RESUMEN
A powerful way to discover key genes with causal roles in oncogenesis is to identify genomic regions that undergo frequent alteration in human cancers. Here we present high-resolution analyses of somatic copy-number alterations (SCNAs) from 3,131 cancer specimens, belonging largely to 26 histological types. We identify 158 regions of focal SCNA that are altered at significant frequency across several cancer types, of which 122 cannot be explained by the presence of a known cancer target gene located within these regions. Several gene families are enriched among these regions of focal SCNA, including the BCL2 family of apoptosis regulators and the NF-kappaBeta pathway. We show that cancer cells containing amplifications surrounding the MCL1 and BCL2L1 anti-apoptotic genes depend on the expression of these genes for survival. Finally, we demonstrate that a large majority of SCNAs identified in individual cancer types are present in several cancer types.
Asunto(s)
Variaciones en el Número de Copia de ADN/genética , Dosificación de Gen/genética , Neoplasias/genética , Apoptosis/genética , Línea Celular Tumoral , Supervivencia Celular/genética , Amplificación de Genes/genética , Genómica , Humanos , Familia de Multigenes/genética , Proteína 1 de la Secuencia de Leucemia de Células Mieloides , Neoplasias/clasificación , Neoplasias/patología , Proteínas Proto-Oncogénicas c-bcl-2/genética , Transducción de Señal , Proteína bcl-X/genéticaRESUMEN
We assessed somatic alleles of six receptor tyrosine kinase genes mutated in lung adenocarcinoma for oncogenic activity. Five of these genes failed to score in transformation assays; however, novel recurring extracellular domain mutations of the receptor tyrosine kinase gene ERBB2 were potently oncogenic. These ERBB2 extracellular domain mutants were activated by two distinct mechanisms, characterized by elevated C-terminal tail phosphorylation or by covalent dimerization mediated by intermolecular disulfide bond formation. These distinct mechanisms of receptor activation converged upon tyrosine phosphorylation of cellular proteins, impacting cell motility. Survival of Ba/F3 cells transformed to IL-3 independence by the ERBB2 extracellular domain mutants was abrogated by treatment with small-molecule inhibitors of ERBB2, raising the possibility that patients harboring such mutations could benefit from ERBB2-directed therapy.
Asunto(s)
Adenocarcinoma/enzimología , Neoplasias Pulmonares/enzimología , Mutación/genética , Receptor ErbB-2/genética , Adenocarcinoma/genética , Adenocarcinoma del Pulmón , Alelos , Animales , Movimiento Celular/fisiología , Clonación Molecular , Cartilla de ADN/genética , Dimerización , Immunoblotting , Neoplasias Pulmonares/genética , Ratones , Células 3T3 NIH , Fosforilación , Estructura Terciaria de Proteína/genética , Retroviridae , Espectrometría de Masas en TándemRESUMEN
In cancer, proto-oncogenes are often altered by genomic amplification. Here we report recurrent focal amplifications of chromosomal segment 4q12 overlapping the proto-oncogenes PDGFRA and KIT in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) array and fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis indicate that 4q12 is amplified in 3-7% of lung adenocarcinomas and 8-10% of lung squamous cell carcinomas. In addition, we demonstrate that the NSCLC cell line NCI-H1703 exhibits focal amplification of PDGFRA and is dependent on PDGFRalpha activity for cell growth. Treatment of NCI-H1703 cells with PDGFRA-specific shRNAs or with the PDGFRalpha/KIT small molecule inhibitors imatinib or sunitinib leads to cell growth inhibition. However, these observations do not extend to NSCLC cell lines with lower-amplitude and broader gains of chromosome 4q. Together these observations implicate PDGFRA and KIT as potential oncogenes in NSCLC, but further study is needed to define the specific characteristics of those tumors that could respond to PDGFRalpha/KIT inhibitors.