Biology subjects

Schlesner, M.

Publications and source records attributed to Schlesner, M..

24 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

bioRxiv2017

The evolutionary history of 2,658 cancers

Cancer develops through a process of somatic evolution. Here, we use whole-genome sequencing of 2,778 tumour samples from 2,658 donors to reconstruct the life history, evolution of mutational processes, and driver mutation sequences of 39 cancer types. The early phases of oncogenesis are driven by point mutations in a small set of driver genes, often including biallelic inactivation of tumour suppressors. Early oncogenesis is also characterised by specific copy number gains, such as trisomy 7 in glioblastoma or isochromosome 17q in medulloblastoma. By contrast, increased genomic instability, a nearly four-fold diversification of driver genes, and an acceleration of point mutation processes are features of later stages. Copy-number alterations often occur in mitotic crises leading to simultaneous gains of multiple chromosomal segments. Timing analysis suggests that driver mutations often precede diagnosis by many years, and in some cases decades, providing a window of opportunity for early cancer detection.

cancer biology↗

bioRxiv2017

Large-Scale Uniform Analysis of Cancer Whole Genomes in Multiple Computing Environments

The International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC)s Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) project aimed to categorize somatic and germline variations in both coding and non-coding regions in over 2,800 cancer patients. To provide this dataset to the research working groups for downstream analysis, the PCAWG Technical Working Group marshalled ~800TB of sequencing data from distributed geographical locations; developed portable software for uniform alignment, variant calling, artifact filtering and variant merging; performed the analysis in a geographically and technologically disparate collection of compute environments; and disseminated high-quality validated consensus variants to the working groups. The PCAWG dataset has been mirrored to multiple repositories and can be located using the ICGC Data Portal. The PCAWG workflows are also available as Docker images through Dockstore enabling researchers to replicate our analysis on their own data.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2017

Genomic footprints of activated telomere maintenance mechanisms in cancer

Cancers require telomere maintenance mechanisms for unlimited replicative potential. We dissected whole-genome sequencing data of over 2,500 matched tumor-control samples from 36 different tumor types to characterize the genomic footprints of these mechanisms. While the telomere content of tumors with ATRX or DAXX mutations (ATRX/DAXXtrunc) was increased, tumors with TERT modifications showed a moderate decrease of telomere content. One quarter of all tumor samples contained somatic integrations of telomeric sequences into non-telomeric DNA. With 80% prevalence, ATRX/DAXXtrunc tumors display a 3-fold enrichment of telomere insertions. A systematic analysis of telomere composition identified aberrant telomere variant repeat (TVR) distribution as a genomic marker of ATRX/DAXXtrunc tumors. In this clinically relevant subgroup, singleton TTCGGG and TTTGGG TVRs (previously undescribed) were significantly enriched or depleted, respectively. Overall, our findings provide new insight into the recurrent genomic alterations that are associated with the establishment of different telomere maintenance mechanisms in cancer.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2017

Questioning unexpected CRISPR off-target mutations in vivo

To the Editor To the Editor References Recently, Schaefer et al.1 reported that whole genome sequencing (WGS) of two Cas9-treated, gene-corrected mice and a wild-type control mouse unveiled 1,397 single-nucleotide variations (SNVs) and 117 small insertions and deletions (indels) present commonly in the two Cas9-treated mice \"but absent in the uncorrected control\" and from a database of mouse SNVs and indels. There was essentially no sequence homology between the on-target site and these SNVs and indel sites, most of which lacked a protospacer-adjacent motif (PAM) sequence, suggesting that these variations were both small guide RNA (sgRNA)-independent and Cas9-independent, respectively. Nevertheless, the authors made a bold claim that these variations were caused by CRISPR-Cas9 without validating these unexpected off-target effects even at a single SNV or indel site by ...

genomics↗

bioRxiv2017

Framework For Quality Assessment Of Whole Genome, Cancer Sequences

Working with cancer whole genomes sequenced over a period of many years in different sequencing centres requires a validated framework to compare the quality of these sequences. The Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC), a project a cohort of over 2800 donors provided us with the challenge of assessing the quality of the genome sequences. A non-redundant set of five quality control (QC) measurements were assembled and used to establish a star rating system. These QC measures reflect known differences in sequencing protocol and provide a guide to downstream analyses of these whole genome sequences. The resulting QC measures also allowed for exclusion samples of poor quality, providing researchers within PCAWG, and when the data is released for other researchers, a good idea of the sequencing quality. For a researcher wishing to apply the QC measures for their data we provide a Docker Container of the software used to calculate them. We believe that this is an effective framework of quality measures for whole genome, cancer sequences, which will be a useful addition to analytical pipelines, as it has to the PCAWG project.

genomics↗

bioRxiv2017

Resolving Drug Effects In Patient-Derived Cancer Cells Links Organoid Responses To Genome Alterations

Cancer drug screening in patient-derived cells holds great promise for personalized oncology and drug discovery but lacks standardization. Whether cells are cultured as conventional monolayer or advanced organoid cultures influences drug effects and thereby drug selection and clinical success. To precisely compare drug profiles in differently cultured primary cells, we developed DeathPro, an automated microscopy-based assay to resolve drug-induced cell death and proliferation inhibition. Using DeathPro, we screened cells from ovarian cancer patients in monolayer or organoid culture with clinically relevant drugs. Drug-induced growth arrest and efficacy of cytostatic drugs differed between the two culture systems. Interestingly, drug effects in organoids were more diverse and had lower therapeutic potential. Genomic analysis revealed novel links between drug sensitivity and DNA repair deficiency in organoids that were undetectable in monolayers. Thus, our results highlight the dependency of cytostatic drugs and pharmacogenomic associations on culture systems, and guide culture selection for drug tests.

cancer biology↗