Project description:BACKGROUND:Molecular classification of tumour clonality is currently not evaluated in multiple invasive breast carcinomas, despite evidence suggesting common clonal origins. There is no consensus about which type of data (e.g. copy number, mutation, histology) and especially which statistical method is most suitable to distinguish clonal recurrences from independent primary tumours. METHODS:Thirty-seven invasive breast tumour pairs were stratified according to laterality and time interval between the diagnoses of the two tumours. In a multi-omics approach, tumour clonality was analysed by integrating clinical characteristics (n =?37), DNA copy number (n?=?37), DNA methylation (n =?8), gene expression microarray (n =?7), RNA sequencing (n?=?3), and SNP genotyping data (n?=?3). Different statistical methods, e.g. the diagnostic similarity index (SI), were used to classify the tumours as clonally related recurrences or independent primary tumours. RESULTS:The SI and hierarchical clustering showed similar tendencies and the highest concordance with the other methods. Concordant evidence for tumour clonality was found in 46% (17/37) of patients. Notably, no association was found between the current clinical guidelines and molecular tumour features. CONCLUSIONS:A more accurate classification of clonal relatedness between multiple breast tumours may help to mitigate treatment failure and relapse by integrating tumour-associated molecular features, clinical parameters, and statistical methods. Guidelines need to be defined with exact thresholds to standardise clonality testing in a routine diagnostic setting.
Project description:Multiple tumours from the same patient were analysed for copy number alterations to assess tumour clonality. Seventy-four tumours corresponding to 37 patients were stratified into four groups based on the anatomic location of the multiple breast cancers (ipsilateral or bilateral) and time interval between the diagnoses (synchronous or metachronous). Ipsilateral was defined as tumours occurring in the same breast while bilateral was defined as the occurrence of tumours in both breasts. Metachronicity was defined as a time interval greater than six months between the diagnoses of the first and second tumours, while synchronicity specified that the two tumours occurred concurrently (BM: bilateral-metachronous; BS: bilateral-synchronous; IM: ipsilateral-metachronous; IS: ipsilateral-synchronous).
Project description:Multiple tumours from the same patient were analysed for DNA methylation to assess tumour clonality. Seventy-four tumours corresponding to 37 patients were stratified into four groups based on the anatomic location of the multiple breast cancers (ipsilateral or bilateral) and time interval between the diagnoses (synchronous or metachronous). Ipsilateral was defined as tumours occurring in the same breast while bilateral was defined as the occurrence of tumours in both breasts. Metachronicity was defined as a time interval greater than six months between the diagnoses of the first and second tumours, while synchronicity specified that the two tumours occurred concurrently (BM: bilateral-metachronous; BS: bilateral-synchronous; IM: ipsilateral-metachronous; IS: ipsilateral-synchronous). A subset of 16 samples was randomly selected to represent each clinical group with four samples corresponding to two patients per group and analysed for DNA methylation using Illumina Infinium Human MethylationEPIC BeadChips.
Project description:Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive subtype of breast cancer with high intra-tumoral heterogeneity, frequently resistant to treatment and no known targeted therapy available to improve patient outcomes. It has been hypothesized that the genomic architecture of a TNBC tumour evolves over time, both before, and during therapy, leading to therapy resistance and a high propensity to relapse. Whether this is an inherent property of the tumour or acquired over time is not well characterized. Despite this important clinical implication, limited studies have been carried out to unravel temporal evolution of TNBC over time. Herein, we report an OMICS based analysis of three TNBC patients who were longitudinally sampled during their treatment at different times of relapse. We recruited three TNBC patients at the time of their first relapse who were then followed-up through the course of their treatment. We obtained retrospective samples (tumour samples) from patient tumours at diagnosis (before neo-adjuvant chemotherapy - NACT) at surgery (post NACT) and prospectively sampled them at each subsequent relapse (tumour, blood plasma, and buffy coat) as determined by RECIST criteria. Tumor and buffy coat DNA were subjected to whole exome sequencing (WES) at 200x, and SNP arrays for copy number variation (CNV) analysis. RNA from tumour samples at relapse was subjected to whole transcriptome sequencing. Pathogenic germline BRCA1 variants identified in WES were validated using Sanger sequencing. 1084 somatic mutations identified in whole exome sequencing of all tumour tissues (n=13) from three patients, were subjected to a custom amplicon ultra-deep sequencing assay at 30,000X in their germline DNA (n=3), tumour DNA (n=10), and cfDNA from plasma samples at relapse (n=8). Copy number corrected allele frequencies, tumour ploidy, tumour purity, and ultra-deep sequencing assay derived variant allele frequencies were used to infer clonal and phylogenetic architecture of each patient as it evolved under selective pressure of therapy over time. Clonality analysis incorporating allele fractions from ultra-deep sequencing identified clones comprising of mutations that are present throughout the course of therapy which we term as founding clones and stem mutations respectively. Such founding clones comprising of stem mutations in all 3 patients were present throughout the course of treatment, irrespective of change in treatment modalities. These stem clones included well characterized cancer related genes like PDGFRB & ARID2 (Patient 02), TP53, BRAF & CSF3R (Patient 04) and ESR1, APC, EZH2 & TP53 (Patient 07). Such branching evolution is seen in all three patients wherein the dominant clone (stem clone) acquires additional mutations to form sub-clones, while persisting over time. These sub-clones may be chemo and radio resistant, while also providing for organ specific metastatic potential. Allele fractions of expressed variants inferred from RNA-Seq data co-related with allele fractions from WES data indicating that all somatic.
Project description:Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive subtype of breast cancer with high intra-tumoral heterogeneity, frequently resistant to treatment and no known targeted therapy available to improve patient outcomes. It has been hypothesized that the genomic architecture of a TNBC tumour evolves over time, both before, and during therapy, leading to therapy resistance and a high propensity to relapse. Whether this is an inherent property of the tumour or acquired over time is not well characterized. Despite this important clinical implication, limited studies have been carried out to unravel temporal evolution of TNBC over time. Herein, we report an OMICS based analysis of three TNBC patients who were longitudinally sampled during their treatment at different times of relapse. We recruited three TNBC patients at the time of their first relapse who were then followed-up through the course of their treatment. We obtained retrospective samples (tumour samples) from patient tumours at diagnosis (before neo-adjuvant chemotherapy - NACT) at surgery (post NACT) and prospectively sampled them at each subsequent relapse (tumour, blood plasma, and buffy coat) as determined by RECIST criteria. Tumor and buffy coat DNA were subjected to whole exome sequencing (WES) at 200x, and SNP arrays for copy number variation (CNV) analysis. RNA from tumour samples at relapse was subjected to whole transcriptome sequencing. Pathogenic germline BRCA1 variants identified in WES were validated using Sanger sequencing. 1084 somatic mutations identified in whole exome sequencing of all tumour tissues (n=13) from three patients, were subjected to a custom amplicon ultra-deep sequencing assay at 30,000X in their germline DNA (n=3), tumour DNA (n=10), and cfDNA from plasma samples at relapse (n=8). Copy number corrected allele frequencies, tumour ploidy, tumour purity, and ultra-deep sequencing assay derived variant allele frequencies were used to infer clonal and phylogenetic architecture of each patient as it evolved under selective pressure of therapy over time. Clonality analysis incorporating allele fractions from ultra-deep sequencing identified clones comprising of mutations that are present throughout the course of therapy which we term as founding clones and stem mutations respectively. Such founding clones comprising of stem mutations in all 3 patients were present throughout the course of treatment, irrespective of change in treatment modalities. These stem clones included well characterized cancer related genes like PDGFRB & ARID2 (Patient 02), TP53, BRAF & CSF3R (Patient 04) and ESR1, APC, EZH2 & TP53 (Patient 07). Such branching evolution is seen in all three patients wherein the dominant clone (stem clone) acquires additional mutations to form sub-clones, while persisting over time. These sub-clones may be chemo and radio resistant, while also providing for organ specific metastatic potential. Allele fractions of expressed variants inferred from RNA-Seq data co-related with allele fractions from WES data indicating that all somatic.
Project description:Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive subtype of breast cancer with high intra-tumoral heterogeneity, frequently resistant to treatment and no known targeted therapy available to improve patient outcomes. It has been hypothesized that the genomic architecture of a TNBC tumour evolves over time, both before, and during therapy, leading to therapy resistance and a high propensity to relapse. Whether this is an inherent property of the tumour or acquired over time is not well characterized. Despite this important clinical implication, limited studies have been carried out to unravel temporal evolution of TNBC over time. Herein, we report an OMICS based analysis of three TNBC patients who were longitudinally sampled during their treatment at different times of relapse. We recruited three TNBC patients at the time of their first relapse who were then followed-up through the course of their treatment. We obtained retrospective samples (tumour samples) from patient tumours at diagnosis (before neo-adjuvant chemotherapy - NACT) at surgery (post NACT) and prospectively sampled them at each subsequent relapse (tumour, blood plasma, and buffy coat) as determined by RECIST criteria. Tumor and buffy coat DNA were subjected to whole exome sequencing (WES) at 200x, and SNP arrays for copy number variation (CNV) analysis. RNA from tumour samples at relapse was subjected to whole transcriptome sequencing. Pathogenic germline BRCA1 variants identified in WES were validated using Sanger sequencing. 1084 somatic mutations identified in whole exome sequencing of all tumour tissues (n=13) from three patients, were subjected to a custom amplicon ultra-deep sequencing assay at 30,000X in their germline DNA (n=3), tumour DNA (n=10), and cfDNA from plasma samples at relapse (n=8). Copy number corrected allele frequencies, tumour ploidy, tumour purity, and ultra-deep sequencing assay derived variant allele frequencies were used to infer clonal and phylogenetic architecture of each patient as it evolved under selective pressure of therapy over time. Clonality analysis incorporating allele fractions from ultra-deep sequencing identified clones comprising of mutations that are present throughout the course of therapy which we term as founding clones and stem mutations respectively. Such founding clones comprising of stem mutations in all 3 patients were present throughout the course of treatment, irrespective of change in treatment modalities. These stem clones included well characterized cancer related genes like PDGFRB & ARID2 (Patient 02), TP53, BRAF & CSF3R (Patient 04) and ESR1, APC, EZH2 & TP53 (Patient 07). Such branching evolution is seen in all three patients wherein the dominant clone (stem clone) acquires additional mutations to form sub-clones, while persisting over time. These sub-clones may be chemo and radio resistant, while also providing for organ specific metastatic potential. Allele fractions of expressed variants inferred from RNA-Seq data co-related with allele fractions from WES data indicating that all somatic.
Project description:Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC) is an aggressive subtype of breast cancer with high intra-tumoral heterogeneity, frequently resistant to treatment and no known targeted therapy available to improve patient outcomes. It has been hypothesized that the genomic architecture of a TNBC tumour evolves over time, both before, and during therapy, leading to therapy resistance and a high propensity to relapse. Whether this is an inherent property of the tumour or acquired over time is not well characterized. Despite this important clinical implication, limited studies have been carried out to unravel temporal evolution of TNBC over time. Herein, we report an OMICS based analysis of three TNBC patients who were longitudinally sampled during their treatment at different times of relapse. We recruited three TNBC patients at the time of their first relapse who were then followed-up through the course of their treatment. We obtained retrospective samples (tumour samples) from patient tumours at diagnosis (before neo-adjuvant chemotherapy - NACT) at surgery (post NACT) and prospectively sampled them at each subsequent relapse (tumour, blood plasma, and buffy coat) as determined by RECIST criteria. Tumor and buffy coat DNA were subjected to whole exome sequencing (WES) at 200x, and SNP arrays for copy number variation (CNV) analysis. RNA from tumour samples at relapse was subjected to whole transcriptome sequencing. Pathogenic germline BRCA1 variants identified in WES were validated using Sanger sequencing. 1084 somatic mutations identified in whole exome sequencing of all tumour tissues (n=13) from three patients, were subjected to a custom amplicon ultra-deep sequencing assay at 30,000X in their germline DNA (n=3), tumour DNA (n=10), and cfDNA from plasma samples at relapse (n=8). Copy number corrected allele frequencies, tumour ploidy, tumour purity, and ultra-deep sequencing assay derived variant allele frequencies were used to infer clonal and phylogenetic architecture of each patient as it evolved under selective pressure of therapy over time. Clonality analysis incorporating allele fractions from ultra-deep sequencing identified clones comprising of mutations that are present throughout the course of therapy which we term as founding clones and stem mutations respectively. Such founding clones comprising of stem mutations in all 3 patients were present throughout the course of treatment, irrespective of change in treatment modalities. These stem clones included well characterized cancer related genes like PDGFRB & ARID2 (Patient 02), TP53, BRAF & CSF3R (Patient 04) and ESR1, APC, EZH2 & TP53 (Patient 07). Such branching evolution is seen in all three patients wherein the dominant clone (stem clone) acquires additional mutations to form sub-clones, while persisting over time. These sub-clones may be chemo and radio resistant, while also providing for organ specific metastatic potential. Allele fractions of expressed variants inferred from RNA-Seq data co-related with allele fractions from WES data indicating that all somatic.