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Germline and somatic polymerase ? and ? mutations define a new class of hypermutated colorectal and endometrial cancers.

ABSTRACT: Polymerases ? and ? are the main enzymes that replicate eukaryotic DNA. Accurate replication occurs through Watson-Crick base pairing and also through the action of the polymerases' exonuclease (proofreading) domains. We have recently shown that germline exonuclease domain mutations (EDMs) of POLE and POLD1 confer a high risk of multiple colorectal adenomas and carcinoma (CRC). POLD1 mutations also predispose to endometrial cancer (EC). These mutations are associated with high penetrance and dominant inheritance, although the phenotype can be variable. We have named the condition polymerase proofreading-associated polyposis (PPAP). Somatic POLE EDMs have also been found in sporadic CRCs and ECs, although very few somatic POLD1 EDMs have been detected. Both the germline and the somatic DNA polymerase EDMs cause an 'ultramutated', apparently microsatellite-stable, type of cancer, sometimes leading to over a million base substitutions per tumour. Here, we present the evidence for POLE and POLD1 as important contributors to the pathogenesis of CRC and EC, and highlight some of the key questions in this emerging field.

SUBMITTER: Briggs S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3709119 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Germline and somatic polymerase ε and δ mutations define a new class of hypermutated colorectal and endometrial cancers.

Briggs Sarah S Tomlinson Ian I

The Journal of pathology 20130601 2

Polymerases ε and δ are the main enzymes that replicate eukaryotic DNA. Accurate replication occurs through Watson-Crick base pairing and also through the action of the polymerases' exonuclease (proofreading) domains. We have recently shown that germline exonuclease domain mutations (EDMs) of POLE and POLD1 confer a high risk of multiple colorectal adenomas and carcinoma (CRC). POLD1 mutations also predispose to endometrial cancer (EC). These mutations are associated with high penetrance and dom ...[more]

PMID: 23447401

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Project description:Background & aimsPatients with Lynch syndrome carry germline mutations in single alleles of genes encoding the mismatch repair (MMR) proteins MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, and PMS2; when the second allele becomes mutated, cancer can develop. Increased screening for Lynch syndrome has identified patients with tumors that have deficiency in MMR, but no germline mutations in genes encoding MMR proteins. We investigated whether tumors with deficient MMR had acquired somatic mutations in patients without germline mutations in MMR genes using next-generation sequencing.MethodsWe analyzed blood and tumor samples from 32 patients with colorectal or endometrial cancer who participated in Lynch syndrome screening studies in Ohio and were found to have tumors with MMR deficiency (based on microsatellite instability and/or absence of MMR proteins in immunohistochemical analysis, without hypermethylation of MLH1), but no germline mutations in MMR genes. Tumor DNA was sequenced for MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, PMS2, EPCAM, POLE, and POLD1 with ColoSeq and mutation frequencies were established.ResultsTwenty-two of 32 patients (69%) were found to have 2 somatic (tumor) mutations in MMR genes encoding proteins that were lost from tumor samples, based on immunohistochemistry. Of the 10 remaining tumors 3 had one somatic mutation in a MMR gene, with possible loss of heterozygosity that could lead to MMR deficiency, 6 were found to be false-positive results (19%), and 1 had only one mutation in a MMR gene and remained unexplained. All of the tumors found to have somatic MMR mutations were of the hypermutated phenotype (>12 mutations/megabase); 6 had mutation frequencies >200/megabase, and 5 of these had somatic mutations in POLE, which encodes a DNA polymerase.ConclusionsSome patients are found to have tumors with MMR defects during screening for Lynch syndrome, yet have no identifiable germline mutations in MMR genes. We found that almost 70% of these patients acquire somatic mutations in MMR genes, leading to a hypermutated phenotype of tumor cells. Patients with colon or endometrial cancers with MMR deficiency not explained by germline mutations might undergo analysis for tumor mutations in MMR genes to guide future surveillance guidelines.

Project description:Some colorectal and endometrial tumors with microsatellite instability not attributable to MLH1 hypermethylation or germline mutations contain 2 or more somatic mutations in genes encoding mismatch repair (MMR) proteins. We sought to define the molecular phenotype of this newly recognized tumor subtype.From 2 prospective studies of the efficacy of screening for Lynch syndrome, we identified patients with colorectal and endometrial tumors who had 2 or more somatic (but not germline) mutations in genes encoding MMR proteins (double somatic). We determined the frequencies of tumor mutations in PIK3CA, BRAF, KRAS, NRAS, and PTEN by targeted next-generation sequencing and used logistic-regression models to compare them with those from patients with Lynch syndrome, MLH1-hypermethylated, or microsatellite-stable tumors. We validated our findings using independent data sets from The Cancer Genome Atlas.Among colorectal cancer cases, we found that 14 of 21 (67%) patients with double somatic tumors also had PIK3CA mutations, compared with 4 of 18 (22%) tumors from patients with Lynch syndrome, 2 of 10 (20%) tumors with MLH1 hypermethylation, and 12 of 78 (15%) tumors with microsatellite stability (P < .0001 for patients with double somatic tumors vs other subgroups). Mutations in PIK3CA were detected in all 13 patients with double somatic endometrial cancers (P = .04 compared with other subgroups). We did not detect BRAF mutations in patients with double somatic colorectal tumors or Lynch syndrome. We found highly similar results in a validation cohort from The Cancer Genome Atlas (113 patients with colorectal tumors, 178 endometrial tumors); 100% of double somatic cases had a somatic mutation in PIK3CA (P < .0001 compared with other subgroups).Most patients with colorectal or endometrial tumors with 2 or more somatic (but not germline) mutations in MMR proteins also have mutations in PIK3CA; mutations in PIK3CA are detected at substantially higher frequencies in these double somatic tumors than in other microsatellite-instability subgroups. PIK3CA mutation status might be used to identify a specific group of colorectal tumors, and to select treatment or determine prognosis.

Project description:Pathogenic somatic missense mutations within the DNA polymerase epsilon (POLE) exonuclease domain define the important subtype of ultramutated tumours ('POLE-ultramutated') within the novel molecular classification of endometrial carcinoma (EC). However, clinical implementation of this classifier requires systematic evaluation of the pathogenicity of POLE mutations. To address this, we examined base changes, tumour mutational burden (TMB), DNA microsatellite instability (MSI) status, POLE variant frequency, and the results from six in silico tools on 82 ECs with whole-exome sequencing from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). Of these, 41 had one of five known pathogenic POLE exonuclease domain mutations (EDM) and showed characteristic genomic alterations: C>A substitution >?20%, T>G substitutions >?4%, C>G substitutions <?0.6%, indels <?5%, TMB?>?100?mut/Mb. A scoring system to assess these alterations (POLE-score) was developed; based on their scores, 7/18 (39%) additional tumours with EDM were classified as POLE-ultramutated ECs, and the six POLE mutations present in these tumours were considered pathogenic. Only 1/23 (4%) tumours with non-EDM showed these genomic alterations, indicating that a large majority of mutations outside the exonuclease domain are not pathogenic. The infrequent combination of MSI-H with POLE EDM led us to investigate the clinical significance of this association. Tumours with pathogenic POLE EDM co-existent with MSI-H showed genomic alterations characteristic of POLE-ultramutated ECs. In a pooled analysis of 3361 ECs, 13 ECs with DNA mismatch repair deficiency (MMRd)/MSI-H and a pathogenic POLE EDM had a 5-year recurrence-free survival (RFS) of 92.3%, comparable to previously reported POLE-ultramutated ECs. Additionally, 14 cases with non-pathogenic POLE EDM and MMRd/MSI-H had a 5-year RFS of 76.2%, similar to MMRd/MSI-H, POLE wild-type ECs, suggesting that these should be categorised as MMRd, rather than POLE-ultramutated ECs for prognostication. This work provides guidance on classification of ECs with POLE mutations, facilitating implementation of POLE testing in routine clinical care. © 2019 The Authors. The Journal of Pathology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland.

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Germline and somatic polymerase ? and ? mutations define a new class of hypermutated colorectal and endometrial cancers.

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Germline and somatic polymerase ε and δ mutations define a new class of hypermutated colorectal and endometrial cancers.

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