Fischer A, Lersch R, de Andrade Krätzig N, Strong A, Friedrich MJ, Weber J, Engleitner T, Öllinger R, Yen HY, Kohlhofer U, Gonzalez-Menendez I, Sailer D, Kogan L, Lahnalampi M, Laukkanen S, Kaltenbacher T, Klement C, Rezaei M, Ammon T, Montero JJ, Schneider G, Mayerle J, Heikenwälder M, Schmidt-Supprian M, Quintanilla-Martinez L, Steiger K, Liu P, Cadiñanos J, Vassiliou GS, Saur D, Lohi O, Heinäniemi M, Conte N, Bradley A, Rad L, Rad R.
In vivo interrogation of regulatory genomes reveals extensive
quasi-insufficiency in cancer evolution.
CELL GENOMICS 2023;
3:100276. [PMID:
36950387 PMCID:
PMC10025556 DOI:
10.1016/j.xgen.2023.100276]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/10/2022] [Revised: 09/05/2022] [Accepted: 02/08/2023] [Indexed: 03/10/2023]
Abstract
In contrast to mono- or biallelic loss of tumor-suppressor function, effects of discrete gene dysregulations, as caused by non-coding (epi)genome alterations, are poorly understood. Here, by perturbing the regulatory genome in mice, we uncover pervasive roles of subtle gene expression variation in cancer evolution. Genome-wide screens characterizing 1,450 tumors revealed that such quasi-insufficiency is extensive across entities and displays diverse context dependencies, such as distinct cell-of-origin associations in T-ALL subtypes. We compile catalogs of non-coding regions linked to quasi-insufficiency, show their enrichment with human cancer risk variants, and provide functional insights by engineering regulatory alterations in mice. As such, kilo-/megabase deletions in a Bcl11b-linked non-coding region triggered aggressive malignancies, with allele-specific tumor spectra reflecting gradual gene dysregulations through modular and cell-type-specific enhancer activities. Our study constitutes a first survey toward a systems-level understanding of quasi-insufficiency in cancer and gives multifaceted insights into tumor evolution and the tissue-specific effects of non-coding mutations.
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