Project description:1) To perform whole exome sequencing on a panel of five human anal squamous cell carcinoma lines and their respective parent tumours.
2) To perform a comparative analysis between the lines and their parent tumours.
3) Specifically assess the somatic nucleotide variants, copy number variants, mutational burden and mutational signatures.
Project description:In this study we will sequence the transcriptome of Verified Matched Pair Cancer Cell line tumour samples. This will be married up to whole exome and whole genome sequencing data to establish a full catalog of the variations and mutations found.
Project description:Etiologically linked to HPV infection, malignancies of the anal canal have substantially increased in incidence over the last 20 years. Although most anal squamous cell carcinomas (SCC) respond well to chemoradiotherapy, for undetermined reasons, a subgroup of patients experience a poor outcome. Despite cumulative efforts for discovering independent predictors for overall survival, both nodal status and tumor size are still the only reliable factors predicting patient outcome. In the present study, we correlated both proteomic signatures and clinicopathological features of neoplastic lesions arising from two distinct portions of the anal canal: the lower part (squamous zone) and the more proximal anal transitional zone. Although microdissected cancer cells appeared indistinguishable by morphology (squamous phenotype), unsupervised clustering analysis of the whole proteome significantly highlighted the heterogeneity that exists within anal canal tumors. More importantly, two region-specific subtypes of SCC were revealed. The expression profile (sensitivity/specificity) of several selected biomarkers (keratin filaments) further confirmed the subclassification of anal (pre)cancers based on their cellular origin. Less commonly detected compared to their counterparts located in the squamous mucosa, SCC originating in the transitional zone displayed more frequently a poor or basaloid differentiation and were significantly correlated with reduced disease-free and overall survivals. Taken together, we present for the first time direct evidence that anal canal SCC comprises two distinct entities with different cells of origin, proteomic signatures and survival rates. This study forms the basis for a novel dualistic classification of anal carcinoma with implications for management, outcome expectations and possibly therapeutic approaches.
Project description:Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), a receptor tyrosine kinase is overexpressed in 90% of Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) patients. Clinical trials with EGFR-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitors such as erlotinib have shown a modest activity in HNSCC alternate mechanisms of resistance are acquired. To investigate these acquired mechanisms of resistance and identify novel therapeutic targets we employed whole exome sequencing of an isogenic pair of erlotinib sensitive (SCC-S) and resistant (SCC-R) HNSCC cell line. We observed single nucleotide variations and copy number alterations in genes related to RAS-RAF-MEK-ERK pathway. To assess the effects of these variations on cellular kinome and we employed SILAC-based phosphoproteomic analysis of SCC-S and SCC-R cell lines. Quantitative phosphoprotein profiling led to identification of 5558 unique phosphopeptides and 5025 unique phosphosites corresponding to 2344 proteins. We observed, 903 phosphopeptides belonging to 579 proteins and 518 phosphopeptides belonging to 368 proteins to be hyper and hypophosphorylated (≥2 fold) in SCC-R cells, respectively. Bioinformatics analysis of differentially phosphorylated proteins showed enrichment of proteins involved in MAPK pathway downstream of EGFR. We identified and validated activation of proteins related to MAPK pathway and its downstream targets in SCC-R cells. We further demonstrated that MAP2K1 inhibitor can be used as an alternative to erlotinib in HNSCC.
Project description:Primary tumor recurrence occurs commonly after surgical resection of lung squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). The aim of this study was to identify genes involved in recurrence in lung squamous cell carcinoma patients. Array comparative genomic hybridization (aCGH) was performed on DNA extracted from tumour tissue from 62 patients with primary lung squamous cell carcinomas. aCGH data was analysed to identify genes affected by copy number alterations that may be involved in SCC recurrence. Candidate genes were then selected for technical validation based on differential copy number between recurrence and non-recurrence SCC tumour samples. Genes technically validated advanced to tests of biological replication by qPCR using an independent test set of 72 primary lung SCC tumour samples. 18q22.3 loss was identified by aCGH as significantly associated with recurrence (p=0.038). Although aCGH copy number loss associated with recurrence was found for seven genes within 18q22.3, only SOCS6 copy number loss was both technically replicated by qPCR and biologically validated in the test set. DNA copy number profiling using 44K element array comparative genomic hybridization microarrays of 62 primary lung squamous cell carcinomas.
Project description:Fourteen LGSOC cell lines were interrogated using whole exome sequencing, RNA sequencing, and mass spectrometry-based proteomics. Somatic mutation, copy-number aberrations, gene and protein expression were analyzed and integrated using different computational approaches. LGSOC cell line data was compared to publicly available LGSOC tumor data (AACR GENIE cohort), and also used for predictive biomarker identification of MEK inhibitor (MEKi) efficacy. Protein interaction databases were evaluated to identify novel therapeutic targets.
Project description:CDAGS Syndrome is a rare congenital disorder characterized by Craniosynostosis, Delayed closure of the fontanelles, cranial defects, clavicular hypoplasia, Anal and Genitourinary malformations, and Skin manifestations. We performed exome sequencing to identify the underlying molecular cause in five patients with CDAGS syndrome from four distinct families. Whole exome sequencing revealed rare variants that disrupt highly conserved nucleotides within the RNU12 gene. RNU12 encodes a small nuclear RNA that is a component of the minor spliceosome and is essential for minor intron splicing. Targeted sequencing confirmed allele segregation within the four families. All five patients in this cohort have a rare variant on one allele that either disrupts the secondary structure or the Sm binding site of the RNU12 snRNA. The variant on the other allele, shared among all five cases, alters a highly conserved nucleotide within the precursor U12 snRNA 3’ extension that is absent in 1440 unrelated healthy controls. All of the variants are either rare or absent from all searched public databases. Whole transcriptome sequencing analysis identified gene dysregulation and specific defects in intron retention in a subset of minor intron splicing. These findings provide evidence of the involvement of RNU12 in craniosynostosis, anal and genitourinary patterning and cutaneous disease.
Project description:Illumina human Omni5Exome arrays were used to investigate CNVs in SÑzary syndrome tumours as part of a larger study involving whole exome sequencing of the same samples and targeted resequencing of a further cohort. 16 Samples underwent SNP array including 10 tumour/gDNA matched samples that also underwent whole exome sequencing, public databases were used as further control data for calling CNVs.
Project description:We performed whole-exome sequencing of tumour bulks from opposite side of the neoplasm (A/B). From each we selected a panel of sub-clonal mutations and profiled multiple single tumour glands from the same neoplasm using high depth targeted re-sequencing. The aim was to infer tumour evolutionary dynamics and reconstruct the timeline of progression