Killcoyne, S. | bioRxiv Science

bioRxiv2020

Genomic copy number predicts oesophageal cancer years before transformation

Cancer arises through a process of somatic evolution and recent studies have shown that aneuploidies and driver gene mutations precede cancer diagnosis by several years to decades1-4 Here, we address the question whether such genomic signals can be used for early detection and pre-emptive cancer treatment. To this end we study Barretts oesophagus, a genomic copy number driven neoplastic precursor lesion to oesophageal adenocarcinoma5. We use shallow whole genome sequencing of 777 biopsies sampled from 88 patients in surveillance for Barretts oesophagus over a period of up to 15 years. These data show that genomic signals exist that distinguish progressive from stable disease with an AUC of 0.87 and a sensitivity of 50% even ten years prior to histopathological disease transformation. These finding are validated on two independent cohorts of 75 and 248 patients. Compared against current patient management guidelines genomic risk classification enables earlier treatment for high risk patients as well as reduction of unnecessary treatment and monitoring for patients who are unlikely to develop cancer.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2018

Process-specific somatic mutation distributions vary with three-dimensional genome structure

Somatic mutations arise during the life history of a cell. Mutations occurring in cancer driver genes may ultimately lead to the development of clinically detectable disease. Nascent cancer lineages continue to acquire somatic mutations throughout the neoplastic process and during cancer evolution (Martincorena and Campbell, 2015). Extrinsic and endogenous mutagenic factors contribute to the accumulation of these somatic mutations (Zhang and Pellman, 2015). Understanding the underlying factors generating somatic mutations is crucial for developing potential preventive, therapeutic and clinical decisions. Earlier studies have revealed that DNA replication timing (Stamatoyannopoulos et al., 2009) and chromatin modifications (Schuster-Bockler and Lehner, 2012) are associated with variations in mutational density. What is unclear from these early studies, however, is whether all extrinsic and exogenous factors that drive somatic mutational processes share a similar relationship with chromatin state and structure. In order to understand the interplay between spatial genome organization and specific individual mutational processes, we report here a study of 3000 tumor-normal pair whole genome datasets from more than 40 different human cancer types. Our analyses revealed that different mutational processes lead to distinct somatic mutation distributions between chromatin folding domains. APOBEC- or MSI-related mutations are enriched in transcriptionally-active domains while mutations occurring due to tobacco-smoke, ultraviolet (UV) light exposure or a signature of unknown aetiology (signature 17) enrich predominantly in transcriptionally-inactive domains. Active mutational processes dictate the mutation distributions in cancer genomes, and we show that mutational distributions shift during cancer evolution upon mutational processes switch. Moreover, a dramatic instance of extreme chromatin structure in humans, that of the unique folding pattern of the inactive X-chromosome leads to distinct somatic mutation distribution on X chromosome in females compared to males in various cancer types. Overall, the interplay between three-dimensional genome organization and active mutational processes has a substantial influence on the large-scale mutation rate variations observed in human cancer.

genomics↗