite the central importance of noncoding DNA to gene regulation and evolution, understanding of the extent of selection on plant noncoding DNA remains limited compared to that of other organisms. Here we report sequencing of genomes from three Brassicaceae species (Leavenworthia alabamica, Sisymbrium irio and Aethionema arabicum) and their joint analysis with six previously sequenced crucifer genomes. Conservation across orthologous bases suggests that at least 17% of the Arabidopsis thaliana genome is under selection, with nearly one-quarter of the sequence under selection lying outside of coding regions. Much of this sequence can be localized to approximately 90,000 conserved noncoding sequences (CNSs) that show evidence of transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation. Population genomics analyses of two crucifer species, A. thaliana and Capsella grandiflora, confirm that most of the identified CNSs are evolving under medium to strong purifying selection. Overall, these CNSs highlight both similarities and several key differences between the regulatory DNA of plants and other species.

Curated genome annotation of Oryza sativa ssp. japonica and comparative genome analysis with Arabidopsis thaliana.

We present here the annotation of the complete genome of rice Oryza sativa L. ssp. japonica cultivar Nipponbare. All functional annotations for proteins and non-protein-coding RNA (npRNA) candidates were manually curated. Functions were identified or inferred in 19,969 (70%) of the proteins, and 131 possible npRNAs (including 58 antisense transcripts) were found. Almost 5000 annotated protein-coding genes were found to be disrupted in insertional mutant lines, which will accelerate future experimental validation of the annotations. The rice loci were determined by using cDNA sequences obtained from rice and other representative cereals. Our conservative estimate based on these loci and an extrapolation suggested that the gene number of rice is approximately 32,000, which is smaller than previous estimates. We conducted comparative analyses between rice and Arabidopsis thaliana and found that both genomes possessed several lineage-specific genes, which might account for the observed differences between these species, while they had similar sets of predicted functional domains among the protein sequences. A system to control translational efficiency seems to be conserved across large evolutionary distances. Moreover, the evolutionary process of protein-coding genes was examined. Our results suggest that natural selection may have played a role for duplicated genes in both species, so that duplication was suppressed or favored in a manner that depended on the function of a gene.

Transposon-mediated expansion and diversification of a family of ULP-like genes.

Transposons comprise a major component of eukaryotic genomes, yet it remains controversial whether they are merely genetic parasites or instead significant contributors to organismal function and evolution. In plants, thousands of DNA transposons were recently shown to contain duplicated cellular gene fragments, a process termed transduplication. Although transduplication is a potentially rich source of novel coding sequences, virtually all appear to be pseudogenes in rice. Here we report the results of a genome-wide survey of transduplication in Mutator-like elements (MULEs) in Arabidopsis thaliana, which shows that the phenomenon is generally similar to rice transduplication, with one important exception: KAONASHI (KI). A family of more than 97 potentially functional genes and apparent pseudogenes, evidently derived at least 15 MYA from a cellular small ubiquitin-like modifier-specific protease gene, KI is predominantly located in potentially autonomous non-terminal inverted repeat MULEs and has evolved under purifying selection to maintain a conserved peptidase domain. Similar to the associated transposase gene but unlike cellular genes, KI is targeted by small RNAs and silenced in most tissues but has elevated expression in pollen. In an Arabidopsis double mutant deficient in histone and DNA methylation with elevated KI expression compared to wild type, at least one KI-MULE is mobile. The existence of KI demonstrates that transduplicated genes can retain protein-coding capacity and evolve novel functions. However, in this case, our evidence suggests that the function of KI may be selfish rather than cellular.

The evolutionary fate of MULE-mediated duplications of host gene fragments in rice.

DNA transposons are known to frequently capture duplicated fragments of host genes. The evolutionary impact of this phenomenon depends on how frequently the fragments retain protein-coding function as opposed to becoming pseudogenes. Gene fragment duplication by Mutator-like elements (MULEs) has previously been documented in maize, Arabidopsis, and rice. Here we present a rigorous genome-wide analysis of MULEs in the model plant Oryza sativa (domesticated rice). We identify 8274 MULEs with intact termini and target-site duplications (TSDs) and show that 1337 of them contain duplicated host gene fragments. Through a detailed examination of the 5% of duplicated gene fragments that are transcribed, we demonstrate that virtually all cases contain pseudogenic features such as fragmented conserved protein domains, frameshifts, and premature stop codons. In addition, we show that the distribution of the ratio of nonsynonymous to synonymous amino acid substitution rates for the duplications agrees with the expected distribution for pseudogenes. We conclude that MULE-mediated host gene duplication results in the formation of pseudogenes, not novel functional protein-coding genes; however, the transcribed duplications possess characteristics consistent with a potential role in the regulation of host gene expression.

MUSTANG is a novel family of domesticated transposase genes found in diverse angiosperms.

While transposons have traditionally been viewed as genomic parasites or "junk DNA," the discovery of transposon-derived host genes has fueled an ongoing debate over the evolutionary role of transposons. In particular, while mobility-related open reading frames have been known to acquire host functions, the contribution of these types of events to the evolution of genes is not well understood. Here we report that genome-wide searches for Mutator transposase-derived host genes in Arabidopsis thaliana (Columbia-0) and Oryza sativa ssp. japonica (cv. Nipponbare) (domesticated rice) identified 121 sequences, including the taxonomically conserved MUSTANG1. Syntenic MUSTANG1 orthologs in such varied plant species as rice, poplar, Arabidopsis, and Medicago truncatula appear to be under purifying selection. However, despite the evidence of this pathway of gene evolution, MUSTANG1 belongs to one of only two Mutator-like gene families with members in both monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous plants, suggesting that Mutator-like elements seldom evolve into taxonomically widespread host genes.