The landscape of viral associations in human cancers

Zapatka, M.; Borozan, I.; Brewer, D. S.; Iskar, M.; Grundhoff, A.; Alawi, M.; Desai, N.; Cooper, C. S.; Eils, R.; Ferretti, V.; Lichter, P.; PCAWG Pathogens Working Group,; ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes Network,

doi:10.1101/465757

bioRxiv · 10.1101/465757

The landscape of viral associations in human cancers

Zapatka, M.·Borozan, I.·Brewer, D. S.·Iskar, M.·Grundhoff, A.·Alawi, M.·Desai, N.·Cooper, C. S.·Eils, R.·Ferretti, V.·Lichter, P.·PCAWG Pathogens Working Group,·ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes Network,

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Abstract

Potential viral pathogens were systematically investigated in the whole-genome and transcriptome sequencing of 2,656 donors as part of the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes using a consensus approach integrating three independent pathogen detection pipelines. Viruses were detected in 382 genomic and 68 transcriptome data sets. We extensively searched and characterized numerous features of virus-positive cancers integrating various PCAWG datasets. We show the high prevalence of known tumor associated viruses such as EBV, HBV and several HPV types. Our systematic analysis revealed that HPV presence was significantly exclusive with well-known driver mutations in head/neck cancer. A strong association was observed between HPV infection and the APOBEC mutational signatures, suggesting the role of impaired mechanism of antiviral cellular defense as a driving force in the development of cervical, bladder and head neck carcinoma. Viral integration into the host genome was observed for HBV, HPV16, HPV18 and AAV2 and associated with a local increase in copy number variations. The recurrent viral integrations at the TERT promoter were coupled to high telomerase expression uncovering a further mechanism to activate this tumor driving process. High levels of endogenous retrovirus ERV1 expression is linked to worse survival outcome in kidney cancer.

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Zapatka, M., Borozan, I., Brewer, D. S., Iskar, M., Grundhoff, A., Alawi, M., Desai, N., Cooper, C. S., Eils, R., Ferretti, V., Lichter, P., PCAWG Pathogens Working Group,, ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes Network,. 2018-11-08. The landscape of viral associations in human cancers. https://doi.org/10.1101/465757

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