Dataset Information

The spatial organization of intratumor heterogeneity andevolutionary trajectories of metastases in hepatocellular carcinoma

ABSTRACT: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has one of the poorest survival amongst cancers. Using multi-regional sampling of nine resected HCC with different etiologies, we find that phylogenetic relationships of these sectors show diverse levels of genetic sharing spanning early to late diversification. Unlike the variegated pattern found in colorectal cancers, a large proportion of HCC display a clear Isolation-By-Distance pattern where spatially closer sectors are genetically more similar. Two resected intra-hepatic metastases showed genetic divergence occurring before and after primary tumor diversification respectively. Interestingly, metastatic tumors had much higher variability than their primary tumors, suggesting that intra-hepatic metastasis is accompanied by rapid diversification at the distant location. The presence of co-existing mutations offers the possibility of drug repositioning for HCC treatment. Taken together, these insights into intra-tumor heterogeneity allow for a comprehensive understanding of the evolutionary trajectories of HCC and suggest novel avenues for personalized therapy.

PROVIDER: EGAS00001001603 | EGA |

REPOSITORIES: EGA

ACCESS DATA

Similar Datasets

Project description:Immunotherapy has opened hitherto unknown possibilities to treat cancer. Whereas some cancer types (e.g. melanoma) can be efficiently treated, others lack measurable positive effects (e.g. PDAC). Moreover, stratification of responders/non-responders is only possible in some cancer types (e.g. melanoma). Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has a dismal prognosis, limited treatment options and survival benefit, and represents a potential cancer entity for successful immunotherapy. Here, we investigated NASH-triggered HCC in the context PD-1-targeted immunotherapy. Using flow cytometry, single cell RNA sequencing, immunohistochemistry and mass spectrometric analyses, we found a progressive increase of CD8+PD-1+ effector T-cells with a unique profile of exhaustion and activation markers rising with murine and human NASH severity. Notably, late-stage HCC treatment with PD-1-targeted immunotherapy enhanced hepatic carcinogenesis in mice. Dissecting potential mechanisms of action during tumor-initiation and -progression we analyzed the effects of PD-1-targeted immunotherapy at HCC initiation. PD-1-targeted immunotherapy induced a pro-tumorigenic environment, enhanced necro-inflammation and increased NAFLD-activation score (NAS), leading to increased liver cancer incidence, tumor number and nodule size. In contrast, anti-CD8 or anti-CD8/anti-NK1.1 treatment reduced NAS and abrogated the development of liver cancer, thus identifying CD8+PD-1+ T-cells as drivers of liver cancer in NASH-triggered HCC. Increased apoptotic signaling, STAT3 phosphorylation and hepatic proliferation were detected in intra-tumoral liver tissue upon PD-1-targeted immunotherapy. In line, PD-1-/- mice challenged with a NASH diet displayed early onset of hepatocarcinogenesis, corroborating the pro-tumorigenic role of absent or reduced PD-1. Mechanistically PD-1-targeted immunotherapy mainly affected hepatic abundance of CD8+PD-1+ T-cells, instead of altering the quality of Tox+CXCR6+ expressing CD8+PD-1+TNF+CD39+Gzmb+ T-cells found in NASH livers, leading to an aggressive, pro-tumorigenic liver environment. Single-cell mapping of human NASH-, borderline NASH- or unaffected livers corroborated our preclinical NASH results. Moreover, in human NASH livers a correlation of hepatic CD8+, PD-1+, TNF+ T-cells with fibrosis and NASH severity was observed. Accordingly, HCC patients with NASH etiology display a sharp increase in intra- and peri-tumoral CD8+ PD-1+ T-cells. In a cohort of 65 patients recruited across 6 centers in Germany and Austria, patients with NAFLD/NASH-driven HCC responded worse to PD-1-targeted immunotherapy by Nivolumab or Pembrolizumab compared to non-NAFLD patients. This resulted in significant reduced overall survival, in trends of faster disease progression and reduced progression free survival. Histological analysis of livers derived from HCC patients treated with PD-1-targeted immunotherapy displayed high levels of intra and peri-tumoral CD8+ PD-1+ T-cells and Ki67+ hepatocytes. Taken together, these data indicate that PD-1-targeted immunotherapy induces immune-related adverse effects in NAFLD/NASH-driven HCC through CD8+PD-1+ T-cells. Our data call for stratification of HCC patients subjected to PD-1-targeted immunotherapy, with NAFLD being a negative predictor.

Project description:Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common liver cancer and a highly malignant tumor. The frequent activation of Ras signaling pathway and the male prevalence are the distinct characteristics of HCC though the underlying mechanisms remain elucidated. By exploring a mouse model of HCC induced by hepatocyte-specific expression of the Hras12V oncogene and showed significant male prevalence in hepatic tumorigenesis, we performed a high-throughput comparative proteomic analysis based on tandem-mass-tag (TMT) labeling combined with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) on the protein samples from hepatic tumor tissues (T) and peri-tumor tissues (P) of transgenic males and females and the corresponding normal liver tissues (W) of non-transgenic males and females. In total, 5733 proteins were confidently identified, of which 5193 proteins were quantified. Finally, 1344 differentially expressed proteins (DEPs) (quantified in all examined samples; 1.5 ≤ quantitative ratios ≤ 0.67; p ≤ 0.05) were selected for further analysis. Vertical comparison within W, P, T of males and females, respectively, showed that the numbers of DEPs in males were much higher than females. Bioinformatics analyses showed the common and unique cluster enriched items between sexes which indicates the common and gender disparity pathways towards HCC. Further expression change pattern analysis revealed HCC positive/negative-related and Ras oncogene positive/negative-related DEPs. Horizontal comparison between males and females showed that Ras oncogene gradually and significantly reduced the responses to sex hormones from hepatocytes to hepatoma cells and therefore shrunk their gender disparity, which may contribute to the cause of the loss of HCC clinical responses to the therapeutic approaches targeting sex hormone pathways. Additionally, FABP5 was found to be a more sensitive biomarker for clinical diagnose and prognosis prediction of HCC patients comparing to AFP. In conclusion, the present study firstly provided a comprehensive proteome profiles and novel insights in male bias hepatic tumorigenesis induced by H-ras12V oncogene.

Dataset Information

The spatial organization of intratumor heterogeneity andevolutionary trajectories of metastases in hepatocellular carcinoma

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets