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Deciphering intra-tumor heterogeneity of lung adenocarcinoma confirms that dominant, branching, and private gene mutations occur within individual tumor nodules

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Abstract

While pulmonary adenocarcinoma (ADC) is morphologically heterogeneous, little is known about intra-tumor gene mutation heterogeneity (ITH). We therefore subjected 20 ADC nodules, 5 mutated for EGFR and 5 for KRAS, 5 with an ALK translocation, and 5 wild type (WT) for these alterations, to unsupervised next-generation sequencing of tumor regions from diverse architectural patterns. When 2 or more different gene mutations were found in a single tumor, this fulfilled the criteria for ITH. In the 84 studied tumor regions with diverse architecture, 71 gene mutations and 34 WT profiles were found. ITH was observed in 9/15 (60 %) ADC, 3 with an EGFR, 3 with a KRAS, and 3 with an ALK aberration, as reflected in 5, 6, and 9 additional mutations, respectively, detected in these tumors. EGFR mutations were observed in 21/22 and KRAS mutations in 18/22 tumor regions, suggesting that they appear early and have a driver role (dominant or trunk mutations). Branching mutations (in EZH2, PIK3CA, TP53, and EGFR exon 18) occurred in two or more regions, while private mutations (in ABL1, ALK, BRAF, HER2, KDR, LKB1, PTEN, MET, SMAD4, SMARCB1, and SRC) were confined to unique tumor samples of individual lesions, suggesting that they occurred later on during tumor progression. Patients with a tumor showing branching mutations ran a worse clinical course, independent of confounding factors. We conclude that in ADC, ITH exists in a pattern suggesting spatial and temporal hierarchy with dominant, branching, and private mutations. This is consistent with diverse intra-tumor clonal evolution, which has potential implications for patient prognosis or development of secondary therapy resistance.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by a grant of the Scientific Directorate of the National Tumor Institute IRCCS Foundation, Milan, Italy (accession number INT-64/14) to cover reagent costs and by the Italian League for the Fight Against Cancer, (LILT), Milan Section, Milan, Italy) and Novartis Farma Italia (Milan, Italy) to cover research personnel costs. The funding bodies played no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript, which are responsibilities of the authors only. The authors are greatly indebted to Mr. William Russell-Edu, BSc Dip Lib MCIL, Library Service, European Institute of Oncology, Milan, Italy, for his revision of the use of English in the paper. This work is dedicated to the memory of Carlotta, an extraordinarily lively girl, who died from cancer at an untimely age, in the prime of her life.

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Correspondence to Giuseppe Pelosi.

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The study was approved by the independent ethics committee of the National Tumor Institute IRCCS Foundation, Milan, Italy (accession number INT-64/14). All patients gave written consent for diagnosis and research activities when they were admitted to the hospital.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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S1_Figure 1S

Fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis for ALK in the case #2 ALK-trans-2 showed break-apart signal splitting in most (90 %) tumor cells, indicative of early driver molecular events. (GIF 8 kb)

High resolution image (TIFF 798 kb)

S2_Figure 2S

Alignment outputs of T-NGS analysis for EGFR (case #1 EGFR-1) showed a complex deletion of 15 bp (DEL aa L747 - A 750) co-existent with E746A point (GAA > GCA) mutation in exon 19 (A) and for PIK3CA (case #17 Wild Type-2) with E547K point (GAA/AAA) mutation in exon 10 (B). (GIF 21 kb)

High resolution image (TIFF 2832 kb)

S3_Figure 3S

General overall (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) curves are shown in the entire series of 20 ADC patients. At the 48 month-follow-up most patients died of disease (left) or experienced tumor relapse (right). (GIF 3 kb)

High resolution image (TIFF 1248 kb)

ESM 4

(DOC 450 kb)

ESM 5

(DOC 924 kb)

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Pelosi, G., Pellegrinelli, A., Fabbri, A. et al. Deciphering intra-tumor heterogeneity of lung adenocarcinoma confirms that dominant, branching, and private gene mutations occur within individual tumor nodules. Virchows Arch 468, 651–662 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00428-016-1931-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00428-016-1931-z

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