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Abstract
Cancer is the second leading cause of death globally and is projected to overtake infectious disease as the leading cause of mortality in Africa within the next two decades. Cancer is a group of genomic diseases that presents with intra- and inter-population unique phenotypes, with Black populations having the burden of morbidity and mortality for most types. At large, the prevention and treatment of cancers have been propelled by the understanding of the genetic make-up of the disease of mostly non-African populations. By the same token, there is a wide knowledge gap in understanding the underlying genetic causes of, and genomic alterations associated with, cancer among black Africans. Accordingly, we performed a review of the literature to survey existing studies on cancer genetics/genomics and curated findings pertaining to publications across multiple cancer types conducted on African populations. We used PubMed MeSH terms to retrieve the relevant publications from 1990 to December 2019. The metadata of these publications were extracted using R text mining packages: RISmed and Pubmed.mineR. The data showed that only 0.329% of cancer publications globally were on Africa, and only 0.016% were on cancer genetics/genomics from Africa. Although the most prevalent cancers in Africa are cancers of the breast, cervix, uterus, and prostate, publications representing breast, colorectal, liver, and blood cancers were the most frequent in our review. The most frequently reported cancer genes were BRCA1, BRCA2, and TP53. Next, the genes reported in the reviewed publications’ abstracts were extracted and annotated into three gene ontology classes. Genes in the cellular component class were mostly associated with cell part and organelle part, while those in biological process and molecular function classes were mainly associated with cell process, biological regulation, and binding, and catalytic activity, respectively. Overall, this review highlights the paucity of research on cancer genomics on African populations, identified gaps, and discussed the need for concerted efforts to encourage more research on cancer genomics in Africa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Solomon O Rotimi
- Department of Translational Genomics, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States.,Department of Biochemistry, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria
| | - Oluwakemi A Rotimi
- Department of Translational Genomics, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States.,Department of Biochemistry, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria
| | - Bodour Salhia
- Department of Translational Genomics, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States.,Norris Comprehensive Cancer Centre, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA, United States
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Manichaikul A, Peres LC, Wang XQ, Barnard ME, Chyn D, Sheng X, Du Z, Tyrer J, Dennis J, Schwartz AG, Cote ML, Peters E, Moorman PG, Bondy M, Barnholtz-Sloan JS, Terry P, Alberg AJ, Bandera EV, Funkhouser E, Wu AH, Pearce CL, Pike M, Setiawan VW, Haiman CA, Palmer JR, LeMarchand L, Wilkens LR, Berchuck A, Doherty JA, Modugno F, Ness R, Moysich K, Karlan BY, Whittemore AS, McGuire V, Sieh W, Lawrenson K, Gayther S, Sellers TA, Pharoah P, Schildkraut JM. Identification of novel epithelial ovarian cancer loci in women of African ancestry. Int J Cancer 2020; 146:2987-2998. [PMID: 31469419 PMCID: PMC7523187 DOI: 10.1002/ijc.32653] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [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: 06/11/2019] [Revised: 07/29/2019] [Accepted: 08/12/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
Women of African ancestry have lower incidence of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) yet worse survival compared to women of European ancestry. We conducted a genome-wide association study in African ancestry women with 755 EOC cases, including 537 high-grade serous ovarian carcinomas (HGSOC) and 1,235 controls. We identified four novel loci with suggestive evidence of association with EOC (p < 1 × 10-6 ), including rs4525119 (intronic to AKR1C3), rs7643459 (intronic to LOC101927394), rs4286604 (12 kb 3' of UGT2A2) and rs142091544 (5 kb 5' of WWC1). For HGSOC, we identified six loci with suggestive evidence of association including rs37792 (132 kb 5' of follistatin [FST]), rs57403204 (81 kb 3' of MAGEC1), rs79079890 (LOC105376360 intronic), rs66459581 (5 kb 5' of PRPSAP1), rs116046250 (GABRG3 intronic) and rs192876988 (32 kb 3' of GK2). Among the identified variants, two are near genes known to regulate hormones and diseases of the ovary (AKR1C3 and FST), and two are linked to cancer (AKR1C3 and MAGEC1). In follow-up studies of the 10 identified variants, the GK2 region SNP, rs192876988, showed an inverse association with EOC in European ancestry women (p = 0.002), increased risk of ER positive breast cancer in African ancestry women (p = 0.027) and decreased expression of GK2 in HGSOC tissue from African ancestry women (p = 0.004). A European ancestry-derived polygenic risk score showed positive associations with EOC and HGSOC in women of African ancestry suggesting shared genetic architecture. Our investigation presents evidence of variants for EOC shared among European and African ancestry women and identifies novel EOC risk loci in women of African ancestry.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ani Manichaikul
- Center for Public Health Genomics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
| | - Lauren C. Peres
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
- Department of Cancer Epidemiology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, FL
| | - Xin-Qun Wang
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
| | - Mollie E. Barnard
- Huntsman Cancer Institute, Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
| | - Deanna Chyn
- Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA
| | - Xin Sheng
- Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of USC, Los Angeles, CA
| | - Zhaohui Du
- Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of USC, Los Angeles, CA
| | - Jonathan Tyrer
- Strangeways Research Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Joseph Dennis
- Strangeways Research Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Ann G. Schwartz
- Karmanos Cancer Institute, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI
| | - Michele L. Cote
- Karmanos Cancer Institute, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI
| | - Edward Peters
- Epidemiology Program, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center School of Public Health, New Orleans, LA
| | - Patricia G. Moorman
- Department of Community and Family Medicine, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC
| | - Melissa Bondy
- Cancer Prevention and Population Sciences Program, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX
| | - Jill S. Barnholtz-Sloan
- Department of Population and Quantitative Health Sciences and Case Comprehensive Cancer Center, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH
| | - Paul Terry
- Department of Medicine, University of Tennessee Medical Center – Knoxville, Knoxville, TN
| | - Anthony J. Alberg
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC
| | - Elisa V. Bandera
- Department of Population Science, Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey, New Brunswick, NJ
| | - Ellen Funkhouser
- Division of Preventive Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, AL
| | - Anna H. Wu
- Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of USC, Los Angeles, CA
| | - Celeste Leigh Pearce
- Department of Epidemiology, University of Michigan School of Public Health, Ann Arbor, MI
- Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, CA
| | - Malcom Pike
- Department of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Los Angeles, CA
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Andrew Berchuck
- Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC
| | - Jennifer A. Doherty
- Huntsman Cancer Institute, Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT
| | - Francesmary Modugno
- Division of Gynecologic Oncology, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Sciences, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA
- Department of Epidemiology, University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, Pittsburgh, PA
- Ovarian Cancer Center of Excellence, Womens Cancer Research Program, Magee-Womens Research Institute and University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, PA
| | - Roberta Ness
- The University of Texas School of Public Health, Houston, TX
| | - Kirsten Moysich
- Department of Cancer Prevention and Control, Roswell Park Cancer Institute, Buffalo, NY
| | - Beth Y. Karlan
- Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Ronald Regan UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA
| | - Alice S. Whittemore
- Department of Health Research and Policy, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
- Department of Biomedical Data Science, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
| | - Valerie McGuire
- Department of Biomedical Data Science, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA
| | - Weiva Sieh
- Department of Population Health Science and Policy, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY, New York
- Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY, New York
| | - Kate Lawrenson
- Department of Biomedical Sciences, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA
| | - Simon Gayther
- Center for Bioinformatics and Functional Genomics and the Cedars-Sinai Genomics Core, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA
| | - Thomas A. Sellers
- Department of Cancer Epidemiology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute, Tampa, FL
| | - Paul Pharoah
- Strangeways Research Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
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Kyriazoglou A, Liontos M, Zakopoulou R, Kaparelou M, Tsiara A, Papatheodoridi AM, Georgakopoulou R, Zagouri F. The Role of the Hippo Pathway in Breast Cancer Carcinogenesis, Prognosis, and Treatment: A Systematic Review. Breast Care (Basel) 2020; 16:6-15. [PMID: 33716627 DOI: 10.1159/000507538] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [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] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2019] [Accepted: 03/27/2020] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Background The Hippo pathway is a developmental pathway recently discovered in Drosophila melanogaster; in mammals it normally controls organ development and wound healing. Hippo signaling is deregulated in breast cancer (BC). MST1/2 and LATS1/2 kinases are the upstream molecular elements of Hippo signaling which phosphorylate and regulate the two effectors of Hippo signaling, YAP1 and TAZ cotranscriptional activators. The two molecular effectors of the Hippo pathway facilitate their activity through TEAD transcription factors. Several molecular pathways with known oncogenic functions cross-talk with the Hippo pathway. Methods A systematic review studying the correlation of the Hippo pathway with BC tumorigenesis, prognosis, and treatment was performed. Results Recent literature highlights the critical role of Hippo signaling in a wide spectrum of biological mechanisms in BC. Discussion The Hippo pathway has a crucial position in BC molecular biology, cellular behavior, and response to treatment. Targeting the Hippo pathway could potentially improve the prognosis and outcome of BC patients.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Michalis Liontos
- Department of Clinical Therapeutics, General Hospital Alexandra, Athens, Greece
| | - Roubini Zakopoulou
- Department of Clinical Therapeutics, General Hospital Alexandra, Athens, Greece
| | - Maria Kaparelou
- Department of Clinical Therapeutics, General Hospital Alexandra, Athens, Greece
| | - Anna Tsiara
- Department of Clinical Therapeutics, General Hospital Alexandra, Athens, Greece
| | | | | | - Flora Zagouri
- Department of Clinical Therapeutics, General Hospital Alexandra, Athens, Greece
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Liu X, Qian D, Liu H, Abbruzzese JL, Luo S, Walsh KM, Wei Q. Genetic variants of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) signaling pathway genes and risk of pancreatic cancer. Mol Carcinog 2020; 59:930-939. [PMID: 32367578 DOI: 10.1002/mc.23208] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [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] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/04/2020] [Revised: 03/22/2020] [Accepted: 04/04/2020] [Indexed: 12/17/2022]
Abstract
Because the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) signaling pathway is involved in development and progression of pancreatic cancer, we investigated associations between genetic variants of the PPAR pathway genes and pancreatic cancer risk by using three published genome-wide association study datasets including 8477 cases and 6946 controls of European ancestry. Expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL) analysis was also performed for correlations between genotypes of the identified genetic variants and messenger RNA (mRNA) expression levels of their genes by using available databases of the 1000 Genomes, TCGA, and GTEx projects. In the single-locus logistic regression analysis, we identified 1141 out of 17 532 significant single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 112 PPAR pathway genes. Further multivariate logistic regression analysis identified three independent, potentially functional loci (rs12947620 in MED1, rs11079651 in PRKCA, and rs34367566 in PRKCB) for pancreatic cancer risk (odds ratio [OR] = 1.11, 95% confidence interval [CI], [1.06-1.17], P = 5.46 × 10-5 ; OR = 1.10, 95% CI, [1.04-1.15], P = 1.99 × 10-4 ; and OR = 1.09, 95% CI, [1.04-1.14], P = 3.16 × 10-4 , respectively) among 65 SNPs that passed multiple comparison correction by false discovery rate (< 0.2). When risk genotypes of these three SNPs were combined, carriers with 2 to 3 unfavorable genotypes (NUGs) had a higher risk of pancreatic cancer than those with 0 to 1 NUGs. The eQTL analysis showed that rs34367566 A>AG was associated with decreased expression levels of PRKCB mRNA in 373 lymphoblastoid cell lines. Our findings indicate that genetic variants of the PPAR pathway genes, particularly MED1, PRKCA, and PRKCB, may contribute to susceptibility to pancreatic cancer.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaowen Liu
- Department of Gastric Surgery, Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Shanghai, China.,Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.,Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina
| | - Danwen Qian
- Department of Oncology, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.,Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina
| | - Hongliang Liu
- Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina.,Department of Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina
| | - James L Abbruzzese
- Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina.,Department of Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina
| | - Sheng Luo
- Department of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina
| | - Kyle M Walsh
- Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina.,Department of Neurosurgery, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina
| | - Qingyi Wei
- Duke Cancer Institute, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, North Carolina.,Department of Medicine, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina.,Department of Population Health Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina
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Huang Z, Wang X, Ma L, Guo Z, Liu H, Du M, Chu H, Wang M, Wang Z, Zhang Z. Genetic variations in Hippo pathway genes influence bladder cancer risk in a Chinese population. Arch Toxicol 2020; 94:785-794. [DOI: 10.1007/s00204-020-02663-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/20/2019] [Accepted: 02/03/2020] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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Wang Z, Katsaros D, Biglia N, Shen Y, Fu Y, Tiirikainen M, Yu H. Low expression of WWC1, a tumor suppressor gene, is associated with aggressive breast cancer and poor survival outcome. FEBS Open Bio 2019; 9:1270-1280. [PMID: 31102318 PMCID: PMC6609559 DOI: 10.1002/2211-5463.12659] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [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: 01/14/2019] [Revised: 03/28/2019] [Accepted: 05/16/2019] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
The WW and C2 domain containing 1 (WWC1) gene encodes a protein named WWC1 (or KIBRA), which is involved in the Hippo signaling pathway. WWC1 is often lost in triple-negative breast cancer and has been shown to suppress tumor metastasis. In this study, 470 breast cancer patients were recruited and WWC1 expression in the tumor samples was measured with quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR. Associations of WWC1 expression with breast cancer survival were analyzed using the Cox proportional hazards regression model and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis. The relationship between WWC1 expression and methylation was evaluated in a dataset from The Cancer Genome Atlas. Using our microarray data on gene expression and the Ingenuity Pathway Analysis, we predicted the WWC1-associated signaling pathways in breast cancer. Our results showed that low expression of WWC1 was significantly associated with advanced-stage diseases, high-grade tumors, and estrogen receptor- or progesterone receptor-negative status. Compared to those with high expression, patients with low WWC1 had higher risk of breast cancer relapse [hazard ratio (HR) = 2.06, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.26-3.37] and higher risk of death (HR = 2.76, 95% CI: 1.51-5.03). The association with relapse-free survival remained significant after adjustment for disease stage, tumor grade, and hormone receptor status and was replicated in a public dataset. Analysis of high-throughput gene expression data indicated that WWC1 was involved in the Hippo signaling pathway. Online data also suggested that DNA methylation was inversely associated with WWC1 expression. The study confirmed that low WWC1 expression was associated with aggressive breast cancer and poor survival outcomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhanwei Wang
- University of Hawaii Cancer Center, Honolulu, HI, USA
| | - Dionyssios Katsaros
- Department of Surgical Sciences, Gynecology, AOU Città della Salute, University of Turin, Italy
| | - Nicoletta Biglia
- Department of Surgical Science, Division of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Mauriziano Hospital, University of Torino School of Medicine, Turin, Italy
| | - Yi Shen
- University of Hawaii Cancer Center, Honolulu, HI, USA
| | - Yuanyuan Fu
- University of Hawaii Cancer Center, Honolulu, HI, USA.,Department of Molecular Biosciences and Bioengineering, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, USA
| | | | - Herbert Yu
- University of Hawaii Cancer Center, Honolulu, HI, USA
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