1
|
Gao G, McClellan J, Barbeira AN, Fiorica PN, Li JL, Mu Z, Olopade OI, Huo D, Im HK. A multi-tissue, splicing-based joint transcriptome-wide association study identifies susceptibility genes for breast cancer. Am J Hum Genet 2024:S0002-9297(24)00125-3. [PMID: 38733992 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2024.04.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2023] [Revised: 04/13/2024] [Accepted: 04/15/2024] [Indexed: 05/13/2024] Open
Abstract
Splicing-based transcriptome-wide association studies (splicing-TWASs) of breast cancer have the potential to identify susceptibility genes. However, existing splicing-TWASs test the association of individual excised introns in breast tissue only and thus have limited power to detect susceptibility genes. In this study, we performed a multi-tissue joint splicing-TWAS that integrated splicing-TWAS signals of multiple excised introns in each gene across 11 tissues that are potentially relevant to breast cancer risk. We utilized summary statistics from a meta-analysis that combined genome-wide association study (GWAS) results of 424,650 women of European ancestry. Splicing-level prediction models were trained in GTEx (v.8) data. We identified 240 genes by the multi-tissue joint splicing-TWAS at the Bonferroni-corrected significance level; in the tissue-specific splicing-TWAS that combined TWAS signals of excised introns in genes in breast tissue only, we identified nine additional significant genes. Of these 249 genes, 88 genes in 62 loci have not been reported by previous TWASs, and 17 genes in seven loci are at least 1 Mb away from published GWAS index variants. By comparing the results of our splicing-TWASs with previous gene-expression-based TWASs that used the same summary statistics and expression prediction models trained in the same reference panel, we found that 110 genes in 70 loci that are identified only by the splicing-TWASs. Our results showed that for many genes, expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) did not show a significant impact on breast cancer risk, whereas splicing quantitative trait loci (sQTL) showed a strong impact through intron excision events.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Guimin Gao
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Julian McClellan
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Alvaro N Barbeira
- Section of Genetic Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Peter N Fiorica
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - James L Li
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Zepeng Mu
- Section of Genetic Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Olufunmilayo I Olopade
- Section of Hematology and Oncology, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Dezheng Huo
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA; Section of Genetic Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
| | - Hae Kyung Im
- Section of Genetic Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
2
|
Head ST, Dezem F, Todor A, Yang J, Plummer J, Gayther S, Kar S, Schildkraut J, Epstein MP. Cis- and trans-eQTL TWASs of breast and ovarian cancer identify more than 100 susceptibility genes in the BCAC and OCAC consortia. Am J Hum Genet 2024:S0002-9297(24)00127-7. [PMID: 38723630 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2024.04.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/24/2023] [Revised: 04/11/2024] [Accepted: 04/16/2024] [Indexed: 05/21/2024] Open
Abstract
Transcriptome-wide association studies (TWASs) have investigated the role of genetically regulated transcriptional activity in the etiologies of breast and ovarian cancer. However, methods performed to date have focused on the regulatory effects of risk-associated SNPs thought to act in cis on a nearby target gene. With growing evidence for distal (trans) regulatory effects of variants on gene expression, we performed TWASs of breast and ovarian cancer using a Bayesian genome-wide TWAS method (BGW-TWAS) that considers effects of both cis- and trans-expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs). We applied BGW-TWAS to whole-genome and RNA sequencing data in breast and ovarian tissues from the Genotype-Tissue Expression project to train expression imputation models. We applied these models to large-scale GWAS summary statistic data from the Breast Cancer and Ovarian Cancer Association Consortia to identify genes associated with risk of overall breast cancer, non-mucinous epithelial ovarian cancer, and 10 cancer subtypes. We identified 101 genes significantly associated with risk with breast cancer phenotypes and 8 with ovarian phenotypes. These loci include established risk genes and several novel candidate risk loci, such as ACAP3, whose associations are predominantly driven by trans-eQTLs. We replicated several associations using summary statistics from an independent GWAS of these cancer phenotypes. We further used genotype and expression data in normal and tumor breast tissue from the Cancer Genome Atlas to examine the performance of our trained expression imputation models. This work represents an in-depth look into the role of trans eQTLs in the complex molecular mechanisms underlying these diseases.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- S Taylor Head
- Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - Felipe Dezem
- Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Andrei Todor
- Department of Human Genetics, School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - Jingjing Yang
- Department of Human Genetics, School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - Jasmine Plummer
- Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Simon Gayther
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA
| | - Siddhartha Kar
- Early Cancer Institute, Department of Oncology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 0XZ, UK
| | - Joellen Schildkraut
- Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - Michael P Epstein
- Department of Human Genetics, School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
3
|
Guo X, Chatterjee N, Dutta D. Subset-based method for cross-tissue transcriptome-wide association studies improves power and interpretability. HGG Adv 2024; 5:100283. [PMID: 38491773 PMCID: PMC10999697 DOI: 10.1016/j.xhgg.2024.100283] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2023] [Revised: 03/09/2024] [Accepted: 03/09/2024] [Indexed: 03/18/2024] Open
Abstract
Integrating results from genome-wide association studies (GWASs) and studies of molecular phenotypes such as gene expressions can improve our understanding of the biological functions of trait-associated variants and can help prioritize candidate genes for downstream analysis. Using reference expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) studies, several methods have been proposed to identify gene-trait associations, primarily based on gene expression imputation. To increase the statistical power by leveraging substantial eQTL sharing across tissues, meta-analysis methods aggregating such gene-based test results across multiple tissues or contexts have been developed as well. However, most existing meta-analysis methods have limited power to identify associations when the gene has weaker associations in only a few tissues and cannot identify the subset of tissues in which the gene is "activated." For this, we developed a cross-tissue subset-based transcriptome-wide association study (CSTWAS) meta-analysis method that improves power under such scenarios and can extract the set of potentially associated tissues. To improve applicability, CSTWAS uses only GWAS summary statistics and pre-computed correlation matrices to identify a subset of tissues that have the maximal evidence of gene-trait association. Through numerical simulations, we found that CSTWAS can maintain a well-calibrated type-I error rate, improves power especially when there is a small number of associated tissues for a gene-trait association, and identifies an accurate associated tissue set. By analyzing GWAS summary statistics of three complex traits and diseases, we demonstrate that CSTWAS could identify biological meaningful signals while providing an interpretation of disease etiology by extracting a set of potentially associated tissues.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Xinyu Guo
- Department of Quantitative and Computational Biology, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90007, USA
| | - Nilanjan Chatterjee
- Department of Biostatistics, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA; Department of Oncology, School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA
| | - Diptavo Dutta
- Integrative Tumor Epidemiology Branch, Division of Cancer Epidemiology & Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Rockville, MD 20850, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Patwardhan RS, Rai A, Sharma D, Sandur SK, Patwardhan S. Txnrd1 as a prognosticator for recurrence, metastasis and response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy in breast cancer patients. Heliyon 2024; 10:e27011. [PMID: 38524569 PMCID: PMC10958228 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e27011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2023] [Revised: 01/17/2024] [Accepted: 02/22/2024] [Indexed: 03/26/2024] Open
Abstract
Thioredoxin reductase 1 (Txnrd1) is known to have prognostic significance in a subset of breast cancer patients. Despite the pivotal role of Txnrd1 in regulating several cellular and physiological processes in cancer progression and metastasis, its clinical significance is largely unrecognized. Here, we undertook a retrospective comprehensive meta-analysis of 13,322 breast cancer patients from 43 independent cohorts to assess prognostic and predictive roles of Txnrd1. We observed that Txnrd1 has a positive correlation with tumor grade and size and it is over-expressed in higher-grade and larger tumors. Further, hormone receptor-negative and HER2-positive tumors exhibit elevated Txnrd1 gene expression. Patients with elevated Txnrd1 expression exhibit significant hazards for shorter disease-specific and overall survival. While Txnrd1 has a positive correlation with tumor recurrence and metastasis, it has a negative correlation with time to recurrence and metastasis. Txnrd1High patients exhibit 2.5 years early recurrence and 1.3 years early metastasis as compared to Txnrd1Low cohort. Interestingly, patients with high Txnrd1 gene expression exhibit a pathologic complete response (pCR) to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, but they experience early recurrence after radiotherapy. Txnrd1High MDA-MB-231 cells exhibit significant ROS generation and reduced viability after doxorubicin treatment compared to Txnrd1Low MCF7 cells. Corroborating with findings from meta-analysis, Txnrd1 depletion leads to decreased survival, enhanced sensitivity to radiation induced killing, poor scratch-wound healing, and reduced invasion potential in MDA-MB-231 cells. Thus, Txnrd1 appears to be a potential predictor of recurrence, metastasis and therapy response in breast cancer patients.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Raghavendra S. Patwardhan
- Radiation Biology & Health Sciences Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay, Mumbai, 400085, India
| | - Archita Rai
- Radiation Biology & Health Sciences Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay, Mumbai, 400085, India
- Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, 400094, India
| | - Deepak Sharma
- Radiation Biology & Health Sciences Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay, Mumbai, 400085, India
- Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, 400094, India
| | - Santosh K. Sandur
- Radiation Biology & Health Sciences Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay, Mumbai, 400085, India
- Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, 400094, India
| | - Sejal Patwardhan
- Homi Bhabha National Institute, Mumbai, 400094, India
- Patwardhan Lab, Advanced Centre for Treatment Research & Education in Cancer, (ACTREC), Tata Memorial Centre (TMC), Kharghar, Navi Mumbai, 410210, India
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
McClellan JC, Li JL, Gao G, Huo D. Expression- and splicing-based multi-tissue transcriptome-wide association studies identified multiple genes for breast cancer by estrogen-receptor status. Breast Cancer Res 2024; 26:51. [PMID: 38515142 PMCID: PMC10958972 DOI: 10.1186/s13058-024-01809-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2023] [Accepted: 03/14/2024] [Indexed: 03/23/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Although several transcriptome-wide association studies (TWASs) have been performed to identify genes associated with overall breast cancer (BC) risk, only a few TWAS have explored the differences in estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) and estrogen receptor-negative (ER-) breast cancer. Additionally, these studies were based on gene expression prediction models trained primarily in breast tissue, and they did not account for alternative splicing of genes. METHODS In this study, we utilized two approaches to perform multi-tissue TWASs of breast cancer by ER subtype: (1) an expression-based TWAS that combined TWAS signals for each gene across multiple tissues and (2) a splicing-based TWAS that combined TWAS signals of all excised introns for each gene across tissues. To perform this TWAS, we utilized summary statistics for ER + BC from the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC) and for ER- BC from a meta-analysis of BCAC and the Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1 and BRCA2 (CIMBA). RESULTS In total, we identified 230 genes in 86 loci that were associated with ER + BC and 66 genes in 29 loci that were associated with ER- BC at a Bonferroni threshold of significance. Of these genes, 2 genes associated with ER + BC at the 1q21.1 locus were located at least 1 Mb from published GWAS hits. For several well-studied tumor suppressor genes such as TP53 and CHEK2 which have historically been thought to impact BC risk through rare, penetrant mutations, we discovered that common variants, which modulate gene expression, may additionally contribute to ER + or ER- etiology. CONCLUSIONS Our study comprehensively examined how differences in common variation contribute to molecular differences between ER + and ER- BC and introduces a novel, splicing-based framework that can be used in future TWAS studies.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Julian C McClellan
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA
| | - James L Li
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA
| | - Guimin Gao
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA.
| | - Dezheng Huo
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA.
- Section of Hematology & Oncology, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, 60637, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
6
|
Zheng G, Chattopadhyay S, Sundquist J, Sundquist K, Ji J. Antihypertensive drug targets and breast cancer risk: a two-sample Mendelian randomization study. Eur J Epidemiol 2024:10.1007/s10654-024-01103-x. [PMID: 38396187 DOI: 10.1007/s10654-024-01103-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/12/2023] [Accepted: 01/15/2024] [Indexed: 02/25/2024]
Abstract
Findings on the correlation between the use of antihypertensive medication and the risk of breast cancer (BC) have been inconsistent. We performed a two-sample Mendelian randomization (MR) using instrumental variables to proxy changes in gene expressions of antihypertensive medication targets to interrogate this. Genetic instruments for expression of antihypertensive drug target genes were identified with expression quantitative trait loci in blood, which should be associated with systolic blood pressure to proxy for the effect of antihypertensive drug. The association between genetic variants and BC risk were obtained from genome-wide association study summary statistics. The summary-based MR was employed to estimate the drug effects on BC risk. We further performed sensitivity analyses to confirm the discovered MR associations such as assessment of horizontal pleiotropy, colocalization, and multiple tissue enrichment analyses. The overall BC risk was only associated with SLC12A2 gene expression at a Bonferroni-corrected threshold. One standard deviation (SD) decrease of SLC12A2 gene expression in blood was associated with a decrease of 1.12 (95%CI, 0.80-1.58) mmHg of systolic blood pressure, but a 16% increased BC risk (odds ratio, 1.16, 95% confidential interval, 1.06-1.28). This signal was further observed for estrogen receptor positive (ER +) BC (1.17, 1.06-1.28). In addition, one SD decrease in expression of PDE1B in blood was associated with 7% decreased risk of ER + BC (0.93, 0.90-0.97). We detected no evidence of horizontal pleiotropy for these associations and the probability of the causal variants being shared between the gene expression and BC risk was 81.5, 40.5 and 66.8%, respectively. No significant association was observed between other target gene expressions and BC risk. Changes in expression of SLC12A2 and PDE1B mediated possibly via antihypertensive drugs may result in increased and decreased BC risk, respectively.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Guoqiao Zheng
- Center for Primary Health Care Research, Lund University/Region Skåne, Jan Waldenströms Gata 35, 205 02, Malmö, Sweden.
| | - Subhayan Chattopadhyay
- Division of Clinical Genetics, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
| | - Jan Sundquist
- Center for Primary Health Care Research, Lund University/Region Skåne, Jan Waldenströms Gata 35, 205 02, Malmö, Sweden
- Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Department of Population Health Science and Policy, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
- Center for Community-Based Healthcare Research and Education (CoHRE), Department of Functional Pathology, School of Medicine, Shimane University, Matsue, Japan
| | - Kristina Sundquist
- Center for Primary Health Care Research, Lund University/Region Skåne, Jan Waldenströms Gata 35, 205 02, Malmö, Sweden
- Department of Family Medicine and Community Health, Department of Population Health Science and Policy, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, USA
- Center for Community-Based Healthcare Research and Education (CoHRE), Department of Functional Pathology, School of Medicine, Shimane University, Matsue, Japan
| | - Jianguang Ji
- Center for Primary Health Care Research, Lund University/Region Skåne, Jan Waldenströms Gata 35, 205 02, Malmö, Sweden.
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Pardo-Cea MA, Farré X, Esteve A, Palade J, Espín R, Mateo F, Alsop E, Alorda M, Blay N, Baiges A, Shabbir A, Comellas F, Gómez A, Arnan M, Teulé A, Salinas M, Berrocal L, Brunet J, Rofes P, Lázaro C, Conesa M, Rojas JJ, Velten L, Fendler W, Smyczynska U, Chowdhury D, Zeng Y, He HH, Li R, Van Keuren-Jensen K, de Cid R, Pujana MA. Biological basis of extensive pleiotropy between blood traits and cancer risk. Genome Med 2024; 16:21. [PMID: 38308367 PMCID: PMC10837955 DOI: 10.1186/s13073-024-01294-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2023] [Accepted: 01/22/2024] [Indexed: 02/04/2024] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The immune system has a central role in preventing carcinogenesis. Alteration of systemic immune cell levels may increase cancer risk. However, the extent to which common genetic variation influences blood traits and cancer risk remains largely undetermined. Here, we identify pleiotropic variants and predict their underlying molecular and cellular alterations. METHODS Multivariate Cox regression was used to evaluate associations between blood traits and cancer diagnosis in cases in the UK Biobank. Shared genetic variants were identified from the summary statistics of the genome-wide association studies of 27 blood traits and 27 cancer types and subtypes, applying the conditional/conjunctional false-discovery rate approach. Analysis of genomic positions, expression quantitative trait loci, enhancers, regulatory marks, functionally defined gene sets, and bulk- and single-cell expression profiles predicted the biological impact of pleiotropic variants. Plasma small RNAs were sequenced to assess association with cancer diagnosis. RESULTS The study identified 4093 common genetic variants, involving 1248 gene loci, that contributed to blood-cancer pleiotropism. Genomic hotspots of pleiotropism include chromosomal regions 5p15-TERT and 6p21-HLA. Genes whose products are involved in regulating telomere length are found to be enriched in pleiotropic variants. Pleiotropic gene candidates are frequently linked to transcriptional programs that regulate hematopoiesis and define progenitor cell states of immune system development. Perturbation of the myeloid lineage is indicated by pleiotropic associations with defined master regulators and cell alterations. Eosinophil count is inversely associated with cancer risk. A high frequency of pleiotropic associations is also centered on the regulation of small noncoding Y-RNAs. Predicted pleiotropic Y-RNAs show specific regulatory marks and are overabundant in the normal tissue and blood of cancer patients. Analysis of plasma small RNAs in women who developed breast cancer indicates there is an overabundance of Y-RNA preceding neoplasm diagnosis. CONCLUSIONS This study reveals extensive pleiotropism between blood traits and cancer risk. Pleiotropism is linked to factors and processes involved in hematopoietic development and immune system function, including components of the major histocompatibility complexes, and regulators of telomere length and myeloid lineage. Deregulation of Y-RNAs is also associated with pleiotropism. Overexpression of these elements might indicate increased cancer risk.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Miguel Angel Pardo-Cea
- ProCURE, Catalan Institute of Oncology, Oncobell, Bellvitge Institute for Biomedical Research (IDIBELL), L'Hospitalet del Llobregat, 08908, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Xavier Farré
- Genomes for Life - GCAT Lab Group, Institut Germans Trias i Pujol (IGTP), Badalona, 08916, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Anna Esteve
- Badalona Applied Research Group in Oncology (B-ARGO), Catalan Institute of Oncology, Institut Germans Trias i Pujol (IGTP), Badalona, 08916, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Joanna Palade
- Cancer and Cell Biology, Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), Arizona, Phoenix, AZ, 85004, USA
| | - Roderic Espín
- ProCURE, Catalan Institute of Oncology, Oncobell, Bellvitge Institute for Biomedical Research (IDIBELL), L'Hospitalet del Llobregat, 08908, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Francesca Mateo
- ProCURE, Catalan Institute of Oncology, Oncobell, Bellvitge Institute for Biomedical Research (IDIBELL), L'Hospitalet del Llobregat, 08908, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Eric Alsop
- Cancer and Cell Biology, Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), Arizona, Phoenix, AZ, 85004, USA
| | - Marc Alorda
- ProCURE, Catalan Institute of Oncology, Oncobell, Bellvitge Institute for Biomedical Research (IDIBELL), L'Hospitalet del Llobregat, 08908, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Natalia Blay
- Genomes for Life - GCAT Lab Group, Institut Germans Trias i Pujol (IGTP), Badalona, 08916, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Alexandra Baiges
- ProCURE, Catalan Institute of Oncology, Oncobell, Bellvitge Institute for Biomedical Research (IDIBELL), L'Hospitalet del Llobregat, 08908, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Arzoo Shabbir
- ProCURE, Catalan Institute of Oncology, Oncobell, Bellvitge Institute for Biomedical Research (IDIBELL), L'Hospitalet del Llobregat, 08908, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Francesc Comellas
- Department of Mathematics, Technical University of Catalonia, Castelldefels, 08860, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Antonio Gómez
- Department of Biosciences, Faculty of Sciences and Technology (FCT), University of Vic - Central University of Catalonia (UVic-UCC), Vic, 08500, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Montserrat Arnan
- Department of Hematology, Catalan Institute of Oncology, Oncobell, Bellvitge Institute for Biomedical Research (IDIBELL), L'Hospitalet del Llobregat, 08908, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Alex Teulé
- Hereditary Cancer Program, Catalan Institute of Oncology, Oncobell, Bellvitge Institute for Biomedical Research (IDIBELL), L'Hospitalet del Llobregat, 08908, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Monica Salinas
- Hereditary Cancer Program, Catalan Institute of Oncology, Oncobell, Bellvitge Institute for Biomedical Research (IDIBELL), L'Hospitalet del Llobregat, 08908, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Laura Berrocal
- OncoGir, Catalan Institute of Oncology, Girona Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBGI), 17190, Salt, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Joan Brunet
- Hereditary Cancer Program, Catalan Institute of Oncology, Oncobell, Bellvitge Institute for Biomedical Research (IDIBELL), L'Hospitalet del Llobregat, 08908, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
- OncoGir, Catalan Institute of Oncology, Girona Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBGI), 17190, Salt, Catalonia, Spain
- Biomedical Research Network Centre in Cancer (CIBERONC), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28222, Madrid, Spain
| | - Paula Rofes
- Hereditary Cancer Program, Catalan Institute of Oncology, Oncobell, Bellvitge Institute for Biomedical Research (IDIBELL), L'Hospitalet del Llobregat, 08908, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
- Biomedical Research Network Centre in Cancer (CIBERONC), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28222, Madrid, Spain
| | - Conxi Lázaro
- Hereditary Cancer Program, Catalan Institute of Oncology, Oncobell, Bellvitge Institute for Biomedical Research (IDIBELL), L'Hospitalet del Llobregat, 08908, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
- Biomedical Research Network Centre in Cancer (CIBERONC), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28222, Madrid, Spain
| | - Miquel Conesa
- Department of Pathology and Experimental Therapies, University of Barcelona (UB), Oncobell, Bellvitge Institute for Biomedical Research (IDIBELL), L'Hospitalet del Llobregat, 08908, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Juan Jose Rojas
- Department of Pathology and Experimental Therapies, University of Barcelona (UB), Oncobell, Bellvitge Institute for Biomedical Research (IDIBELL), L'Hospitalet del Llobregat, 08908, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Lars Velten
- Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST), 08003, Barcelona, Spain
- University Pompeu Fabra (UPF), 08002, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Wojciech Fendler
- Department of Biostatistics and Translational Medicine, Medical University of Lodz, 92-215, Lodz, Poland
| | - Urszula Smyczynska
- Department of Biostatistics and Translational Medicine, Medical University of Lodz, 92-215, Lodz, Poland
| | - Dipanjan Chowdhury
- Department of Radiation Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Center for BRCA and Related Genes, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
- Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, 02115, USA
| | - Yong Zeng
- Princess Margaret Cancer Center, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, M5G 2C4, Canada
| | - Housheng Hansen He
- Princess Margaret Cancer Center, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, M5G 2C4, Canada
- Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, M5G 1L7, Canada
| | - Rong Li
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine, School of Medicine and Health Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, 20052, USA
| | - Kendall Van Keuren-Jensen
- Cancer and Cell Biology, Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), Arizona, Phoenix, AZ, 85004, USA.
| | - Rafael de Cid
- Genomes for Life - GCAT Lab Group, Institut Germans Trias i Pujol (IGTP), Badalona, 08916, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
| | - Miquel Angel Pujana
- ProCURE, Catalan Institute of Oncology, Oncobell, Bellvitge Institute for Biomedical Research (IDIBELL), L'Hospitalet del Llobregat, 08908, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
- Biomedical Research Network Centre in Respiratory Diseases (CIBERES), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, 28222, Madrid, Spain.
| |
Collapse
|
8
|
Valentini V, Bucalo A, Conti G, Celli L, Porzio V, Capalbo C, Silvestri V, Ottini L. Gender-Specific Genetic Predisposition to Breast Cancer: BRCA Genes and Beyond. Cancers (Basel) 2024; 16:579. [PMID: 38339330 PMCID: PMC10854694 DOI: 10.3390/cancers16030579] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2023] [Revised: 01/24/2024] [Accepted: 01/25/2024] [Indexed: 02/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Among neoplastic diseases, breast cancer (BC) is one of the most influenced by gender. Despite common misconceptions associating BC as a women-only disease, BC can also occur in men. Additionally, transgender individuals may also experience BC. Genetic risk factors play a relevant role in BC predisposition, with important implications in precision prevention and treatment. The genetic architecture of BC susceptibility is similar in women and men, with high-, moderate-, and low-penetrance risk variants; however, some sex-specific features have emerged. Inherited high-penetrance pathogenic variants (PVs) in BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes are the strongest BC genetic risk factor. BRCA1 and BRCA2 PVs are more commonly associated with increased risk of female and male BC, respectively. Notably, BRCA-associated BCs are characterized by sex-specific pathologic features. Recently, next-generation sequencing technologies have helped to provide more insights on the role of moderate-penetrance BC risk variants, particularly in PALB2, CHEK2, and ATM genes, while international collaborative genome-wide association studies have contributed evidence on common low-penetrance BC risk variants, on their combined effect in polygenic models, and on their role as risk modulators in BRCA1/2 PV carriers. Overall, all these studies suggested that the genetic basis of male BC, although similar, may differ from female BC. Evaluating the genetic component of male BC as a distinct entity from female BC is the first step to improve both personalized risk assessment and therapeutic choices of patients of both sexes in order to reach gender equality in BC care. In this review, we summarize the latest research in the field of BC genetic predisposition with a particular focus on similarities and differences in male and female BC, and we also discuss the implications, challenges, and open issues that surround the establishment of a gender-oriented clinical management for BC.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Virginia Valentini
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, 00161 Rome, Italy; (V.V.); (A.B.); (G.C.); (L.C.); (V.P.); (C.C.); (V.S.)
| | - Agostino Bucalo
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, 00161 Rome, Italy; (V.V.); (A.B.); (G.C.); (L.C.); (V.P.); (C.C.); (V.S.)
| | - Giulia Conti
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, 00161 Rome, Italy; (V.V.); (A.B.); (G.C.); (L.C.); (V.P.); (C.C.); (V.S.)
| | - Ludovica Celli
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, 00161 Rome, Italy; (V.V.); (A.B.); (G.C.); (L.C.); (V.P.); (C.C.); (V.S.)
| | - Virginia Porzio
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, 00161 Rome, Italy; (V.V.); (A.B.); (G.C.); (L.C.); (V.P.); (C.C.); (V.S.)
| | - Carlo Capalbo
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, 00161 Rome, Italy; (V.V.); (A.B.); (G.C.); (L.C.); (V.P.); (C.C.); (V.S.)
- Medical Oncology Unit, Sant’Andrea University Hospital, 00189 Rome, Italy
| | - Valentina Silvestri
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, 00161 Rome, Italy; (V.V.); (A.B.); (G.C.); (L.C.); (V.P.); (C.C.); (V.S.)
| | - Laura Ottini
- Department of Molecular Medicine, Sapienza University of Rome, 00161 Rome, Italy; (V.V.); (A.B.); (G.C.); (L.C.); (V.P.); (C.C.); (V.S.)
| |
Collapse
|
9
|
Wohlfromm F, Seyrek K, Ivanisenko N, Troitskaya O, Kulms D, Richter V, Koval O, Lavrik IN. RL2 Enhances the Elimination of Breast Cancer Cells by Doxorubicin. Cells 2023; 12:2779. [PMID: 38132099 PMCID: PMC10741759 DOI: 10.3390/cells12242779] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2023] [Revised: 11/18/2023] [Accepted: 12/02/2023] [Indexed: 12/23/2023] Open
Abstract
RL2 (recombinant lactaptin 2), a recombinant analogon of the human milk protein Κ-Casein, induces mitophagy and cell death in breast carcinoma cells. Furthermore, RL2 was shown to enhance extrinsic apoptosis upon long-term treatment while inhibiting it upon short-term stimulation. However, the effects of RL2 on the action of chemotherapeutic drugs that induce the intrinsic apoptotic pathway have not been investigated to date. Here, we examined the effects of RL2 on the doxorubicin (DXR)-induced cell death in breast cancer cells with three different backgrounds. In particular, we used BT549 and MDA-MB-231 triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) cells, T47D estrogen receptor alpha (ERα) positive cells, and SKBR3 human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) positive cells. BT549, MDA-MB-231, and T47D cells showed a severe loss of cell viability upon RL2 treatment, accompanied by the induction of mitophagy. Furthermore, BT549, MDA-MB-231, and T47D cells could be sensitized towards DXR treatment with RL2, as evidenced by loss of cell viability. In contrast, SKBR3 cells showed almost no RL2-induced loss of cell viability when treated with RL2 alone, and RL2 did not sensitize SKBR3 cells towards DXR-mediated loss of cell viability. Bioinformatic analysis of gene expression showed an enrichment of genes controlling metabolism in SKBR3 cells compared to the other cell lines. This suggests that the metabolic status of the cells is important for their sensitivity to RL2. Taken together, we have shown that RL2 can enhance the intrinsic apoptotic pathway in TNBC and ERα-positive breast cancer cells, paving the way for the development of novel therapeutic strategies.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Fabian Wohlfromm
- Translational Inflammation Research, Medical Faculty, Center of Dynamic Systems (CDS), Otto von Guericke University, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany; (F.W.); (K.S.); (N.I.); or (O.T.)
| | - Kamil Seyrek
- Translational Inflammation Research, Medical Faculty, Center of Dynamic Systems (CDS), Otto von Guericke University, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany; (F.W.); (K.S.); (N.I.); or (O.T.)
| | - Nikita Ivanisenko
- Translational Inflammation Research, Medical Faculty, Center of Dynamic Systems (CDS), Otto von Guericke University, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany; (F.W.); (K.S.); (N.I.); or (O.T.)
| | - Olga Troitskaya
- Translational Inflammation Research, Medical Faculty, Center of Dynamic Systems (CDS), Otto von Guericke University, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany; (F.W.); (K.S.); (N.I.); or (O.T.)
| | - Dagmar Kulms
- Experimental Dermatology, Department of Dermatology, TU-Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany;
- National Center for Tumor Diseases, TU-Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany
| | - Vladimir Richter
- Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences (SB RAS), 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia; (V.R.); (O.K.)
| | - Olga Koval
- Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Chemical Biology and Fundamental Medicine, Siberian Branch of Russian Academy of Sciences (SB RAS), 630090 Novosibirsk, Russia; (V.R.); (O.K.)
| | - Inna N. Lavrik
- Translational Inflammation Research, Medical Faculty, Center of Dynamic Systems (CDS), Otto von Guericke University, 39120 Magdeburg, Germany; (F.W.); (K.S.); (N.I.); or (O.T.)
| |
Collapse
|
10
|
Head ST, Dezem F, Todor A, Yang J, Plummer J, Gayther S, Kar S, Schildkraut J, Epstein MP. Cis- and trans-eQTL TWAS of breast and ovarian cancer identify more than 100 risk associated genes in the BCAC and OCAC consortia. bioRxiv 2023:2023.11.09.566218. [PMID: 38014246 PMCID: PMC10680675 DOI: 10.1101/2023.11.09.566218] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2023]
Abstract
Transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS) have investigated the role of genetically regulated transcriptional activity in the etiologies of breast and ovarian cancer. However, methods performed to date have only considered regulatory effects of risk associated SNPs thought to act in cis on a nearby target gene. With growing evidence for distal (trans) regulatory effects of variants on gene expression, we performed TWAS of breast and ovarian cancer using a Bayesian genome-wide TWAS method (BGW-TWAS) that considers effects of both cis- and trans-expression quantitative trait loci (eQTLs). We applied BGW-TWAS to whole genome and RNA sequencing data in breast and ovarian tissues from the Genotype-Tissue Expression project to train expression imputation models. We applied these models to large-scale GWAS summary statistic data from the Breast Cancer and Ovarian Cancer Association Consortia to identify genes associated with risk of overall breast cancer, non-mucinous epithelial ovarian cancer, and 10 cancer subtypes. We identified 101 genes significantly associated with risk with breast cancer phenotypes and 8 with ovarian phenotypes. These loci include established risk genes and several novel candidate risk loci, such as ACAP3, whose associations are predominantly driven by trans-eQTLs. We replicated several associations using summary statistics from an independent GWAS of these cancer phenotypes. We further used genotype and expression data in normal and tumor breast tissue from the Cancer Genome Atlas to examine the performance of our trained expression imputation models. This work represents a first look into the role of trans-eQTLs in the complex molecular mechanisms underlying these diseases.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- S. Taylor Head
- Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - Felipe Dezem
- Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Andrei Todor
- Department of Human Genetics, School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - Jingjing Yang
- Department of Human Genetics, School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - Jasmine Plummer
- Department of Developmental Neurobiology, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, TN 38105, USA
| | - Simon Gayther
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA
| | - Siddhartha Kar
- Early Cancer Institute, Department of Oncology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 0XZ, UK
| | - Joellen Schildkraut
- Department of Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - Michael P. Epstein
- Department of Human Genetics, School of Medicine, Emory University, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| |
Collapse
|
11
|
Biancolella M, Colona VL, Luzzatto L, Watt JL, Mattiuz G, Conticello SG, Kaminski N, Mehrian-Shai R, Ko AI, Gonsalves GS, Vasiliou V, Novelli G, Reichardt JKV. COVID-19 annual update: a narrative review. Hum Genomics 2023; 17:68. [PMID: 37488607 PMCID: PMC10367267 DOI: 10.1186/s40246-023-00515-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2023] [Accepted: 07/16/2023] [Indexed: 07/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Three and a half years after the pandemic outbreak, now that WHO has formally declared that the emergency is over, COVID-19 is still a significant global issue. Here, we focus on recent developments in genetic and genomic research on COVID-19, and we give an outlook on state-of-the-art therapeutical approaches, as the pandemic is gradually transitioning to an endemic situation. The sequencing and characterization of rare alleles in different populations has made it possible to identify numerous genes that affect either susceptibility to COVID-19 or the severity of the disease. These findings provide a beginning to new avenues and pan-ethnic therapeutic approaches, as well as to potential genetic screening protocols. The causative virus, SARS-CoV-2, is still in the spotlight, but novel threatening virus could appear anywhere at any time. Therefore, continued vigilance and further research is warranted. We also note emphatically that to prevent future pandemics and other world-wide health crises, it is imperative to capitalize on what we have learnt from COVID-19: specifically, regarding its origins, the world's response, and insufficient preparedness. This requires unprecedented international collaboration and timely data sharing for the coordination of effective response and the rapid implementation of containment measures.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | - Vito Luigi Colona
- Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, School of Medicine and Surgery, Tor Vergata University of Rome, Via Montpellier 1, 00133, Rome, Italy
| | - Lucio Luzzatto
- Department of Haematology and Blood Transfusion, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
- University of Florence, 50121, Florence, Italy
| | - Jessica Lee Watt
- College of Public Health, Medical and Veterinary Sciences, James Cook University, Smithfield, QLD, 4878, Australia
| | | | - Silvestro G Conticello
- Core Research Laboratory, Istituto per lo Studio, la Prevenzione e la Rete Oncologica (ISPRO), Florence, Italy
- Institute of Clinical Physiology - National Council of Research (IFC-CNR), 56124, Pisa, Italy
| | - Naftali Kaminski
- Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Ruty Mehrian-Shai
- Pediatric Hemato-Oncology, Edmond and Lilly Safra Children's Hospital, Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer 2 Sheba Road, 52621, Ramat Gan, Israel
| | - Albert I Ko
- Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, USA
- Instituto Gonçalo MonizFundação Oswaldo Cruz, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil
| | - Gregg S Gonsalves
- Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Vasilis Vasiliou
- Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, Yale University, New Haven, USA
| | - Giuseppe Novelli
- Department of Biomedicine and Prevention, School of Medicine and Surgery, Tor Vergata University of Rome, Via Montpellier 1, 00133, Rome, Italy.
- IRCCS Neuromed, 86077, Pozzilli, IS, Italy.
- Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, University of Nevada, 89557, Reno, NV, USA.
| | - Juergen K V Reichardt
- Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, James Cook University, Smithfield, QLD, 4878, Australia
| |
Collapse
|
12
|
van Amerongen R, Bentires-Alj M, van Boxtel AL, Clarke RB, Fre S, Suarez EG, Iggo R, Jechlinger M, Jonkers J, Mikkola ML, Koledova ZS, Sørlie T, Vivanco MDM. Imagine beyond: recent breakthroughs and next challenges in mammary gland biology and breast cancer research. J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia 2023; 28:17. [PMID: 37450065 PMCID: PMC10349020 DOI: 10.1007/s10911-023-09544-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/24/2023] [Accepted: 06/25/2023] [Indexed: 07/18/2023] Open
Abstract
On 8 December 2022 the organizing committee of the European Network for Breast Development and Cancer labs (ENBDC) held its fifth annual Think Tank meeting in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Here, we embraced the opportunity to look back to identify the most prominent breakthroughs of the past ten years and to reflect on the main challenges that lie ahead for our field in the years to come. The outcomes of these discussions are presented in this position paper, in the hope that it will serve as a summary of the current state of affairs in mammary gland biology and breast cancer research for early career researchers and other newcomers in the field, and as inspiration for scientists and clinicians to move the field forward.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Renée van Amerongen
- Developmental, Stem Cell and Cancer Biology, Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
| | - Mohamed Bentires-Alj
- Laboratory of Tumor Heterogeneity, Metastasis and Resistance, Department of Biomedicine, University of Basel and University Hospital of Basel, Basel, Switzerland
| | - Antonius L van Boxtel
- Developmental, Stem Cell and Cancer Biology, Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences, University of Amsterdam, Science Park 904, 1098 XH, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
| | - Robert B Clarke
- Manchester Breast Centre, Division of Cancer Sciences, School of Medical Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Silvia Fre
- Institut Curie, Genetics and Developmental Biology Department, PSL Research University, CNRS UMR3215, U93475248, InsermParis, France
| | - Eva Gonzalez Suarez
- Transformation and Metastasis Laboratory, Molecular Oncology, Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), Madrid, Spain
- Oncobell, Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Richard Iggo
- INSERM U1312, University of Bordeaux, 33076, Bordeaux, France
| | - Martin Jechlinger
- Cell Biology and Biophysics Department, EMBL, Heidelberg, Germany
- Molit Institute of Personalized Medicine, Heilbronn, Germany
| | - Jos Jonkers
- Division of Molecular Pathology, Oncode Institute, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Plesmanlaan 121, 1066CX, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Marja L Mikkola
- Institute of Biotechnology, HiLIFE Helsinki Institute of Life Science, University of Helsinki, P.O.B. 56, 00014, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Zuzana Sumbalova Koledova
- Department of Histology and Embryology, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Kamenice 5, 625 00, Brno, Czech Republic
| | - Therese Sørlie
- Department of Cancer Genetics, Institute for Cancer Research, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Maria dM Vivanco
- Cancer Heterogeneity Lab, CIC bioGUNE, Basque Research and Technology Alliance, BRTA, Technological Park Bizkaia, 48160, Derio, Spain
| |
Collapse
|
13
|
Gao G, Fiorica PN, McClellan J, Barbeira AN, Li JL, Olopade OI, Im HK, Huo D. A joint transcriptome-wide association study across multiple tissues identifies candidate breast cancer susceptibility genes. Am J Hum Genet 2023; 110:950-962. [PMID: 37164006 PMCID: PMC10257003 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2023.04.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/28/2023] [Accepted: 04/14/2023] [Indexed: 05/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) have identified more than 200 genomic loci for breast cancer risk, but specific causal genes in most of these loci have not been identified. In fact, transcriptome-wide association studies (TWASs) of breast cancer performed using gene expression prediction models trained in breast tissue have yet to clearly identify most target genes. To identify candidate genes, we performed a GWAS analysis in a breast cancer dataset from UK Biobank (UKB) and combined the results with the GWAS results of the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC) by a meta-analysis. Using the summary statistics from the meta-analysis, we performed a joint TWAS analysis that combined TWAS signals from multiple tissues. We used expression prediction models trained in 11 tissues that are potentially relevant to breast cancer from the Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) data. In the GWAS analysis, we identified eight loci distinct from those reported previously. In the TWAS analysis, we identified 309 genes at 108 genomic loci to be significantly associated with breast cancer at the Bonferroni threshold. Of these, 17 genes were located in eight regions that were at least 1 Mb away from published GWAS hits. The remaining TWAS-significant genes were located in 100 known genomic loci from previous GWASs of breast cancer. We found that 21 genes located in known GWAS loci remained statistically significant after conditioning on previous GWAS index variants. Our study provides insights into breast cancer genetics through mapping candidate target genes in a large proportion of known GWAS loci and discovering multiple new loci.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Guimin Gao
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Peter N Fiorica
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Julian McClellan
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Alvaro N Barbeira
- Section of Genetic Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - James L Li
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Olufunmilayo I Olopade
- Section of Hematology & Oncology, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Hae Kyung Im
- Section of Genetic Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
| | - Dezheng Huo
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA; Section of Genetic Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
14
|
Fiorica PN, Sheng H, Zhu Q, Roh JM, Laurent CA, Ergas IJ, Delmerico J, Kwan ML, Kushi LH, Ambrosone CB, Yao S. A Mendelian Randomization Analysis of 55 Genetically Predicted Metabolic Traits with Breast Cancer Survival Outcomes in the Pathways Study. Cancer Res Commun 2023; 3:1104-1112. [PMID: 37377609 PMCID: PMC10286812 DOI: 10.1158/2767-9764.crc-23-0047] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2023] [Revised: 04/05/2023] [Accepted: 05/30/2023] [Indexed: 06/29/2023]
Abstract
Previous studies suggest associations of metabolic syndromes with breast cancer prognosis, yet the evidence is mixed. In recent years, the maturation of genome-wide association study findings has led to the development of polygenic scores (PGS) for many common traits, making it feasible to use Mendelian randomization to examine associations between metabolic traits and breast cancer outcomes. In the Pathways Study of 3,902 patients and a median follow-up time of 10.5 years, we adapted a Mendelian randomization approach to calculate PGS for 55 metabolic traits and tested their associations with seven survival outcomes. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards models were used to derive HRs and 95% confidence intervals (CI) with adjustment for covariates. The highest tertile (T3) of PGS for cardiovascular disease was associated with shorter overall survival (HR = 1.34, 95% CI = 1.11-1.61) and second primary cancer-free survival (HR = 1.31, 95% CI = 1.12-1.53). PGS for hypertension (T3) was associated with shorter overall survival (HR = 1.20, 95% CI = 1.00-1.43), second primary cancer-free survival (HR = 1.24, 95% CI = 1.06-1.45), invasive disease-free survival (HR = 1.18, 95% CI = 1.01-1.38), and disease-free survival (HR = 1.21, 95% CI = 1.04-1.39). PGS for serum cystatin C levels (T3) was associated with longer disease-free survival (HR = 0.82, 95% CI = 0.71-0.95), breast event-free survival (HR = 0.74, 95% CI = 0.61-0.91), and breast cancer-specific survival (HR = 0.72, 95% CI = 0.54-0.95). The above associations were significant at a nominal P < 0.05 level but not after correcting for multiple testing (Bonferroni P < 0.0009). Our analyses revealed notable associations of PGS for cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and cystatin C levels with breast cancer survival outcomes. These findings implicate metabolic traits in breast cancer prognosis. Significance To our knowledge, this is the largest study of PGS for metabolic traits with breast cancer prognosis. The findings revealed significant associations of PGS for cardiovascular disease, hypertension, and cystatin C levels with several breast cancer survival outcomes. These findings implicate an underappreciated role of metabolic traits in breast cancer prognosis that would warrant further exploration.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Peter N. Fiorica
- Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York
- Department of Cancer Prevention and Control, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, New York
| | - Haiyang Sheng
- Department of Cancer Prevention and Control, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, New York
| | - Qianqian Zhu
- Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, New York
| | - Janise M. Roh
- Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, California
| | - Cecile A. Laurent
- Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, California
| | - Isaac J. Ergas
- Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, California
| | - Jennifer Delmerico
- Department of Cancer Prevention and Control, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, New York
| | - Marilyn L. Kwan
- Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, California
| | - Lawrence H. Kushi
- Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, California
| | - Christine B. Ambrosone
- Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York
| | - Song Yao
- Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, New York
- Department of Cancer Prevention and Control, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, New York
| |
Collapse
|
15
|
Tuano NK, Beesley J, Manning M, Shi W, Perlaza-Jimenez L, Malaver-Ortega LF, Paynter JM, Black D, Civitarese A, McCue K, Hatzipantelis A, Hillman K, Kaufmann S, Sivakumaran H, Polo JM, Reddel RR, Band V, French JD, Edwards SL, Powell DR, Chenevix-Trench G, Rosenbluh J. CRISPR screens identify gene targets at breast cancer risk loci. Genome Biol 2023; 24:59. [PMID: 36991492 PMCID: PMC10053147 DOI: 10.1186/s13059-023-02898-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2022] [Accepted: 03/16/2023] [Indexed: 03/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Abstract
Background
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified > 200 loci associated with breast cancer risk. The majority of candidate causal variants are in non-coding regions and likely modulate cancer risk by regulating gene expression. However, pinpointing the exact target of the association, and identifying the phenotype it mediates, is a major challenge in the interpretation and translation of GWAS.
Results
Here, we show that pooled CRISPR screens are highly effective at identifying GWAS target genes and defining the cancer phenotypes they mediate. Following CRISPR mediated gene activation or suppression, we measure proliferation in 2D, 3D, and in immune-deficient mice, as well as the effect on DNA repair. We perform 60 CRISPR screens and identify 20 genes predicted with high confidence to be GWAS targets that promote cancer by driving proliferation or modulating the DNA damage response in breast cells. We validate the regulation of a subset of these genes by breast cancer risk variants.
Conclusions
We demonstrate that phenotypic CRISPR screens can accurately pinpoint the gene target of a risk locus. In addition to defining gene targets of risk loci associated with increased breast cancer risk, we provide a platform for identifying gene targets and phenotypes mediated by risk variants.
Collapse
|
16
|
Wielgat P, Rogowski K, Czarnomysy R, Wawrusiewicz-kurylonek N, Narejko K, Bielawski K, Car H. Tamoxifen Modulates the Immune Landscape of the Tumour Microenvironment: The Paired Siglec-5/14 Checkpoint in Anti-Tumour Immunity in an In Vitro Model of Breast Cancer. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:5512. [PMID: 36982588 PMCID: PMC10057974 DOI: 10.3390/ijms24065512] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/14/2023] [Revised: 03/07/2023] [Accepted: 03/13/2023] [Indexed: 03/17/2023] Open
Abstract
Since the role of sialome–Siglec axis has been described as a regulatory checkpoint of immune homeostasis, the promotion of stimulatory or inhibitory Siglec-related mechanisms is crucial in cancer progression and therapy. Here, we investigated the effect of tamoxifen on the sialic acid–Siglec interplay and its significance in immune conversion in breast cancer. To mimic the tumour microenvironment, we used oestrogen-dependent or oestrogen-independent breast cancer cells/THP-1 monocytes transwell co-cultures exposed to tamoxifen and/or β-estradiol. We found changes in the cytokine profiles accompanied by immune phenotype switching, as measured by the expression of arginase-1. The immunomodulatory effects of tamoxifen in THP-1 cells occurred with the altered SIGLEC5 and SIGLEC14 genes and the expression of their products, as confirmed by RT-PCR and flow cytometry. Additionally, exposure to tamoxifen increased the binding of Siglec-5 and Siglec-14 fusion proteins to breast cancer cells; however, these effects appeared to be unassociated with oestrogen dependency. Our results suggest that tamoxifen-induced alterations in the immune activity of breast cancer reflect a crosstalk between the Siglec-expressing cells and the tumour’s sialome. Given the distribution of Siglec-5/14, the expression profile of inhibitory and activatory Siglecs in breast cancer patients may be useful in the verification of therapeutic strategies and predicting the tumour’s behaviour and the patient’s overall survival.
Collapse
|
17
|
Carlberg C. Nutrigenomics in the context of evolution. Redox Biol 2023; 62:102656. [PMID: 36933390 PMCID: PMC10036735 DOI: 10.1016/j.redox.2023.102656] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2023] [Revised: 03/03/2023] [Accepted: 03/03/2023] [Indexed: 03/13/2023] Open
Abstract
Nutrigenomics describes the interaction between nutrients and our genome. Since the origin of our species most of these nutrient-gene communication pathways have not changed. However, our genome experienced over the past 50,000 years a number of evolutionary pressures, which are based on the migration to new environments concerning geography and climate, the transition from hunter-gatherers to farmers including the zoonotic transfer of many pathogenic microbes and the rather recent change of societies to a preferentially sedentary lifestyle and the dominance of Western diet. Human populations responded to these challenges not only by specific anthropometric adaptations, such as skin color and body stature, but also through diversity in dietary intake and different resistance to complex diseases like the metabolic syndrome, cancer and immune disorders. The genetic basis of this adaptation process has been investigated by whole genome genotyping and sequencing including that of DNA extracted from ancient bones. In addition to genomic changes, also the programming of epigenomes in pre- and postnatal phases of life has an important contribution to the response to environmental changes. Thus, insight into the variation of our (epi)genome in the context of our individual's risk for developing complex diseases, helps to understand the evolutionary basis how and why we become ill. This review will discuss the relation of diet, modern environment and our (epi)genome including aspects of redox biology. This has numerous implications for the interpretation of the risks for disease and their prevention.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Carsten Carlberg
- Institute of Animal Reproduction and Food Research, Polish Academy of Sciences, ul. Juliana Tuwima 10, PL-10748, Olsztyn, Poland; School of Medicine, Institute of Biomedicine, University of Eastern Finland, FI-70211, Kuopio, Finland.
| |
Collapse
|
18
|
Przanowski P, Przanowska RK, Guertin MJ. ANKLE1 cleaves mitochondrial DNA and contributes to cancer risk by promoting apoptosis resistance and metabolic dysregulation. Commun Biol 2023; 6:231. [PMID: 36859531 PMCID: PMC9977882 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-04611-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/15/2022] [Accepted: 02/20/2023] [Indexed: 03/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Alleles within the chr19p13.1 locus are associated with increased risk of both ovarian and breast cancer and increased expression of the ANKLE1 gene. ANKLE1 is molecularly characterized as an endonuclease that efficiently cuts branched DNA and shuttles between the nucleus and cytoplasm. However, the role of ANKLE1 in mammalian development and homeostasis remains unknown. In normal development ANKLE1 expression is limited to the erythroblast lineage and we found that ANKLE1's role is to cleave the mitochondrial genome during erythropoiesis. We show that ectopic expression of ANKLE1 in breast epithelial-derived cells leads to genome instability and mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) cleavage. mtDNA degradation then leads to mitophagy and causes a shift from oxidative phosphorylation to glycolysis (Warburg effect). Moreover, mtDNA degradation activates STAT1 and expression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) genes. Reduction in mitochondrial content contributes to apoptosis resistance, which may allow precancerous cells to avoid apoptotic checkpoints and proliferate. These findings provide evidence that ANKLE1 is the causal cancer susceptibility gene in the chr19p13.1 locus and describe mechanisms by which higher ANKLE1 expression promotes cancer risk.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Piotr Przanowski
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA, USA.
| | - Róża K Przanowska
- Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA, USA
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville, VA, USA
| | - Michael J Guertin
- Center for Cell Analysis and Modeling, University of Connecticut, Farmington, CT, USA.
- Department of Genetics and Genome Sciences, University of Connecticut, Farmington, CT, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
19
|
Jia G, Yang Y, Ping J, Xu S, Liu L, Guo X, Tao R, Long J, Zheng W. Identification of target proteins for breast cancer genetic risk loci and blood risk biomarkers in a large study by integrating genomic and proteomic data. Int J Cancer 2023; 152:2314-2320. [PMID: 36779764 PMCID: PMC10079603 DOI: 10.1002/ijc.34472] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2022] [Revised: 01/24/2023] [Accepted: 02/03/2023] [Indexed: 02/14/2023]
Abstract
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified around 200 loci associated with breast cancer risk. However, protein targets for these loci remain largely unknown. Identifying protein targets and biomarkers can improve the understanding of cancer biology and etiology and identify high-risk individuals for cancer prevention. In this study, we investigated genetically predicted levels of 1142 circulating proteins with breast cancer risk in 133 384 cases and 113 789 controls of European ancestry included in the Breast Cancer Association Consortium (BCAC). We identified 22 blood protein biomarkers associated with the risk of overall breast cancer at a false discovery rate (FDR) <0.05, including nine proteins encoded by genes located at least 500 kb away from previously reported risk variants for breast cancer. Analyses focusing on 124 encoding genes located at GWAS-identified breast cancer risk loci found 20 proteins associated with overall breast cancer risk and one protein associated with triple-negative breast cancer risk at FDR <0.05. Adjustment for the GWAS-identified risk variants significantly attenuated the association for 13 of these proteins, suggesting that these proteins may be the targets of these GWAS-identified risk loci. The identified proteins are involved in various biological processes, including glutathione conjugation, STAT5 signaling and NF-κB signaling pathways. Our study identified novel protein targets and risk biomarkers for breast cancer risk.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Guochong Jia
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Yaohua Yang
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.,Department of Public Health Sciences, Center for Public Health Genomics, UVA Comprehensive Cancer Center, School of Medicine, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA
| | - Jie Ping
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Shuai Xu
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Lili Liu
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Xingyi Guo
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Ran Tao
- Department of Biostatistics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Jirong Long
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
| | - Wei Zheng
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA
| |
Collapse
|
20
|
Abstract
Polygenic Risk Scores (PRS) are a major component of accurate breast cancer risk prediction and have the potential to improve screening and prevention strategies. PRS combine the risk from Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with breast cancer in Genome Wide Association Studies (GWAS) and explain over 30% of breast cancer heritability. When incorporated into risk models, the more personalised risk assessment derived from PRS, help identify women at higher risk of breast cancer development and enables the implementation of stratified screening and prevention approaches. This review describes the role of PRS in breast cancer risk prediction including the development of PRS and their clinical application. We have also examined the role of PRS within more well-established risk prediction models which incorporate known classic risk factors and discuss the interaction of PRS with these factors and their capacity to predict breast cancer subtypes. Before PRS can be implemented on a population-wide scale, there are several challenges that must be addressed. Perhaps the most pressing of these is the use of PRS in women of non-White European origin, where PRS have been shown to have attenuated risk prediction both in discrimination and calibration. We discuss progress in developing and applying PRS in non-white European populations. PRS represent a significant advance in breast cancer risk prediction and their further development will undoubtedly enhance personalisation.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Eleanor Roberts
- Division of Cancer Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester, UK
| | - Sacha Howell
- Division of Cancer Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester, UK; Nightingale/Prevent Breast Cancer Centre, Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK; Manchester Breast Centre, Manchester Cancer Research Centre, The Christie Hospital, Manchester, UK
| | - D Gareth Evans
- Manchester Centre for Genomic Medicine, Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK; Division of Evolution, Infection and Genomics, School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester Academic Health Science Centre, Manchester, UK; Nightingale/Prevent Breast Cancer Centre, Wythenshawe Hospital, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK; Manchester Breast Centre, Manchester Cancer Research Centre, The Christie Hospital, Manchester, UK.
| |
Collapse
|
21
|
Johnson KE, Heisel T, Allert M, Fürst A, Yerabandi N, Knights D, Jacobs KM, Lock EF, Bode L, Fields DA, Rudolph MC, Gale CA, Albert FW, Demerath EW, Blekhman R. Human milk variation is shaped by maternal genetics and impacts the infant gut microbiome. bioRxiv 2023:2023.01.24.525211. [PMID: 36747843 PMCID: PMC9900818 DOI: 10.1101/2023.01.24.525211] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/26/2023]
Abstract
Human milk is a complex mix of nutritional and bioactive components that provide complete nutrition for the infant. However, we lack a systematic knowledge of the factors shaping milk composition and how milk variation influences infant health. Here, we used multi-omic profiling to characterize interactions between maternal genetics, milk gene expression, milk composition, and the infant fecal microbiome in 242 exclusively breastfeeding mother-infant pairs. We identified 487 genetic loci associated with milk gene expression unique to the lactating mammary gland, including loci that impacted breast cancer risk and human milk oligosaccharide concentration. Integrative analyses uncovered connections between milk gene expression and infant gut microbiome, including an association between the expression of inflammation-related genes with IL-6 concentration in milk and the abundance of Bifidobacteria in the infant gut. Our results show how an improved understanding of the genetics and genomics of human milk connects lactation biology with maternal and infant health.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Kelsey E Johnson
- Department of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA
| | - Timothy Heisel
- Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Mattea Allert
- Department of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA
| | - Annalee Fürst
- Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Nikhila Yerabandi
- Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - Dan Knights
- BioTechnology Institute, College of Biological Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
- Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Katherine M Jacobs
- Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Women's Health, Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Eric F Lock
- Division of Biostatistics, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Lars Bode
- Department of Pediatrics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
- Human Milk Institute (HMI) and Mother-Milk-Infant Center of Research Excellence (MOMI CORE), University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
| | - David A Fields
- Department of Pediatrics, the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
| | - Michael C Rudolph
- Harold Hamm Diabetes Center, Department of Physiology, the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
| | - Cheryl A Gale
- Division of Neonatology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Frank W Albert
- Department of Genetics, Cell Biology, and Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, USA
| | - Ellen W Demerath
- Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, University of Minnesota School of Public Health, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Ran Blekhman
- Section of Genetic Medicine, Division of Biological Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| |
Collapse
|
22
|
Mehmood S, Aslam S, Dilshad E, Ismail H, Khan AN. Transforming Diagnosis and Therapeutics Using Cancer Genomics. Cancer Treat Res 2023; 185:15-47. [PMID: 37306902 DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-27156-4_2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
In past quarter of the century, much has been understood about the genetic variation and abnormal genes that activate cancer in humans. All the cancers somehow possess alterations in the DNA sequence of cancer cell's genome. In present, we are heading toward the era where it is possible to obtain complete genome of the cancer cells for their better diagnosis, categorization and to explore treatment options.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sabba Mehmood
- Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Medical Sciences (NUMS), Rawalpindi, Pakistan.
| | - Shaista Aslam
- Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Medical Sciences (NUMS), Rawalpindi, Pakistan
| | - Erum Dilshad
- Department of Bioinformatics and Biosciences, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Capital University of Science and Technology (CUST) Islamabad, Islamabad, Pakistan
| | - Hammad Ismail
- Departments of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, University of Gujrat (UOG) Gujrat, Gujrat, Pakistan
| | - Amna Naheed Khan
- Department of Bioinformatics and Biosciences, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Capital University of Science and Technology (CUST) Islamabad, Islamabad, Pakistan
| |
Collapse
|
23
|
Jia G, Ping J, Shu X, Yang Y, Cai Q, Kweon SS, Choi JY, Kubo M, Park SK, Bolla MK, Dennis J, Wang Q, Guo X, Li B, Tao R, Aronson KJ, Chan TL, Gao YT, Hartman M, Ho WK, Ito H, Iwasaki M, Iwata H, John EM, Kasuga Y, Kim MK, Kurian AW, Kwong A, Li J, Lophatananon A, Low SK, Mariapun S, Matsuda K, Matsuo K, Muir K, Noh DY, Park B, Park MH, Shen CY, Shin MH, Spinelli JJ, Takahashi A, Tseng C, Tsugane S, Wu AH, Yamaji T, Zheng Y, Dunning AM, Pharoah PDP, Teo SH, Kang D, Easton DF, Simard J, Shu XO, Long J, Zheng W. Genome- and transcriptome-wide association studies of 386,000 Asian and European-ancestry women provide new insights into breast cancer genetics. Am J Hum Genet 2022; 109:2185-2195. [PMID: 36356581 PMCID: PMC9748250 DOI: 10.1016/j.ajhg.2022.10.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/05/2022] [Accepted: 10/20/2022] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
By combining data from 160,500 individuals with breast cancer and 226,196 controls of Asian and European ancestry, we conducted genome- and transcriptome-wide association studies of breast cancer. We identified 222 genetic risk loci and 137 genes that were associated with breast cancer risk at a p < 5.0 × 10-8 and a Bonferroni-corrected p < 4.6 × 10-6, respectively. Of them, 32 loci and 15 genes showed a significantly different association between ER-positive and ER-negative breast cancer after Bonferroni correction. Significant ancestral differences in risk variant allele frequencies and their association strengths with breast cancer risk were identified. Of the significant associations identified in this study, 17 loci and 14 genes are located 1Mb away from any of the previously reported breast cancer risk variants. Pathways analyses including 221 putative risk genes identified multiple signaling pathways that may play a significant role in the development of breast cancer. Our study provides a comprehensive understanding of and new biological insights into the genetics of this common malignancy.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Guochong Jia
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 2525 West End Avenue, Suite 800, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Jie Ping
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 2525 West End Avenue, Suite 800, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Xiang Shu
- Department of Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, USA
| | - Yaohua Yang
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 2525 West End Avenue, Suite 800, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Qiuyin Cai
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 2525 West End Avenue, Suite 800, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Sun-Seog Kweon
- Department of Preventive Medicine, Chonnam National University Medical School, Hwasun, Korea; Jeonnam Regional Cancer Center, Chonnam National University Hwasun Hospital, Hwasun, Korea
| | - Ji-Yeob Choi
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea; Department of Preventive Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea; Cancer Research Institute, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
| | - Michiaki Kubo
- RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences, Yokohama, Japan
| | - Sue K Park
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea; Department of Preventive Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea; Cancer Research Institute, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
| | - Manjeet K Bolla
- Centre for Cancer Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Joe Dennis
- Centre for Cancer Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Qin Wang
- Centre for Cancer Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Xingyi Guo
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 2525 West End Avenue, Suite 800, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Bingshan Li
- Department of Molecular Physiology & Biophysics, Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Ran Tao
- Department of Biostatistics, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA; Vanderbilt Genetics Institute, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Kristan J Aronson
- Department of Public Health Sciences and Queen's Cancer Research Institute, Queen's University, Kingston, ON, Canada
| | - Tsun L Chan
- Hong Kong Hereditary Breast Cancer Family Registry, Hong Kong SAR, China; Department of Molecular Pathology, Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Yu-Tang Gao
- State Key Laboratory of Oncogene and Related Genes & Department of Epidemiology, Shanghai Cancer Institute, Renji Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Mikael Hartman
- Department of Surgery, National University Hospital, Singapore, Singapore; Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore; Department of Surgery, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Weang Kee Ho
- Department of Applied Mathematics, Faculty of Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Semenyih, Selangor, Malaysia
| | - Hidemi Ito
- Division of Cancer Information and Control, Aichi Cancer Center Research Institute, Nagoya, Japan; Department of Descriptive Cancer Epidemiology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan
| | - Motoki Iwasaki
- Division of Epidemiology, National Cancer Center Institute for Cancer Control, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Hiroji Iwata
- Department of Breast Oncology, Aichi Cancer Center, Nagoya, Aichi, Japan
| | - Esther M John
- Departments of Epidemiology, Cancer Prevention Institute of California, Fremont, CA, USA; Departments of Health Research and Policy, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA; Stanford Cancer Institute, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Yoshio Kasuga
- Department of Surgery, Nagano Matsushiro General Hospital, Nagano, Japan
| | - Mi-Kyung Kim
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Management, National Cancer Center, Goyang, Korea
| | - Allison W Kurian
- Departments of Health Research and Policy, School of Medicine, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA
| | - Ava Kwong
- Hong Kong Hereditary Breast Cancer Family Registry, Hong Kong SAR, China; Department of Surgery, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China; Department of Surgery, Hong Kong Sanatorium & Hospital, Hong Kong SAR, China
| | - Jingmei Li
- Department of Surgery, Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore; Human Genetics, Genome Institute of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore; Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Artitaya Lophatananon
- Division of Health Sciences, Warwick Medical School, Warwick University, Coventry, UK; Institute of Population Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Siew-Kee Low
- RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences, Yokohama, Japan
| | | | - Koichi Matsuda
- Laboratory of Clinical Genome Sequencing, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Keitaro Matsuo
- Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Prevention, Aichi Cancer Center Research Institute, Nagoya, Japan; Division of Cancer Epidemiology, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan
| | - Kenneth Muir
- Division of Health Sciences, Warwick Medical School, Warwick University, Coventry, UK; Institute of Population Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Dong-Young Noh
- Cancer Research Institute, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea; Department of Surgery, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, South Korea
| | - Boyoung Park
- Department of Medicine, Hanyang University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea
| | - Min-Ho Park
- Department of Surgery, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Korea
| | - Chen-Yang Shen
- College of Public Health, China Medical University, Taichong, Taiwan; Taiwan Biobank, Institute of Biomedical Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
| | - Min-Ho Shin
- Department of Preventive Medicine, Chonnam National University Medical School, Hwasun, Korea
| | - John J Spinelli
- Department of Cancer Control Research, British Columbia Cancer Agency, Vancouver, BC, Canada; School of Population and Public Health, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada
| | - Atsushi Takahashi
- RIKEN Center for Integrative Medical Sciences, Yokohama, Japan; Department of Genomic Medicine, Research Institute, National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center, Suita, Osaka, Japan
| | - Chiuchen Tseng
- Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Shoichiro Tsugane
- National Institute of Health and Nutrition, National Institutes of Biomedical Innovation, Health and Nutrition, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Anna H Wu
- Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Taiki Yamaji
- Division of Epidemiology, National Cancer Center Institute for Cancer Control, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Ying Zheng
- Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Shanghai, China
| | - Alison M Dunning
- Centre for Cancer Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Oncology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Paul D P Pharoah
- Centre for Cancer Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; Centre for Cancer Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Oncology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Soo-Hwang Teo
- Cancer Research Malaysia, Subang Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia; Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, University Malaya, Kuala Lumpar, Malaysia
| | - Daehee Kang
- Department of Preventive Medicine, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea; Cancer Research Institute, Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul, Korea; Department of Biomedical Sciences, Seoul National University Graduate School, Seoul, Korea; Institute of Environmental Medicine, Seoul National University Medical Research Center, Seoul, Korea
| | - Douglas F Easton
- Centre for Cancer Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK; Centre for Cancer Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Oncology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Jacques Simard
- Genomics Center, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Québec - Université Laval, Research Center, Québec City, QC, Canada
| | - Xiao-Ou Shu
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 2525 West End Avenue, Suite 800, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Jirong Long
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 2525 West End Avenue, Suite 800, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Wei Zheng
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 2525 West End Avenue, Suite 800, Nashville, TN, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
24
|
Hanson H, Kulkarni A, Loong L, Kavanaugh G, Torr B, Allen S, Ahmed M, Antoniou AC, Cleaver R, Dabir T, Evans DG, Golightly E, Jewell R, Kohut K, Manchanda R, Murray A, Murray J, Ong KR, Rosenthal AN, Woodward ER, Eccles DM, Turnbull C, Tischkowitz M, Lalloo F. UK consensus recommendations for clinical management of cancer risk for women with germline pathogenic variants in cancer predisposition genes: RAD51C, RAD51D, BRIP1 and PALB2. J Med Genet 2022; 60:417-429. [PMID: 36411032 PMCID: PMC10176381 DOI: 10.1136/jmg-2022-108898] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/26/2022] [Accepted: 10/25/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022]
Abstract
Germline pathogenic variants (GPVs) in the cancer predisposition genes BRCA1, BRCA2, MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, BRIP1, PALB2, RAD51D and RAD51C are identified in approximately 15% of patients with ovarian cancer (OC). While there are clear guidelines around clinical management of cancer risk in patients with GPV in BRCA1, BRCA2, MLH1, MSH2 and MSH6, there are few guidelines on how to manage the more moderate OC risk in patients with GPV in BRIP1, PALB2, RAD51D and RAD51C, with clinical questions about appropriateness and timing of risk-reducing gynaecological surgery. Furthermore, while recognition of RAD51C and RAD51D as OC predisposition genes has been established for several years, an association with breast cancer (BC) has only more recently been described and clinical management of this risk has been unclear. With expansion of genetic testing of these genes to all patients with non-mucinous OC, new data on BC risk and improved estimates of OC risk, the UK Cancer Genetics Group and CanGene-CanVar project convened a 2-day meeting to reach a national consensus on clinical management of BRIP1, PALB2, RAD51D and RAD51C carriers in clinical practice. In this paper, we present a summary of the processes used to reach and agree on a consensus, as well as the key recommendations from the meeting.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Helen Hanson
- South West Thames Regional Genetic Services, St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK
- Division of Genetics and Epidemiology, Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, UK
| | - Anjana Kulkarni
- Department of Clinical Genetics, Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK
| | - Lucy Loong
- Division of Genetics and Epidemiology, Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, UK
| | - Grace Kavanaugh
- Division of Genetics and Epidemiology, Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, UK
| | - Bethany Torr
- Division of Genetics and Epidemiology, Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, UK
| | - Sophie Allen
- Division of Genetics and Epidemiology, Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, UK
| | - Munaza Ahmed
- North East Thames Regional Genetics Service, Great Ormond Street Hospital, London, UK
| | - Antonis C Antoniou
- Centre for Cancer Genetic Epidemiology, Department of Public Health and Primary Care, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Ruth Cleaver
- Department of Clinical Genetics, Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust, Exeter, UK
| | - Tabib Dabir
- Northern Ireland Regional Genetics Centre, Belfast City Hospital, Belfast, UK
| | - D Gareth Evans
- Manchester Centre for Genomic Medicine, Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK
- Division of Evolution and Genomic Sciences, School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Ellen Golightly
- Lothian Menopause Service, Chalmers Sexual Health Centre, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Rosalyn Jewell
- Department of Clinical Genetics, Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Leeds, UK
| | - Kelly Kohut
- South West Thames Regional Genetic Services, St George's University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK
| | - Ranjit Manchanda
- Wolfson Institute of Population Health, Barts CRUK Cancer Centre, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
- Department of Health Services Research and Policy, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK
- Department of Gynaecological Oncology, Barts Health NHS Trust, London, UK
| | - Alex Murray
- All Wales Medical Genomics Services, University Hospital of Wales, Cardiff, UK
| | - Jennie Murray
- South East Scotland Clinical Genetics Service, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Kai-Ren Ong
- West Midlands Regional Genetics Service, Birmingham Women's Hospital, Birmingham, UK
| | - Adam N Rosenthal
- Department of Gynaecological Oncology, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK
| | - Emma Roisin Woodward
- Division of Evolution and Genomic Sciences, School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology Medicine and Health, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
- Manchester Centre for Genomic Medicine, Central Manchester NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK
| | - Diana M Eccles
- Cancer Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
| | - Clare Turnbull
- Division of Genetics and Epidemiology, Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, UK
| | - Marc Tischkowitz
- Department of Medical Genetics, University of Cambridge, National Institute for Health Research Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre, Cambridge, UK
| | | | - Fiona Lalloo
- Manchester Centre for Genomic Medicine, Central Manchester NHS Foundation Trust, Manchester, UK
| |
Collapse
|
25
|
Abstract
Background: Breast cancer is a major challenge affecting women's survival. Circular RNAs have been demonstrated to be vital regulators in the pathogenesis of human cancers. The authors' objective was to determine the functional role and mechanism of circKLHL24 in breast cancer development. Materials and Methods: The expression of circKLHL24, miR-1204, and aristaless-like 4 (ALX4) mRNA was measured using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction. The effects on cell viability, proliferation, migration/invasion, and glycolysis were identified using the Cell Counting Kit-8 (CCK-8) assay, colony formation assay, Transwell assay, and glycolysis stress test, respectively. For glycolysis progression analysis, glucose consumption and lactate production were assessed using corresponding kits, and the expression of glycolysis-related proteins was detected by Western blot. The putative interactions between miR-1204 and circKLHL24 or ALX4 were validated by dual-luciferase reporter assay or RNA pull-down assay. The expression of ALX4 at the protein level was detected by Western blot. Animal study was performed to clarify the role of circKLHL24 in vivo. Results: circKLHL24 and ALX4 were downregulated, while miR-1204 was upregulated in breast cancer tissues and cells. circKLHL24 overexpression blocked cell viability, colony formation, migration/invasion, and glycolysis progression. circKLHL24 competitively targeted miR-1204, and miR-1204 reintroduction reversed the effects of circKLHL24 restoration. miR-1204 bound to ALX4, and circKLHL24 sponged miR-1204 to upregulate ALX4. Cell viability, colony formation, migration/invasion, and glycolysis progression suppressed by miR-1204 deficiency were recovered by ALX4 knockdown. Besides, circKLHL24 blocked tumor growth in vivo by regulating miR-1204 and ALX4. Conclusions: circKLHL24 blocked the progression of breast cancer by activating ALX4 through targeting miR-1204, which might be a novel perspective to understand the pathogenesis of breast cancer.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Guangming Yi
- Department of Oncology, The Third Hospital of Mianyang (Sichuan Mental Health Center), Mianyang City, China
| | - Dan Wang
- Department of Radiology, Mianyang Central Hospital, Mianyang City, China
| | - Jianjun Han
- Department of Oncology, The Third Hospital of Mianyang (Sichuan Mental Health Center), Mianyang City, China
| | - Li Jia
- Department of Oncology, The Third Hospital of Mianyang (Sichuan Mental Health Center), Mianyang City, China
| | - Xiaojun Liu
- Department of Oncology, The Third Hospital of Mianyang (Sichuan Mental Health Center), Mianyang City, China
| | - Jun He
- Department of Oncology, The Third Hospital of Mianyang (Sichuan Mental Health Center), Mianyang City, China
| |
Collapse
|
26
|
CD40LG是与浸润性乳腺癌肿瘤微环境中免疫和基质相关的预后标志物. Nan Fang Yi Ke Da Xue Xue Bao 2022; 42. [PMID: 36210698 DOI: 10.12122/j.issn.1673-4254.2022.09.01] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/24/2023]
Abstract
OBJECTIVE To identify tumor microenvironment (TME)- related genes associated with the occurrence of invasive breast cancer as potential prognostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets. METHODS RNA transcriptome data and clinically relevant data were retrieved from TCGA database, and the StromalScore and ImmuneScore were calculated using the ESTIMATE algorithm. The differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were screened by taking the intersection. A protein- protein interaction network was established, and univariate COX regression analysis was used to identify the core genes among the DEGs. A core gene was selected for GSEA and CIBERSORT analysis to determine the function of the core gene and the proportion of tumor-infiltrating immune cells, respectively. Western blotting and qRT-PCR were performed to verify the expression level of CD40LG in breast cancer cell lines and clinical specimens. RESULTS A total of 1222 samples (124 normal and 1098 tumor samples) were extracted from TCGA for analysis, from which 487 DEGs were identified. These genes were mainly enriched in immune-related pathways, and crossover analysis identified 11 key genes (CD40LG, ITK, CD5, CD3E, SPN, IL7R, CD48, CCL19, CD2, CD52, and CD2711) associated with breast cancer TME status. CD40LG was selected as the core gene, whose high expression was found to be associated with a longer overall survival of breast cancer patients (P=0.002), and its expression level differed significantly with TNM stage and tumor size (P < 0.05). GSEA and CIBERSORT analyses indicated that CD40LG expression level was associated with immune activity in the TME. Western blotting and qRT-PCR showed that the protein and mRNA expression of CD40LG were significantly lower in breast cancer cells and cancer tissues than in normal breast cells and adjacent tissues. CONCLUSIONS The high expression of CD40LG in TME is positively correlated with the survival of patients with invasive breast cancer, suggesting its value as a potential new biomarker for predicting prognosis of the patients.
Collapse
|
27
|
Seyrek K, Wohlfromm F, Espe J, Lavrik IN. The cross-talk of autophagy and apoptosis in breast carcinoma: implications for novel therapies? Biochem J 2022; 479:1581-608. [PMID: 35904454 DOI: 10.1042/BCJ20210676] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2021] [Revised: 07/05/2022] [Accepted: 07/06/2022] [Indexed: 12/12/2022]
Abstract
Breast cancer is still the most common cancer in women worldwide. Resistance to drugs and recurrence of the disease are two leading causes of failure in treatment. For a more efficient treatment of patients, the development of novel therapeutic regimes is needed. Recent studies indicate that modulation of autophagy in concert with apoptosis induction may provide a promising novel strategy in breast cancer treatment. Apoptosis and autophagy are two tightly regulated distinct cellular processes. To maintain tissue homeostasis abnormal cells are disposed largely by means of apoptosis. Autophagy, however, contributes to tissue homeostasis and cell fitness by scavenging of damaged organelles, lipids, proteins, and DNA. Defects in autophagy promote tumorigenesis, whereas upon tumor formation rapidly proliferating cancer cells may rely on autophagy to survive. Given that evasion of apoptosis is one of the characteristic hallmarks of cancer cells, inhibiting autophagy and promoting apoptosis can negatively influence cancer cell survival and increase cell death. Hence, combination of antiautophagic agents with the enhancement of apoptosis may restore apoptosis and provide a therapeutic advantage against breast cancer. In this review, we discuss the cross-talk of autophagy and apoptosis and the diverse facets of autophagy in breast cancer cells leading to novel models for more effective therapeutic strategies.
Collapse
|
28
|
Agyemang K, Johansen AM, Barker GW, Pennison MJ, Sheffield K, Jimenez H, Blackman C, Sharma S, Fordjour PA, Singh R, Cook KL, Lin HK, Zhang W, Lo HW, Watabe K, Sun P, Langefeld CD, Pasche B. TGFBR1*6A as a modifier of breast cancer risk and progression: advances and future prospects. NPJ Breast Cancer 2022; 8:84. [PMID: 35853889 DOI: 10.1038/s41523-022-00446-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2022] [Accepted: 06/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
There is growing evidence that germline mutations in certain genes influence cancer susceptibility, tumor evolution, as well as clinical outcomes. Identification of a disease-causing genetic variant enables testing and diagnosis of at-risk individuals. For breast cancer, several genes such as BRCA1, BRCA2, PALB2, ATM, and CHEK2 act as high- to moderate-penetrance cancer susceptibility genes. Genotyping of these genes informs genetic risk assessment and counseling, as well as treatment and management decisions in the case of high-penetrance genes. TGFBR1*6A (rs11466445) is a common variant of the TGF-β receptor type I (TGFBR1) that has a global minor allelic frequency (MAF) of 0.051 according to the 1000 Genomes Project Consortium. It is emerging as a high frequency, low penetrance tumor susceptibility allele associated with increased cancer risk among several cancer types. The TGFBR1*6A allele has been associated with increased breast cancer risk in women, OR 1.15 (95% CI 1.01–1.31). Functionally, TGFBR1*6A promotes breast cancer cell proliferation, migration, and invasion through the regulation of the ERK pathway and Rho-GTP activation. This review discusses current findings on the genetic, functional, and mechanistic associations between TGFBR1*6A and breast cancer risk and proposes future directions as it relates to genetic association studies and mechanisms of action for tumor growth, metastasis, and immune suppression.
Collapse
|
29
|
Yang H, Ting X, Geng YH, Xie Y, Nierenberg JL, Huo YF, Zhou YT, Huang Y, Yu YQ, Yu XY, Li XF, Ziv E, Zhang H, Fang WG, Shen Y, Tian XX. The risk variant rs11836367 contributes to breast cancer onset and metastasis by attenuating Wnt signaling via regulating NTN4 expression. Sci Adv 2022; 8:eabn3509. [PMID: 35687692 PMCID: PMC9187238 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abn3509] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/23/2021] [Accepted: 04/27/2022] [Indexed: 06/15/2023]
Abstract
Most genome-wide association study (GWAS)-identified breast cancer-associated causal variants remain uncharacterized. To provide a framework of understanding GWAS-identified variants to function, we performed a comprehensive study of noncoding regulatory variants at the NTN4 locus (12q22) and NTN4 gene in breast cancer etiology. We find that rs11836367 is the more likely causal variant, disrupting enhancer activity in both enhancer reporter assays and endogenous genome editing experiments. The protective T allele of rs11837367 increases the binding of GATA3 to the distal enhancer and up-regulates NTN4 expression. In addition, we demonstrate that loss of NTN4 gene in mice leads to tumor earlier onset, progression, and metastasis. We discover that NTN4, as a tumor suppressor, can attenuate the Wnt signaling pathway by directly binding to Wnt ligands. Our findings bridge the gaps among breast cancer-associated single-nucleotide polymorphisms, transcriptional regulation of NTN4, and breast cancer biology, which provides previously unidentified insights into breast cancer prediction and prevention.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Han Yang
- Department of Pathology, Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University Third Hospital, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, China
- Institute for Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Xia Ting
- Department of Pathology, Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University Third Hospital, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Yue-Hang Geng
- Department of Pathology, Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University Third Hospital, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Yuntao Xie
- Breast Center, Peking University School of Oncology, Beijing Cancer Hospital and Institute, Beijing 100142, China
| | - Jovia L. Nierenberg
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Yan-Fei Huo
- Department of Pathology, Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University Third Hospital, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Yan-Ting Zhou
- Department of Pathology, Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University Third Hospital, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Yang Huang
- Department of Pathology, Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University Third Hospital, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Yu-Qing Yu
- Department of Pathology, Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University Third Hospital, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Xin-Yao Yu
- Department of Pathology, Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University Third Hospital, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Xiao-Fei Li
- Department of Pathology, Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University Third Hospital, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Elad Ziv
- Institute for Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Division of General Internal Medicine, Department of Medicine, and Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Hongquan Zhang
- Department of Anatomy, Histology and Embryology, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Wei-Gang Fang
- Department of Pathology, Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University Third Hospital, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, China
| | - Yin Shen
- Institute for Human Genetics, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
- Department of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA, USA
| | - Xin-Xia Tian
- Department of Pathology, Key Laboratory of Carcinogenesis and Translational Research (Ministry of Education), School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University Third Hospital, Peking University Health Science Center, Beijing 100191, China
| |
Collapse
|
30
|
Miller JL, Bartlett AP, Harman RM, Majhi PD, Jerry DJ, Van de Walle GR. Induced mammary cancer in rat models: pathogenesis, genetics, and relevance to female breast cancer. J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia 2022; 27:185-210. [PMID: 35904679 DOI: 10.1007/s10911-022-09522-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/07/2022] [Revised: 07/05/2022] [Accepted: 07/06/2022] [Indexed: 10/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Mammary cancer, or breast cancer in women, is a polygenic disease with a complex etiopathogenesis. While much remains elusive regarding its origin, it is well established that chemical carcinogens and endogenous estrogens contribute significantly to the initiation and progression of this disease. Rats have been useful models to study induced mammary cancer. They develop mammary tumors with comparable histopathology to humans and exhibit differences in resistance or susceptibility to mammary cancer depending on strain. While some rat strains (e.g., Sprague-Dawley) readily form mammary tumors following treatment with the chemical carcinogen, 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]-anthracene (DMBA), other strains (e.g., Copenhagen) are resistant to DMBA-induced mammary carcinogenesis. Genetic linkage in inbred strains has identified strain-specific quantitative trait loci (QTLs) affecting mammary tumors, via mechanisms that act together to promote or attenuate, and include 24 QTLs controlling the outcome of chemical induction, 10 QTLs controlling the outcome of estrogen induction, and 4 QTLs controlling the outcome of irradiation induction. Moreover, and based on shared factors affecting mammary cancer etiopathogenesis between rats and humans, including orthologous risk regions between both species, rats have served as useful models for identifying methods for breast cancer prediction and treatment. These studies in rats, combined with alternative animal models that more closely mimic advanced stages of breast cancer and/or human lifestyles, will further improve our understanding of this complex disease.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- James L Miller
- Baker Institute for Animal Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, 14853, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Arianna P Bartlett
- Baker Institute for Animal Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, 14853, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Rebecca M Harman
- Baker Institute for Animal Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, 14853, Ithaca, NY, USA
| | - Prabin Dhangada Majhi
- Department of Veterinary & Animal Sciences, University of Massachusetts, 01003, Amherst, MA, USA
| | - D Joseph Jerry
- Department of Veterinary & Animal Sciences, University of Massachusetts, 01003, Amherst, MA, USA
| | - Gerlinde R Van de Walle
- Baker Institute for Animal Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, 14853, Ithaca, NY, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
31
|
Kim T, Han S, Chun Y, Yang H, Min H, Jeon SY, Kim JI, Moon HG, Lee D. Comparative characterization of 3D chromatin organization in triple-negative breast cancers. Exp Mol Med 2022; 54:585-600. [PMID: 35513575 DOI: 10.1038/s12276-022-00768-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2021] [Revised: 01/18/2022] [Accepted: 02/09/2022] [Indexed: 12/02/2022] Open
Abstract
Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is a malignant cancer subtype with a high risk of recurrence and an aggressive phenotype compared to other breast cancer subtypes. Although many breast cancer studies conducted to date have investigated genetic variations and differential target gene expression, how 3D chromatin architectures are reorganized in TNBC has been poorly elucidated. Here, using in situ Hi-C technology, we characterized the 3D chromatin organization in cells representing five distinct subtypes of breast cancer (including TNBC) compared to that in normal cells. We found that the global and local 3D architectures were severely disrupted in breast cancer. TNBC cell lines (especially BT549 cells) showed the most dramatic changes relative to normal cells. Importantly, we detected CTCF-dependent TNBC-susceptible losses/gains of 3D chromatin organization and found that these changes were strongly associated with perturbed chromatin accessibility and transcriptional dysregulation. In TNBC tissue, 3D chromatin disorganization was also observed relative to the 3D chromatin organization in normal tissues. We observed that the perturbed local 3D architectures found in TNBC cells were partially conserved in TNBC tissues. Finally, we discovered distinct tissue-specific chromatin loops by comparing normal and TNBC tissues. In this study, we elucidated the characteristics of the 3D chromatin organization in breast cancer relative to normal cells/tissues at multiple scales and identified associations between disrupted structures and various epigenetic features and transcriptomes. Collectively, our findings reveal important 3D chromatin structural features for future diagnostic and therapeutic studies of TNBC. The 3D architecture of the genome is dramatically altered in an aggressive form of breast cancer, leading to changes in the regulation of gene expression that can fuel tumor growth. A team from South Korea, led by Hyeong-Gon Moon of Seoul National University College of Medicine and Daeyoup Lee of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, Daejeon, detailed how chromosomes are positioned and folded within the nucleus of cell liness from five different subtypes of breast cancer. They found that triple-negative breast cancers displayed the most extreme reorganization of their genomes, a pattern also observed in biopsy tissues taken from patients with this subtype of cancer. Knowledge of these conformational changes could inform future efforts to develop therapies and diagnostics for patients with triple-negative breast tumors.
Collapse
|
32
|
Alothman SJ, Kang K, Liu X, Krawczyk E, Azhar RI, Hu R, Goerlitz D, Kallakury BV, Furth PA. Characterization of transcriptome diversity and in vitro behavior of primary human high-risk breast cells. Sci Rep 2022; 12:6159. [PMID: 35459280 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-10246-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/30/2021] [Accepted: 04/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
Biology and transcriptomes of non-cancerous human mammary epithelial cells at risk for breast cancer development were explored following primary isolation utilizing conditional reprogramming cell technology from mastectomy tissue ipsilateral to invasive breast cancer. Cultures demonstrated consistent categorizable behaviors. Relative viability and mammosphere formation differed between samples but were stable across three different mammary-specific media. E2F cell cycle target genes expression levels were positively correlated with viability and advancing age was inversely associated. Estrogen growth response was associated with Tissue necrosis factor signaling and Interferon alpha response gene enrichment. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy exposure significantly altered transcriptomes, shifting them towards expression of genes linked to mammary stem cell formation. Breast cancer prognostic signature sets include genes that in normal development are limited to specific stages of pregnancy or the menstrual cycle. Sample transcriptomes were queried for stage specific gene expression patterns. All cancer samples and a portion of high-risk samples showed overlapping stages reflective of abnormal gene expression patterns, while other high-risk samples exhibited more stage specific patterns. In conclusion, at-risk cells preserve behavioral and transcriptome diversity that could reflect different risk profiles. It is possible that prognostic platforms analogous to those used for breast cancer could be developed for high-risk mammary cells.
Collapse
|
33
|
Mehmood S, Faheem M, Ismail H, Farhat SM, Ali M, Younis S, Asghar MN. ‘Breast Cancer Resistance Likelihood and Personalized Treatment Through Integrated Multiomics’. Front Mol Biosci 2022; 9:783494. [PMID: 35495618 PMCID: PMC9048735 DOI: 10.3389/fmolb.2022.783494] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2021] [Accepted: 03/14/2022] [Indexed: 12/24/2022] Open
Abstract
In recent times, enormous progress has been made in improving the diagnosis and therapeutic strategies for breast carcinoma, yet it remains the most prevalent cancer and second highest contributor to cancer-related deaths in women. Breast cancer (BC) affects one in eight females globally. In 2018 alone, 1.4 million cases were identified worldwide in postmenopausal women and 645,000 cases in premenopausal females, and this burden is constantly increasing. This shows that still a lot of efforts are required to discover therapeutic remedies for this disease. One of the major clinical complications associated with the treatment of breast carcinoma is the development of therapeutic resistance. Multidrug resistance (MDR) and consequent relapse on therapy are prevalent issues related to breast carcinoma; it is due to our incomplete understanding of the molecular mechanisms of breast carcinoma disease. Therefore, elucidating the molecular mechanisms involved in drug resistance is critical. For management of breast carcinoma, the treatment decision not only depends on the assessment of prognosis factors but also on the evaluation of pathological and clinical factors. Integrated data assessments of these multiple factors of breast carcinoma through multiomics can provide significant insight and hope for making therapeutic decisions. This omics approach is particularly helpful since it identifies the biomarkers of disease progression and treatment progress by collective characterization and quantification of pools of biological molecules within and among the cancerous cells. The scrupulous understanding of cancer and its treatment at the molecular level led to the concept of a personalized approach, which is one of the most significant advancements in modern oncology. Likewise, there are certain genetic and non-genetic tests available for BC which can help in personalized therapy. Genetically inherited risks can be screened for personal predisposition to BC, and genetic changes or variations (mutations) can also be identified to decide on the best treatment. Ultimately, further understanding of BC at the molecular level (multiomics) will define more precise choices in personalized medicine. In this review, we have summarized therapeutic resistance associated with BC and the techniques used for its management.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sabba Mehmood
- Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Medical Sciences, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
- *Correspondence: Sabba Mehmood, ; Muhammad Nadeem Asghar,
| | - Muhammad Faheem
- Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Medical Sciences, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
| | - Hammad Ismail
- Department of Biochemistry & Biotechnology University of Gujrat, Gujrat, Pakistan
| | - Syeda Mehpara Farhat
- Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Medical Sciences, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
| | - Mahwish Ali
- Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Medical Sciences, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
| | - Sidra Younis
- Department of Biological Sciences, National University of Medical Sciences, Rawalpindi, Pakistan
| | - Muhammad Nadeem Asghar
- Department of Medical Biology, University of Québec at Trois-Rivieres, Trois-Rivieres, QC, Canada
- *Correspondence: Sabba Mehmood, ; Muhammad Nadeem Asghar,
| |
Collapse
|
34
|
Romualdo Cardoso S, Gillespie A, Haider S, Fletcher O. Functional annotation of breast cancer risk loci: current progress and future directions. Br J Cancer 2022; 126:981-93. [PMID: 34741135 DOI: 10.1038/s41416-021-01612-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/16/2021] [Revised: 10/12/2021] [Accepted: 10/21/2021] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Genome-wide association studies coupled with large-scale replication and fine-scale mapping studies have identified more than 150 genomic regions that are associated with breast cancer risk. Here, we review efforts to translate these findings into a greater understanding of disease mechanism. Our review comes in the context of a recently published fine-scale mapping analysis of these regions, which reported 352 independent signals and a total of 13,367 credible causal variants. The vast majority of credible causal variants map to noncoding DNA, implicating regulation of gene expression as the mechanism by which functional variants influence risk. Accordingly, we review methods for defining candidate-regulatory sequences, methods for identifying putative target genes and methods for linking candidate-regulatory sequences to putative target genes. We provide a summary of available data resources and identify gaps in these resources. We conclude that while much work has been done, there is still much to do. There are, however, grounds for optimism; combining statistical data from fine-scale mapping with functional data that are more representative of the normal "at risk" breast, generated using new technologies, should lead to a greater understanding of the mechanisms that influence an individual woman's risk of breast cancer.
Collapse
|
35
|
Boujemaa M, Mighri N, Chouchane L, Boubaker MS, Abdelhak S, Boussen H, Hamdi Y. Health influenced by genetics: A first comprehensive analysis of breast cancer high and moderate penetrance susceptibility genes in the Tunisian population. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0265638. [PMID: 35333900 PMCID: PMC8956157 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0265638] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/01/2021] [Accepted: 03/04/2022] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Significant advances have been made to understand the genetic basis of breast cancer. High, moderate and low penetrance variants have been identified with inter-ethnic variability in mutation frequency and spectrum. Genome wide association studies (GWAS) are widely used to identify disease-associated SNPs. Understanding the functional impact of these risk-SNPs will help the translation of GWAS findings into clinical interventions. Here we aim to characterize the genetic patterns of high and moderate penetrance breast cancer susceptibility genes and to assess the functional impact of non-coding SNPs. We analyzed BRCA1/2, PTEN, STK11, TP53, ATM, BRIP1, CHEK2 and PALB2 genotype data obtained from 135 healthy participants genotyped using Affymetrix Genome-Wide Human SNP-Array 6.0. Haplotype analysis was performed using Haploview.V4.2 and PHASE.V2.1. Population structure and genetic differentiation were assessed using principal component analysis (PCA) and fixation index (FST). Functional annotation was performed using In Silico web-based tools including RegulomeDB and VARAdb. Haplotype analysis showed distinct LD patterns with high levels of recombination and haplotype blocks of moderate to small size. Our findings revealed also that the Tunisian population tends to have a mixed origin with European, South Asian and Mexican footprints. Functional annotation allowed the selection of 28 putative regulatory variants. Of special interest were BRCA1_ rs8176318 predicted to alter the binding sites of a tumor suppressor miRNA hsa-miR-149 and PALB2_ rs120963 located in tumorigenesis-associated enhancer and predicted to strongly affect the binding of P53. Significant differences in allele frequencies were observed with populations of African and European ancestries for rs8176318 and rs120963 respectively. Our findings will help to better understand the genetic basis of breast cancer by guiding upcoming genome wide studies in the Tunisian population. Putative functional SNPs may be used to develop an efficient polygenic risk score to predict breast cancer risk leading to better disease prevention and management.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Maroua Boujemaa
- Laboratory of Biomedical Genomics and Oncogenetics, Institut Pasteur de Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia
| | - Najah Mighri
- Laboratory of Biomedical Genomics and Oncogenetics, Institut Pasteur de Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia
| | - Lotfi Chouchane
- Department of Genetic Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York, United States of America
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York, United States of America
- Laboratory of Genetic Medicine and Immunology, Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatar, Doha, Qatar
| | - Mohamed Samir Boubaker
- Laboratory of Biomedical Genomics and Oncogenetics, Institut Pasteur de Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia
- Laboratory of Human and Experimental Pathology, Institut Pasteur de Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia
| | - Sonia Abdelhak
- Laboratory of Biomedical Genomics and Oncogenetics, Institut Pasteur de Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia
| | - Hamouda Boussen
- Laboratory of Biomedical Genomics and Oncogenetics, Institut Pasteur de Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia
- Medical Oncology Department, Abderrahman Mami Hospital, Faculty of Medicine Tunis, University Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia
| | - Yosr Hamdi
- Laboratory of Biomedical Genomics and Oncogenetics, Institut Pasteur de Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar, Tunis, Tunisia
- Laboratory of Human and Experimental Pathology, Institut Pasteur de Tunis, Tunis, Tunisia
- * E-mail:
| |
Collapse
|
36
|
Zhu Q, Schultz E, Long J, Roh JM, Valice E, Laurent CA, Radimer KH, Yan L, Ergas IJ, Davis W, Ranatunga D, Gandhi S, Kwan ML, Bao PP, Zheng W, Shu XO, Ambrosone C, Yao S, Kushi LH. UACA locus is associated with breast cancer chemoresistance and survival. NPJ Breast Cancer 2022; 8:39. [PMID: 35322040 PMCID: PMC8943134 DOI: 10.1038/s41523-022-00401-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2021] [Accepted: 02/16/2022] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Few germline genetic variants have been robustly linked with breast cancer outcomes. We conducted trans-ethnic meta genome-wide association study (GWAS) of overall survival (OS) in 3973 breast cancer patients from the Pathways Study, one of the largest prospective breast cancer survivor cohorts. A locus spanning the UACA gene, a key regulator of tumor suppressor Par-4, was associated with OS in patients taking Par-4 dependent chemotherapies, including anthracyclines and anti-HER2 therapy, at a genome-wide significance level (\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{wasysym}
\usepackage{amsfonts}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage{amsbsy}
\usepackage{mathrsfs}
\usepackage{upgreek}
\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}
\begin{document}$$P = 1.27 \times 10^{ - 9}$$\end{document}P=1.27×10−9). This association was confirmed in meta-analysis across four independent prospective breast cancer cohorts (combined hazard ratio = 1.84, \documentclass[12pt]{minimal}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{wasysym}
\usepackage{amsfonts}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage{amsbsy}
\usepackage{mathrsfs}
\usepackage{upgreek}
\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}
\begin{document}$$P = 1.28 \times 10^{ - 11}$$\end{document}P=1.28×10−11). Transcriptome-wide association study revealed higher UACA gene expression was significantly associated with worse OS (\documentclass[12pt]{minimal}
\usepackage{amsmath}
\usepackage{wasysym}
\usepackage{amsfonts}
\usepackage{amssymb}
\usepackage{amsbsy}
\usepackage{mathrsfs}
\usepackage{upgreek}
\setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt}
\begin{document}$$P = 4.68 \times 10^{ - 7}$$\end{document}P=4.68×10−7). Our study identified the UACA locus as a genetic predictor of patient outcome following treatment with anthracyclines and/or anti-HER2 therapy, which may have clinical utility in formulating appropriate treatment strategies for breast cancer patients based on their genetic makeup.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Qianqian Zhu
- Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY, USA.
| | - Emily Schultz
- Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY, USA
| | - Jirong Long
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Janise M Roh
- Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, CA, USA
| | - Emily Valice
- Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, CA, USA
| | - Cecile A Laurent
- Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, CA, USA
| | - Kelly H Radimer
- Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, CA, USA
| | - Li Yan
- Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY, USA
| | - Isaac J Ergas
- Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, CA, USA
| | - Warren Davis
- Department of Cancer Prevention and Control, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY, USA
| | - Dilrini Ranatunga
- Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, CA, USA
| | - Shipra Gandhi
- Department of Medicine, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY, USA
| | - Marilyn L Kwan
- Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, CA, USA
| | - Ping-Ping Bao
- Shanghai Municipal Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Shanghai, China
| | - Wei Zheng
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Xiao-Ou Shu
- Division of Epidemiology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt Epidemiology Center, Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, TN, USA
| | - Christine Ambrosone
- Department of Cancer Prevention and Control, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY, USA
| | - Song Yao
- Department of Cancer Prevention and Control, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, Buffalo, NY, USA.
| | - Lawrence H Kushi
- Division of Research, Kaiser Permanente Northern California, Oakland, CA, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
37
|
Engoren M, Jewell ES, Douville N, Moser S, Maile MD, Bauer ME. Genetic variants associated with sepsis. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0265052. [PMID: 35275946 PMCID: PMC8916629 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0265052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/03/2021] [Accepted: 02/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The variable presentations and different phenotypes of sepsis suggest that risk of sepsis comes from many genes each having a small effect. The cumulative effect can be used to create individual risk profile. The purpose of this study was to create a polygenic risk score and determine the genetic variants associated with sepsis. Methods We sequenced ~14 million single nucleotide polymorphisms with a minimac imputation quality R2>0.3 and minor allele frequency >10−6 in patients with Sepsis-2 or Sepsis-3. Genome-wide association was performed using Firth bias-corrected logistic regression. Semi-parsimonious logistic regression was used to create polygenic risk scores and reduced regression to determine the genetic variants independently associated with sepsis. Findings 2261 patients had sepsis and 13,068 control patients did not. The polygenic risk scores had good discrimination: c-statistic = 0.752 ± 0.005 for Sepsis-2 and 0.752 ± 0.007 for Sepsis-3. We found 772 genetic variants associated with Sepsis-2 and 442 with Sepsis-3, p<0.01. After multivariate adjustment, 100 variants on 85 genes were associated with Sepsis-2 and 69 variants in 54 genes with Sepsis-3. Twenty-five variants were present in both the Sepsis-2 and Sepsis-3 groups out of 32 genes that were present in both groups. The other 7 genes had different variants present. Most variants had small effect sizes. Conclusions Sepsis-2 and Sepsis-3 have both separate and shared genetic variants. Most genetic variants have small effects sizes, but cumulatively, the polygenic risk scores have good discrimination.
Collapse
|
38
|
Clift AK, Dodwell D, Lord S, Petrou S, Brady SM, Collins GS, Hippisley-Cox J. The current status of risk-stratified breast screening. Br J Cancer 2022; 126:533-550. [PMID: 34703006 PMCID: PMC8854575 DOI: 10.1038/s41416-021-01550-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 20.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2021] [Revised: 08/25/2021] [Accepted: 09/14/2021] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Apart from high-risk scenarios such as the presence of highly penetrant genetic mutations, breast screening typically comprises mammography or tomosynthesis strategies defined by age. However, age-based screening ignores the range of breast cancer risks that individual women may possess and is antithetical to the ambitions of personalised early detection. Whilst screening mammography reduces breast cancer mortality, this is at the risk of potentially significant harms including overdiagnosis with overtreatment, and psychological morbidity associated with false positives. In risk-stratified screening, individualised risk assessment may inform screening intensity/interval, starting age, imaging modality used, or even decisions not to screen. However, clear evidence for its benefits and harms needs to be established. In this scoping review, the authors summarise the established and emerging evidence regarding several critical dependencies for successful risk-stratified breast screening: risk prediction model performance, epidemiological studies, retrospective clinical evaluations, health economic evaluations and qualitative research on feasibility and acceptability. Family history, breast density or reproductive factors are not on their own suitable for precisely estimating risk and risk prediction models increasingly incorporate combinations of demographic, clinical, genetic and imaging-related parameters. Clinical evaluations of risk-stratified screening are currently limited. Epidemiological evidence is sparse, and randomised trials only began in recent years.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Ash Kieran Clift
- Cancer Research UK Oxford Centre, Department of Oncology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
- Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK.
| | - David Dodwell
- Nuffield Department of Population Health, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Simon Lord
- Department of Oncology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Stavros Petrou
- Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | | | - Gary S Collins
- Centre for Statistics in Medicine, Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology & Musculoskeletal Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, UK
| | - Julia Hippisley-Cox
- Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| |
Collapse
|
39
|
Osman N, Shawky AEM, Brylinski M. Exploring the effects of genetic variation on gene regulation in cancer in the context of 3D genome structure. BMC Genom Data 2022; 23:13. [PMID: 35176995 PMCID: PMC8851830 DOI: 10.1186/s12863-021-01021-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/17/2021] [Accepted: 12/23/2021] [Indexed: 12/31/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Numerous genome-wide association studies (GWAS) conducted to date revealed genetic variants associated with various diseases, including breast and prostate cancers. Despite the availability of these large-scale data, relatively few variants have been functionally characterized, mainly because the majority of single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) map to the non-coding regions of the human genome. The functional characterization of these non-coding variants and the identification of their target genes remain challenging. Results In this communication, we explore the potential functional mechanisms of non-coding SNPs by integrating GWAS with the high-resolution chromosome conformation capture (Hi-C) data for breast and prostate cancers. We show that more genetic variants map to regulatory elements through the 3D genome structure than the 1D linear genome lacking physical chromatin interactions. Importantly, the association of enhancers, transcription factors, and their target genes with breast and prostate cancers tends to be higher when these regulatory elements are mapped to high-risk SNPs through spatial interactions compared to simply using a linear proximity. Finally, we demonstrate that topologically associating domains (TADs) carrying high-risk SNPs also contain gene regulatory elements whose association with cancer is generally higher than those belonging to control TADs containing no high-risk variants. Conclusions Our results suggest that many SNPs may contribute to the cancer development by affecting the expression of certain tumor-related genes through long-range chromatin interactions with gene regulatory elements. Integrating large-scale genetic datasets with the 3D genome structure offers an attractive and unique approach to systematically investigate the functional mechanisms of genetic variants in disease risk and progression. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12863-021-01021-x.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Noha Osman
- Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA.,Department of Cell Biology, National Research Centre, Giza, 12622, Egypt.,Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas, 77030, USA
| | - Abd-El-Monsif Shawky
- Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA
| | - Michal Brylinski
- Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA. .,Center for Computation and Technology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, 70803, USA.
| |
Collapse
|
40
|
Marino N, German R, Podicheti R, Rusch DB, Rockey P, Huang J, Sandusky GE, Temm CJ, Althouse S, Nephew KP, Nakshatri H, Liu J, Vode A, Cao S, Storniolo AMV. Aberrant epigenetic and transcriptional events associated with breast cancer risk. Clin Epigenetics 2022; 14:21. [PMID: 35139887 PMCID: PMC8830042 DOI: 10.1186/s13148-022-01239-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2021] [Accepted: 01/25/2022] [Indexed: 12/11/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Genome-wide association studies have identified several breast cancer susceptibility loci. However, biomarkers for risk assessment are still missing. Here, we investigated cancer-related molecular changes detected in tissues from women at high risk for breast cancer prior to disease manifestation. Disease-free breast tissue cores donated by healthy women (N = 146, median age = 39 years) were processed for both methylome (MethylCap) and transcriptome (Illumina's HiSeq4000) sequencing. Analysis of tissue microarray and primary breast epithelial cells was used to confirm gene expression dysregulation. RESULTS Transcriptomic analysis identified 69 differentially expressed genes between women at high and those at average risk of breast cancer (Tyrer-Cuzick model) at FDR < 0.05 and fold change ≥ 2. Majority of the identified genes were involved in DNA damage checkpoint, cell cycle, and cell adhesion. Two genes, FAM83A and NEK2, were overexpressed in tissue sections (FDR < 0.01) and primary epithelial cells (p < 0.05) from high-risk breasts. Moreover, 1698 DNA methylation changes were identified in high-risk breast tissues (FDR < 0.05), partially overlapped with cancer-related signatures, and correlated with transcriptional changes (p < 0.05, r ≤ 0.5). Finally, among the participants, 35 women donated breast biopsies at two time points, and age-related molecular alterations enhanced in high-risk subjects were identified. CONCLUSIONS Normal breast tissue from women at high risk of breast cancer bears molecular aberrations that may contribute to breast cancer susceptibility. This study is the first molecular characterization of the true normal breast tissues, and provides an opportunity to investigate molecular markers of breast cancer risk, which may lead to new preventive approaches.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Natascia Marino
- Susan G. Komen Tissue Bank at the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA. .,Department of Medicine, Hematology/Oncology Division, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA.
| | - Rana German
- Susan G. Komen Tissue Bank at the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA
| | - Ram Podicheti
- Center for Genomics and Bioinformatics, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA
| | - Douglas B Rusch
- Center for Genomics and Bioinformatics, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA
| | - Pam Rockey
- Susan G. Komen Tissue Bank at the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA
| | - Jie Huang
- Center for Genomics and Bioinformatics, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA
| | - George E Sandusky
- Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA
| | - Constance J Temm
- Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA
| | - Sandra Althouse
- Department of Biostatistics and Health Data Science, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA
| | - Kenneth P Nephew
- Department of Anatomy, Cell Biology, & Physiology, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA
| | - Harikrishna Nakshatri
- Department of Surgery, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA
| | - Jun Liu
- Center for Genomics and Bioinformatics, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, 47405, USA
| | - Ashley Vode
- Susan G. Komen Tissue Bank at the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA
| | - Sha Cao
- Department of Biostatistics and Health Data Science, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA
| | - Anna Maria V Storniolo
- Susan G. Komen Tissue Bank at the IU Simon Comprehensive Cancer Center, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA.,Department of Medicine, Hematology/Oncology Division, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, 46202, USA
| |
Collapse
|
41
|
Parrish RL, Gibson GC, Epstein MP, Yang J. TIGAR-V2: Efficient TWAS tool with nonparametric Bayesian eQTL weights of 49 tissue types from GTEx V8. HGG Adv 2022; 3:100068. [PMID: 35047855 PMCID: PMC8756507 DOI: 10.1016/j.xhgg.2021.100068] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2021] [Accepted: 11/01/2021] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Standard transcriptome-wide association study (TWAS) methods first train gene expression prediction models using reference transcriptomic data and then test the association between the predicted genetically regulated gene expression and phenotype of interest. Most existing TWAS tools require cumbersome preparation of genotype input files and extra coding to enable parallel computation. To improve the efficiency of TWAS tools, we developed Transcriptome-Integrated Genetic Association Resource V2 (TIGAR-V2), which directly reads Variant Call Format (VCF) files, enables parallel computation, and reduces up to 90% of computation cost (mainly due to loading genotype data) compared to the original version. TIGAR-V2 can train gene expression imputation models using either nonparametric Bayesian Dirichlet process regression (DPR) or Elastic-Net (as used by PrediXcan), perform TWASs using either individual-level or summary-level genome-wide association study (GWAS) data, and implement both burden and variance-component statistics for gene-based association tests. We trained gene expression prediction models by DPR for 49 tissues using Genotype-Tissue Expression (GTEx) V8 by TIGAR-V2 and illustrated the usefulness of these Bayesian cis-expression quantitative trait locus (eQTL) weights through TWASs of breast and ovarian cancer utilizing public GWAS summary statistics. We identified 88 and 37 risk genes, respectively, for breast and ovarian cancer, most of which are either known or near previously identified GWAS (∼95%) or TWAS (∼40%) risk genes and three novel independent TWAS risk genes with known functions in carcinogenesis. These findings suggest that TWASs can provide biological insight into the transcriptional regulation of complex diseases. The TIGAR-V2 tool, trained Bayesian cis-eQTL weights, and linkage disequilibrium (LD) information from GTEx V8 are publicly available, providing a useful resource for mapping risk genes of complex diseases.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Randy L. Parrish
- Center for Computational and Quantitative Genetics, Department of Human Genetics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - Greg C. Gibson
- School of Biology, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USA
| | - Michael P. Epstein
- Center for Computational and Quantitative Genetics, Department of Human Genetics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| | - Jingjing Yang
- Center for Computational and Quantitative Genetics, Department of Human Genetics, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA 30322, USA
| |
Collapse
|
42
|
Uddin MN, Wang X. Identification of key tumor stroma-associated transcriptional signatures correlated with survival prognosis and tumor progression in breast cancer. Breast Cancer 2022; 29:541-561. [PMID: 35020130 DOI: 10.1007/s12282-022-01332-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/20/2021] [Accepted: 01/05/2022] [Indexed: 12/21/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND The aberrant expression of stromal gene signatures in breast cancer has been widely studied. However, the association of stromal gene signatures with tumor immunity, progression, and clinical outcomes remains lacking. METHODS Based on eight breast tumor stroma (BTS) transcriptomics datasets, we identified differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between BTS and normal breast stroma. Based on the DEGs, we identified dysregulated pathways and prognostic hub genes, hub oncogenes, hub protein kinases, and other key marker genes associated with breast cancer. Moreover, we compared the enrichment levels of stromal and immune signatures between breast cancer patients with bad and good clinical outcomes. We also investigated the association between tumor stroma-related genes and breast cancer progression. RESULTS The DEGs included 782 upregulated and 276 downregulated genes in BTS versus normal breast stroma. The pathways significantly associated with the DEGs included cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction, chemokine signaling, T cell receptor signaling, cell adhesion molecules, focal adhesion, and extracellular matrix-receptor interaction. Protein-protein interaction network analysis identified the stromal hub genes with prognostic value in breast cancer, including two oncogenes (COL1A1 and IL21R), two protein kinases encoding genes (PRKACA and CSK), and a growth factor encoding gene (PLAU). Moreover, we observed that the patients with bad clinical outcomes were less enriched in stromal and antitumor immune signatures (CD8 + T cells and tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes) but more enriched in tumor cells and immunosuppressive signatures (MDSCs and CD4 + regulatory T cells) compared with the patients with good clinical outcomes. The ratios of CD8 + /CD4 + regulatory T cells were lower in the patients with bad clinical outcomes. Furthermore, we identified the tumor stroma-related genes, including MCM4, SPECC1, IMPA2, and AGO2, which were gradually upregulated through grade I, II, and III breast cancers. In contrast, COL14A1, ESR1, SLIT2, IGF1, CH25H, PRR5L, ABCA6, CEP126, IGDCC4, LHFP, MFAP3, PCSK5, RAB37, RBMS3, SETBP1, and TSPAN11 were gradually downregulated through grade I, II, and III breast cancers. It suggests that the expression of these stromal genes has an association with the progression of breast cancers. These progression-associated genes also displayed an expression association with recurrence-free survival in breast cancer patients. CONCLUSIONS This study identified tumor stroma-associated biomarkers correlated with deregulated pathways, tumor immunity, tumor progression, and clinical outcomes in breast cancer. Our findings provide new insights into the pathogenesis of breast cancer.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Md Nazim Uddin
- Biomedical Informatics Research Lab, School of Basic Medicine and Clinical Pharmacy, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, 211198, China
- Cancer Genomics Research Center, School of Basic Medicine and Clinical Pharmacy, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, 211198, China
- Big Data Research Institute, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, 211198, China
- Institute of Food Science and Technology, Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR), Dhaka, 1205, Bangladesh
| | - Xiaosheng Wang
- Biomedical Informatics Research Lab, School of Basic Medicine and Clinical Pharmacy, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, 211198, China.
- Cancer Genomics Research Center, School of Basic Medicine and Clinical Pharmacy, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, 211198, China.
- Big Data Research Institute, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, 211198, China.
| |
Collapse
|
43
|
Minami Y, Yuan Y, Ueda HR. Towards organism-level systems biology by next-generation genetics and whole-organ cell profiling. Biophys Rev 2021; 13:1113-1126. [PMID: 35059031 PMCID: PMC8724464 DOI: 10.1007/s12551-021-00859-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/16/2021] [Accepted: 10/18/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
The system-level identification and analysis of molecular and cellular networks in mammals can be accelerated by "next-generation" genetics, which is defined as genetics that can achieve desired genetic makeup in a single generation without any animal crossing. We recently established a highly efficient procedure for producing knock-out (KO) mice using the "Triple-CRISPR" method, which targets a single gene by triple gRNAs in the CRISPR/Cas9 system. This procedure achieved an almost perfect KO efficiency (96-100%). We also established a highly efficient procedure, the "ES-mouse" method, for producing knock-in (KI) mice within a single generation. In this method, ES cells were treated with three inhibitors to keep their potency and then injected into 8-cell-stage embryos. These procedures dramatically shortened the time required to produce KO or KI mice from years down to about 3 months. The produced KO and KI mice can also be systematically profiled at a single-cell resolution by the "whole-organ cell profiling," which was realized by tissue-clearing methods, such as CUBIC, and an advanced light-sheet microscopy. The review describes the establishment and application of these technologies above in analyzing the three states (NREM sleep, REM sleep, and awake) of mammalian brains. It also discusses the role of calcium and muscarinic receptors in these states as well as the current challenges and future opportunities in the next-generation mammalian genetics and whole-organ cell profiling for organism-level systems biology.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Yoichi Minami
- Department of Systems Pharmacology, Graduate School of Medicine, the University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033 Japan
| | - Yufei Yuan
- Department of Systems Pharmacology, Graduate School of Medicine, the University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033 Japan
| | - Hiroki R. Ueda
- Department of Systems Pharmacology, Graduate School of Medicine, the University of Tokyo, Hongo 7-3-1, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo, 113-0033 Japan
- Laboratory for Synthetic Biology, RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, 1-3 Yamadaoka, Suita, Osaka 565-0871 Japan
| |
Collapse
|
44
|
Abstract
Scientifically interesting as well as practically important phenotypes often belong to the realm of complex traits. To the extent that these traits are hereditary, they are usually 'highly polygenic'. The study of such traits presents a challenge for researchers, as the complex genetic architecture of such traits makes it nearly impossible to utilise many of the usual methods of reverse genetics, which often focus on specific genes. In recent years, thousands of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) were undertaken to explore the relationships between complex traits and a large number of genetic factors, most of which are characterised by tiny effects. In this review, we aim to familiarise 'wet biologists' with approaches for the interpretation of GWAS results, to clarify some issues that may seem counterintuitive and to assess the possibility of using GWAS results in experiments on various complex traits.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Arkadiy K. Golov
- Mental Health Research Center, 115522 Moscow, Russia; (M.V.A.); (A.K.G.); (V.E.G.)
- Institute of Gene Biology, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119334 Moscow, Russia
| | - Vera E. Golimbet
- Mental Health Research Center, 115522 Moscow, Russia; (M.V.A.); (A.K.G.); (V.E.G.)
| |
Collapse
|
45
|
Ren N, Li Y, Xiong Y, Li P, Ren Y, Huang Q. Functional Screenings Identify Regulatory Variants Associated with Breast Cancer Susceptibility. Curr Issues Mol Biol 2021; 43:1756-1777. [PMID: 34889888 PMCID: PMC8928974 DOI: 10.3390/cimb43030124] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/23/2021] [Revised: 10/12/2021] [Accepted: 10/15/2021] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified more than 2000 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with breast cancer susceptibility, most of which are located in the non-coding region. However, the causal SNPs functioning as gene regulatory elements still remain largely undisclosed. Here, we applied a Dinucleotide Parallel Reporter sequencing (DiR-seq) assay to evaluate 288 breast cancer risk SNPs in nine different breast cancer cell lines. Further multi-omics analysis with the ATAC-seq (Assay for Transposase-Accessible Chromatin using sequencing), DNase-seq (DNase I hypersensitive sites sequencing) and histone modification ChIP-seq (Chromatin Immunoprecipitation sequencing) nominated seven functional SNPs in breast cancer cells. Functional investigations show that rs4808611 affects breast cancer progression by altering the gene expression of NR2F6. For the other site, rs2236007, the alteration promotes the binding of the suppressive transcription factor EGR1 and results in the downregulation of PAX9 expression. The downregulated expression of PAX9 causes cancer malignancies and is associated with the poor prognosis of breast cancer patients. Our findings contribute to defining the functional risk SNPs and the related genes for breast cancer risk prediction.
Collapse
|
46
|
Jayarathna DK, Rentería ME, Malik A, Sauret E, Batra J, Gandhi NS. Integrative Transcriptome-Wide Analyses Uncover Novel Risk-Associated MicroRNAs in Hormone-Dependent Cancers. Front Genet 2021; 12:716236. [PMID: 34512726 PMCID: PMC8427606 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2021.716236] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/28/2021] [Accepted: 08/02/2021] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Background Hormone-dependent cancers (HDC) are among the leading causes of death worldwide among both men and women. Some of the established risk factors of HDC include unhealthy lifestyles, environmental factors, and genetic influences. Numerous studies have been conducted to understand gene-cancer associations. Transcriptome-wide association studies (TWAS) integrate data from genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and gene expression (expression quantitative trait loci - eQTL) to yield meaningful information on biological pathways associated with complex traits/diseases. Recently, TWAS have enabled the identification of novel associations between HDC risk and protein-coding genes. Methods In the present study, we performed a TWAS analysis using the summary data-based Mendelian randomization (SMR)-heterogeneity in dependent instruments (HEIDI) method to identify microRNAs (miRNAs), a group of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) associated with HDC risk. We obtained eQTL and GWAS summary statistics from the ncRNA-eQTL database and the National Human Genome Research Institute-European Bioinformatics Institute (NHGRI-EBI) GWAS Catalog. Results We identified 13 TWAS-significant miRNAs at cis regions (±1 Mb) associated with HDC risk (two, five, one, two, and three miRNAs for prostate, breast, ovarian, colorectal, and endometrial cancers, respectively). Among them, eight novel miRNAs were recognized in HDC risk. Eight protein-coding genes targeted by TWAS-identified miRNAs (SIRT1, SOX4, RUNX2, FOXA1, ABL2, SUB1, HNRNPH1, and WAC) are associated with HDC functions and signaling pathways. Conclusion Overall, identifying risk-associated miRNAs across a group of related cancers may help to understand cancer biology and provide novel insights into cancer genetic mechanisms. This customized approach can be applied to identify significant miRNAs in any trait/disease of interest.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Dulari K Jayarathna
- Centre for Genomics and Personalised Health, School of Chemistry and Physics, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.,Department of Genetics and Computational Biology, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Miguel E Rentería
- Department of Genetics and Computational Biology, QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.,School of Biomedical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Adil Malik
- School of Biomedical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.,Translational Research Institute, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Emilie Sauret
- School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Jyotsna Batra
- School of Biomedical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.,Translational Research Institute, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Neha S Gandhi
- Centre for Genomics and Personalised Health, School of Chemistry and Physics, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia.,Translational Research Institute, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| |
Collapse
|
47
|
Huskey ALW, McNeely I, Merner ND. CEACAM Gene Family Mutations Associated With Inherited Breast Cancer Risk - A Comparative Oncology Approach to Discovery. Front Genet 2021; 12:702889. [PMID: 34447411 PMCID: PMC8383343 DOI: 10.3389/fgene.2021.702889] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/30/2021] [Accepted: 07/05/2021] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Introduction Recent studies comparing canine mammary tumors (CMTs) and human breast cancers have revealed remarkable tumor similarities, identifying shared expression profiles and acquired mutations. CMTs can also provide a model of inherited breast cancer susceptibility in humans; thus, we investigated breed-specific whole genome sequencing (WGS) data in search for novel CMT risk factors that could subsequently explain inherited breast cancer risk in humans. Methods WGS was carried out on five CMT-affected Gold Retrievers from a large pedigree of 18 CMT-affected dogs. Protein truncating variants (PTVs) detected in all five samples (within human orthlogs) were validated and then genotyped in the 13 remaining CMT-affected Golden Retrievers. Allele frequencies were compared to canine controls. Subsequently, human blood-derived exomes from The Cancer Genome Atlas breast cancer cases were analyzed and allele frequencies were compared to Exome Variant Server ethnic-matched controls. Results Carcinoembryonic Antigen-related Cell Adhesion Molecule 24 (CEACAM24) c.247dupG;p.(Val83Glyfs∗48) was the only validated variant and had a frequency of 66.7% amongst the 18 Golden Retrievers with CMT. This was significant compared to the European Variation Archive (p-value 1.52 × 10–8) and non-Golden Retriever American Kennel Club breeds (p-value 2.48 × 10–5). With no direct ortholog of CEACAM24 in humans but high homology to all CEACAM gene family proteins, all human CEACAM genes were investigated for PTVs. A total of six and sixteen rare PTVs were identified in African and European American breast cancer cases, respectively. Single variant assessment revealed five PTVs associated with breast cancer risk. Gene-based aggregation analyses revealed that rare PTVs in CEACAM6, CEACAM7, and CEACAM8 are associated with European American breast cancer risk, and rare PTVs in CEACAM7 are associated with breast cancer risk in African Americans. Ultimately, rare PTVs in the entire CEACAM gene family are associated with breast cancer risk in both European and African Americans with respective p-values of 1.75 × 10–13 and 1.87 × 10–04. Conclusion This study reports the first association of inherited CEACAM mutations and breast cancer risk, and potentially implicates the whole gene family in genetic risk. Precisely how these mutations contribute to breast cancer needs to be determined; especially considering our current knowledge on the role that the CEACAM gene family plays in tumor development, progression, and metastasis.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Anna L W Huskey
- Department of Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, United States.,Department of Drug Discovery and Development, Harrison School of Pharmacy, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, United States
| | - Isaac McNeely
- Department of Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, United States
| | - Nancy D Merner
- Department of Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, United States
| |
Collapse
|
48
|
De Rosa MC, Glover HJ, Stratigopoulos G, LeDuc CA, Su Q, Shen Y, Sleeman MW, Chung WK, Leibel RL, Altarejos JY, Doege CA. Gene expression atlas of energy balance brain regions. JCI Insight 2021; 6:e149137. [PMID: 34283813 PMCID: PMC8409984 DOI: 10.1172/jci.insight.149137] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Energy balance is controlled by interconnected brain regions in the hypothalamus, brainstem, cortex, and limbic system. Gene expression signatures of these regions can help elucidate the pathophysiology underlying obesity. RNA sequencing was conducted on P56 C57BL/6NTac male mice and E14.5 C57BL/6NTac embryo punch biopsies in 16 obesity-relevant brain regions. The expression of 190 known obesity-associated genes (monogenic, rare, and low-frequency coding variants; GWAS; syndromic) was analyzed in each anatomical region. Genes associated with these genetic categories of obesity had localized expression patterns across brain regions. Known monogenic obesity causal genes were highly enriched in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus and developing hypothalamus. The obesity-associated genes clustered into distinct “modules” of similar expression profile, and these were distinct from expression modules formed by similar analysis with genes known to be associated with other disease phenotypes (type 1 and type 2 diabetes, autism, breast cancer) in the same energy balance–relevant brain regions.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Maria Caterina De Rosa
- Department of Pediatrics and Molecular Genetics.,Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center, College of Physicians and Surgeons.,Columbia Stem Cell Initiative, and
| | - Hannah J Glover
- Department of Pediatrics and Molecular Genetics.,Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center, College of Physicians and Surgeons.,Columbia Stem Cell Initiative, and
| | - George Stratigopoulos
- Department of Pediatrics and Molecular Genetics.,Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center, College of Physicians and Surgeons
| | - Charles A LeDuc
- Department of Pediatrics and Molecular Genetics.,Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center, College of Physicians and Surgeons.,New York Obesity Nutrition Research Center, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York, USA
| | - Qi Su
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tarrytown, New York, USA
| | - Yufeng Shen
- Department of Systems Biology.,Department of Biomedical Informatics
| | - Mark W Sleeman
- Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc., Tarrytown, New York, USA
| | - Wendy K Chung
- Department of Pediatrics and Molecular Genetics.,Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center, College of Physicians and Surgeons.,Department of Medicine.,Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center.,Institute of Human Nutrition
| | - Rudolph L Leibel
- Department of Pediatrics and Molecular Genetics.,Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center, College of Physicians and Surgeons.,New York Obesity Nutrition Research Center, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York, USA.,Institute of Human Nutrition
| | | | - Claudia A Doege
- Naomi Berrie Diabetes Center, College of Physicians and Surgeons.,Columbia Stem Cell Initiative, and.,New York Obesity Nutrition Research Center, Department of Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York, USA.,Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, New York, USA
| |
Collapse
|
49
|
Pistoni L, Gentiluomo M, Lu Y, López de Maturana E, Hlavac V, Vanella G, Darvasi E, Milanetto AC, Oliverius M, Vashist Y, Di Leo M, Mohelnikova-Duchonova B, Talar-Wojnarowska R, Gheorghe C, Petrone MC, Strobel O, Arcidiacono PG, Vodickova L, Szentesi A, Capurso G, Gajdán L, Malleo G, Theodoropoulos GE, Basso D, Soucek P, Brenner H, Lawlor RT, Morelli L, Ivanauskas A, Kauffmann EF, Macauda A, Gazouli M, Archibugi L, Nentwich M, Loveček M, Cavestro GM, Vodicka P, Landi S, Tavano F, Sperti C, Hackert T, Kupcinskas J, Pezzilli R, Andriulli A, Pollina L, Kreivenaite E, Gioffreda D, Jamroziak K, Hegyi P, Izbicki JR, Testoni SGG, Zuppardo RA, Bozzato D, Neoptolemos JP, Malats N, Canzian F, Campa D. Associations between pancreatic expression quantitative traits and risk of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. Carcinogenesis 2021; 42:1037-1045. [PMID: 34216462 DOI: 10.1093/carcin/bgab057] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/14/2020] [Revised: 05/31/2021] [Accepted: 07/02/2021] [Indexed: 02/06/2023] Open
Abstract
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is among the most lethal cancers. Its poor prognosis is predominantly due to the fact that most patients remain asymptomatic until the disease reaches an advanced stage, alongside the lack of early markers and screening strategies. A better understanding of PDAC risk factors is essential for the identification of groups at high risk in the population. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have been a powerful tool for detecting genetic variants associated with complex traits, including pancreatic cancer. By exploiting functional and GWAS data, we investigated the associations between polymorphisms affecting gene function in the pancreas (expression quantitative trait loci, eQTLs) and PDAC risk. In a two-phase approach, we analysed 13 713 PDAC cases and 43 784 controls and identified a genome-wide significant association between the A allele of the rs2035875 polymorphism and increased PDAC risk (P = 7.14 × 10-10). This allele is known to be associated with increased expression in the pancreas of the keratin genes KRT8 and KRT18, whose increased levels have been reported to correlate with various tumour cell characteristics. Additionally, the A allele of the rs789744 variant was associated with decreased risk of developing PDAC (P = 3.56 × 10-6). This single nucleotide polymorphism is situated in the SRGAP1 gene and the A allele is associated with higher expression of the gene, which in turn inactivates the cyclin-dependent protein 42 (CDC42) gene expression, thus decreasing the risk of PDAC. In conclusion, we present here a functional-based novel PDAC risk locus and an additional strong candidate supported by significant associations and plausible biological mechanisms.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Laura Pistoni
- Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | | | - Ye Lu
- Genomic Epidemiology Group, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Evangelina López de Maturana
- Genetic and Molecular Epidemiology Group, Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), Madrid, Spain
- CIBERONC, Madrid, Spain
| | - Viktor Hlavac
- Biomedical Center, Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Charles University, Pilsen, Czech Republic
| | - Giuseppe Vanella
- Pancreato-Biliary Endoscopy and Endosonography Division, Pancreas Translational and Clinical Research Center, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy
- Sant'Andrea Hospital, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Erika Darvasi
- First Department of Medicine, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary
| | - Anna Caterina Milanetto
- Department of Surgery, Oncology and Gastroenterology-DiSCOG, University of Padova, Padua, Italy
| | - Martin Oliverius
- Department of Surgery, Faculty Hospital Kralovske Vinohrady and Third Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Yogesh Vashist
- Department of General, Visceral and Thoracic Surgery, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Milena Di Leo
- Digestive Endoscopy Unit, Division of Gastroenterology, Humanitas Research Hospital, Milan, Italy
| | - Beatrice Mohelnikova-Duchonova
- Department of Surgery I, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University Olomouc and University Hospital Olomouc, Olomouc, Czech Republic
| | | | | | - Maria Chiara Petrone
- Pancreato-Biliary Endoscopy and Endosonography Division, Pancreas Translational and Clinical Research Center, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy
| | - Oliver Strobel
- Department of General Surgery, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Paolo Giorgio Arcidiacono
- Pancreato-Biliary Endoscopy and Endosonography Division, Pancreas Translational and Clinical Research Center, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy
| | - Ludmila Vodickova
- Institute of Biology and Medical Genetics, First Medical Faculty, Prague, Czech Republic
- Institute of Experimental Medicine, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Andrea Szentesi
- First Department of Medicine, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary
- Institute for Translational Medicine, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
| | - Gabriele Capurso
- Pancreato-Biliary Endoscopy and Endosonography Division, Pancreas Translational and Clinical Research Center, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy
- Sant'Andrea Hospital, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - László Gajdán
- Szent György University Teaching Hospital of Fejér County, Székesfehérvár, Hungary
| | - Giuseppe Malleo
- Department of Surgery, The Pancreas Institute, University and Hospital Trust of Verona, Verona, Italy
| | - George E Theodoropoulos
- Colorectal Unit, First Department of Propaedeutic Surgery, Athens Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - Daniela Basso
- Department of Laboratory Medicine, University Hospital of Padova, Padua, Italy
| | - Pavel Soucek
- Biomedical Center, Faculty of Medicine in Pilsen, Charles University, Pilsen, Czech Republic
| | - Hermann Brenner
- Division of Clinical Epidemiology and Aging Research, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
- Division of Preventive Oncology, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ) and National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT), Heidelberg, Germany
- German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Rita T Lawlor
- ARC-NET: Centre for Applied Research on Cancer, University and Hospital Trust of Verona, Verona, Italy
| | - Luca Morelli
- General Surgery Unit, Department of Translational Research and New Technologies in Medicine and Surgery, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Audrius Ivanauskas
- Department of Gastroenterology and Institute for Digestive Research, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania
| | | | | | - Angelica Macauda
- Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
- Genomic Epidemiology Group, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Maria Gazouli
- Department of Basic Medical Sciences, Laboratory of Biology, Medical School, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens, Greece
| | - Livia Archibugi
- Pancreato-Biliary Endoscopy and Endosonography Division, Pancreas Translational and Clinical Research Center, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy
- Sant'Andrea Hospital, Faculty of Medicine and Psychology, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
| | - Michael Nentwich
- Department of General, Visceral and Thoracic Surgery, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Martin Loveček
- Department of Surgery I, Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry, Palacky University Olomouc and University Hospital Olomouc, Olomouc, Czech Republic
| | - Giulia Martina Cavestro
- Division of Experimental Oncology, Gastroenterology and Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Unit, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy
| | - Pavel Vodicka
- Institute of Biology and Medical Genetics, First Medical Faculty, Prague, Czech Republic
- Institute of Experimental Medicine, Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Stefano Landi
- Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Francesca Tavano
- Division of Gastroenterology and Research Laboratory, IRCCS Scientific Institute and Regional General Hospital 'Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza', San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy
| | - Cosimo Sperti
- Department of Surgery, Oncology and Gastroenterology-DiSCOG, University of Padova, Padua, Italy
| | - Thilo Hackert
- Department of General Surgery, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Juozas Kupcinskas
- Department of Gastroenterology and Institute for Digestive Research, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania
| | | | - Angelo Andriulli
- Division of Gastroenterology and Research Laboratory, IRCCS Scientific Institute and Regional General Hospital 'Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza', San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy
| | - Luca Pollina
- Division of Surgical Pathology, Department of Surgical, Medical, Molecular Pathology and Critical Area, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Edita Kreivenaite
- Department of Gastroenterology and Institute for Digestive Research, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania
| | - Domenica Gioffreda
- Division of Gastroenterology and Research Laboratory, IRCCS Scientific Institute and Regional General Hospital 'Casa Sollievo della Sofferenza', San Giovanni Rotondo, Italy
| | - Krzysztof Jamroziak
- Department of Hematology, Transplantation and Internal Medicine, Medical University of Warsaw, Warsaw, Poland
| | - Péter Hegyi
- First Department of Medicine, University of Szeged, Szeged, Hungary
- Institute for Translational Medicine, Medical School, University of Pécs, Pécs, Hungary
| | - Jakob R Izbicki
- Department of General, Visceral and Thoracic Surgery, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
| | - Sabrina Gloria Giulia Testoni
- Pancreato-Biliary Endoscopy and Endosonography Division, Pancreas Translational and Clinical Research Center, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy
| | - Raffaella Alessia Zuppardo
- Division of Experimental Oncology, Gastroenterology and Gastrointestinal Endoscopy Unit, Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, IRCCS Ospedale San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy
| | - Dania Bozzato
- Department of Surgery, Oncology and Gastroenterology-DiSCOG, University of Padova, Padua, Italy
| | - John P Neoptolemos
- Department of General Surgery, University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Núria Malats
- Genetic and Molecular Epidemiology Group, Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), Madrid, Spain
- CIBERONC, Madrid, Spain
| | - Federico Canzian
- Genomic Epidemiology Group, German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Daniele Campa
- Department of Biology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| |
Collapse
|
50
|
Torabi Dalivandan S, Plummer J, Gayther SA. Risks and Function of Breast Cancer Susceptibility Alleles. Cancers (Basel) 2021; 13:3953. [PMID: 34439109 PMCID: PMC8393346 DOI: 10.3390/cancers13163953] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2021] [Revised: 07/30/2021] [Accepted: 07/31/2021] [Indexed: 12/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Family history remains one of the strongest risk factors for breast cancer. It is well established that women with a first-degree relative affected by breast cancer are twice as likely to develop the disease themselves. Twins studies indicate that this is most likely due to shared genetics rather than shared epidemiological/lifestyle risk factors. Linkage and targeted sequencing studies have shown that rare high- and moderate-penetrance germline variants in genes involved in the DNA damage response (DDR) including BRCA1, BRCA2, PALB2, ATM, and TP53 are responsible for a proportion of breast cancer cases. However, breast cancer is a heterogeneous disease, and there is now strong evidence that different risk alleles can predispose to different subtypes of breast cancer. Here, we review the associations between the different genes and subtype-specificity of breast cancer based on the most comprehensive genetic studies published. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have also been used to identify an additional hereditary component of breast cancer, and have identified hundreds of common, low-penetrance susceptibility alleles. The combination of these low penetrance risk variants, summed as a polygenic risk score (PRS), can identify individuals across the spectrum of disease risk. However, there remains a substantial bottleneck between the discovery of GWAS-risk variants and their contribution to tumorigenesis mainly because the majority of these variants map to the non-protein coding genome. A range of functional genomic approaches are needed to identify the causal risk variants and target susceptibility genes and establish their underlying role in disease biology. We discuss how the application of these multidisciplinary approaches to understand genetic risk for breast cancer can be used to identify individuals in the population that may benefit from clinical interventions including screening for early detection and prevention, and treatment strategies to reduce breast cancer-related mortalities.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
| | | | - Simon A. Gayther
- Center for Bioinformatics and Functional Genomics, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Cedars Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA 90048, USA; (S.T.D.); (J.P.)
| |
Collapse
|