Proteins are essential agents of biological processes. To date, large-scale profiling of cell line collections including the Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE) has focused primarily on genetic ...information whereas deep interrogation of the proteome has remained out of reach. Here, we expand the CCLE through quantitative profiling of thousands of proteins by mass spectrometry across 375 cell lines from diverse lineages to reveal information undiscovered by DNA and RNA methods. We observe unexpected correlations within and between pathways that are largely absent from RNA. An analysis of microsatellite instable (MSI) cell lines reveals the dysregulation of specific protein complexes associated with surveillance of mutation and translation. These and other protein complexes were associated with sensitivity to knockdown of several different genes. These data in conjunction with the wider CCLE are a broad resource to explore cellular behavior and facilitate cancer research.
Display omitted
•Quantified the proteomes of 375 cell lines from diverse lineages in the CCLE•Correlated expression of proteins across many pathways•Downregulation of multiple protein complexes in microsatellite instability•Protein complexes associated with sensitivity to gene knockdown and mutation
Quantitative proteomes of 375 cancer cell lines for the Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE) reveal correlated protein expression between multiple pathways and complexes as well as associations between protein complexes and genetic features including microsatellite instability, individual gene mutations, and sensitivity to gene knockdowns.
Despite considerable efforts to identify cancer metabolic alterations that might unveil druggable vulnerabilities, systematic characterizations of metabolism as it relates to functional genomic ...features and associated dependencies remain uncommon. To further understand the metabolic diversity of cancer, we profiled 225 metabolites in 928 cell lines from more than 20 cancer types in the Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia (CCLE) using liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS). This resource enables unbiased association analysis linking the cancer metabolome to genetic alterations, epigenetic features and gene dependencies. Additionally, by screening barcoded cell lines, we demonstrated that aberrant ASNS hypermethylation sensitizes subsets of gastric and hepatic cancers to asparaginase therapy. Finally, our analysis revealed distinct synthesis and secretion patterns of kynurenine, an immune-suppressive metabolite, in model cancer cell lines. Together, these findings and related methodology provide comprehensive resources that will help clarify the landscape of cancer metabolism.
Mutations are typically perceived as random, independent events. We describe here nonrandom clustered mutations in yeast and in human cancers. Genome sequencing of yeast grown under chronic ...alkylation damage identified mutation clusters that extend up to 200 kb. A predominance of “strand-coordinated” changes of either cytosines or guanines in the same strand, mutation patterns, and genetic controls indicated that simultaneous mutations were generated by base alkylation in abnormally long single-strand DNA (ssDNA) formed at double-strand breaks (DSBs) and replication forks. Significantly, we found mutation clusters with analogous features in sequenced human cancers. Strand-coordinated clusters of mutated cytosines or guanines often resided near chromosome rearrangement breakpoints and were highly enriched with a motif targeted by APOBEC family cytosine-deaminases, which strongly prefer ssDNA. These data indicate that hypermutation via multiple simultaneous changes in randomly formed ssDNA is a general phenomenon that may be an important mechanism producing rapid genetic variation.
Display omitted
► Clusters of simultaneous multiple mutations occur in yeast and human genomes ► Mutation clusters can occur in damaged ssDNA during DSB repair or replication ► Clusters of coordinated C or G mutations in cancers colocalize with rearrangements ► Clustered mutations in cancers occur at motifs of cytosine deamination by APOBECs
Systematic sequencing of human cancer genomes has identified many recurrent mutations in the protein-coding regions of genes but rarely in gene regulatory regions. Here, we describe two independent ...mutations within the core promoter of telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT), the gene coding for the catalytic subunit of telomerase, which collectively occur in 50 of 70 (71%) melanomas examined. These mutations generate de novo consensus binding motifs for E-twenty-six (ETS) transcription factors, and in reporter assays, the mutations increased transcriptional activity from the TERT promoter by two- to fourfold. Examination of 150 cancer cell lines derived from diverse tumor types revealed the same mutations in 24 cases (16%), with preliminary evidence of elevated frequency in bladder and hepatocellular cancer cells. Thus, somatic mutations in regulatory regions of the genome may represent an important tumorigenic mechanism.
The analysis of exonic DNA from prostate cancers has identified recurrently mutated genes, but the spectrum of genome-wide alterations has not been profiled extensively in this disease. We sequenced ...the genomes of 57 prostate tumors and matched normal tissues to characterize somatic alterations and to study how they accumulate during oncogenesis and progression. By modeling the genesis of genomic rearrangements, we identified abundant DNA translocations and deletions that arise in a highly interdependent manner. This phenomenon, which we term “chromoplexy,” frequently accounts for the dysregulation of prostate cancer genes and appears to disrupt multiple cancer genes coordinately. Our modeling suggests that chromoplexy may induce considerable genomic derangement over relatively few events in prostate cancer and other neoplasms, supporting a model of punctuated cancer evolution. By characterizing the clonal hierarchy of genomic lesions in prostate tumors, we charted a path of oncogenic events along which chromoplexy may drive prostate carcinogenesis.
Display omitted
► Interdependent DNA rearrangements may coordinately remodel prostate cancer genomes ► “Chromoplexy” defines a distinct class of complex structural rearrangements ► Multiple prostate cancer genes may be dysregulated coordinately ► Clonal evolution reveals paths of prostate cancer progression
Modeling the genesis of chromosomal rearrangements in prostate cancer genomes reveals that the chromosomal disarray found in a typical tumor may arise via a handful of discrete “chromoplexy” events during tumor development in which interdependent rearrangements shuffle DNA from five or more chromosomes.
Cancer progression is driven by the accumulation of a small number of genetic alterations. However, these few driver alterations reside in a cancer genome alongside tens of thousands of additional ...mutations termed passengers. Passengers are widely believed to have no role in cancer, yet many passengers fall within protein-coding genes and other functional elements that can have potentially deleterious effects on cancer cells. Here we investigate the potential of moderately deleterious passengers to accumulate and alter the course of neoplastic progression. Our approach combines evolutionary simulations of cancer progression with an analysis of cancer sequencing data. From simulations, we find that passengers accumulate and largely evade natural selection during progression. Although individually weak, the collective burden of passengers alters the course of progression, leading to several oncological phenomena that are hard to explain with a traditional driver-centric view. We then tested the predictions of our model using cancer genomics data and confirmed that many passengers are likely damaging and have largely evaded negative selection. Finally, we use our model to explore cancer treatments that exploit the load of passengers by either (i) increasing the mutation rate or (ii) exacerbating their deleterious effects. Though both approaches lead to cancer regression, the latter is a more effective therapy. Our results suggest a unique framework for understanding cancer progression as a balance of driver and passenger mutations.
Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is a common, morbid, and frequently lethal malignancy. To uncover its mutational spectrum, we analyzed whole-exome sequencing data from 74 tumor-normal ...pairs. The majority exhibited a mutational profile consistent with tobacco exposure; human papillomavirus was detectable by sequencing DNA from infected tumors. In addition to identifying previously known HNSCC genes (TP53, CDKN2A, PTEN, PIK3CA, and HRAS), our analysis revealed many genes not previously implicated in this malignancy. At least 30% of cases harbored mutations in genes that regulate squamous differentiation (for example, NOTCH1, IRF6, and TP63), implicating its dysregulation as a major driver of HNSCC carcinogenesis. More generally, the results indicate the ability of large-scale sequencing to reveal fundamental tumorigenic mechanisms.
Recent studies have revealed that ARID1A, encoding AT-rich interactive domain 1A (SWI-like), is frequently mutated across a variety of human cancers and also has bona fide tumor suppressor ...properties. Consequently, identification of vulnerabilities conferred by ARID1A mutation would have major relevance for human cancer. Here, using a broad screening approach, we identify ARID1B, an ARID1A homolog whose gene product is mutually exclusive with ARID1A in SWI/SNF complexes, as the number 1 gene preferentially required for the survival of ARID1A-mutant cancer cell lines. We show that loss of ARID1B in ARID1A-deficient backgrounds destabilizes SWI/SNF and impairs proliferation in both cancer cells and primary cells. We also find that ARID1A and ARID1B are frequently co-mutated in cancer but that ARID1A-deficient cancers retain at least one functional ARID1B allele. These results suggest that loss of ARID1A and ARID1B alleles cooperatively promotes cancer formation but also results in a unique functional dependence. The results further identify ARID1B as a potential therapeutic target for ARID1A-mutant cancers.
Somatic mutations have long been implicated in aging and disease, but their impact on fitness and function is difficult to assess. Here by analysing human cancer genomes we identify mutational ...patterns associated with aging. Our analyses suggest that age-associated mutation load and burden double approximately every 8 years, similar to the all-cause mortality doubling time. This analysis further reveals variance in the rate of aging among different human tissues, for example, slightly accelerated aging of the reproductive system. Age-adjusted mutation load and burden correlate with the corresponding cancer incidence and precede it on average by 15 years, pointing to pre-clinical cancer development times. Behaviour of mutation load also exhibits gender differences and late-life reversals, explaining some gender-specific and late-life patterns in cancer incidence rates. Overall, this study characterizes some features of human aging and offers a mechanism for age being a risk factor for the onset of cancer.
The high rate of clinical response to protein-kinase-targeting drugs matched to cancer patients with specific genomic alterations has prompted efforts to use cancer cell line (CCL) profiling to ...identify additional biomarkers of small-molecule sensitivities. We have quantitatively measured the sensitivity of 242 genomically characterized CCLs to an Informer Set of 354 small molecules that target many nodes in cell circuitry, uncovering protein dependencies that: (1) associate with specific cancer-genomic alterations and (2) can be targeted by small molecules. We have created the Cancer Therapeutics Response Portal (http://www.broadinstitute.org/ctrp) to enable users to correlate genetic features to sensitivity in individual lineages and control for confounding factors of CCL profiling. We report a candidate dependency, associating activating mutations in the oncogene β-catenin with sensitivity to the Bcl-2 family antagonist, navitoclax. The resource can be used to develop novel therapeutic hypotheses and to accelerate discovery of drugs matched to patients by their cancer genotype and lineage.
Display omitted
•A therapeutics resource identifies cancer genotype-compound sensitivity relationships•Genetic features of cancer cell lines correlate with their response to compounds•The resource controls for possible confounding factors of genomic cell-line profiling•Results suggest a strategy for treating cancers with mutations in β-catenin
The Cancer Therapeutics Response Portal catalogs the sensitivity of more than 200 cancer cell lines to specific small molecules. This resource should accelerate the development of individualized therapies tailored to specific cancers and patients.
PDF
