Intra-tumor genetic heterogeneity and alternative driver genetic alterations in breast cancers with heterogeneous HER2 gene amplification.
Fiche publication
Date publication
janvier 2015
Auteurs
Membres identifiés du Cancéropôle Est :
Dr ARNOULD Laurent
Tous les auteurs :
Ng CK, Martelotto LG, Gauthier A, Wen HC, Piscuoglio S, Lim RS, Cowell CF, Wilkerson PM, Wai P, Rodrigues DN, Arnould L, Geyer FC, Bromberg SE, Lacroix-Triki M, Penault-Llorca F, Giard S, Sastre-Garau X, Natrajan R, Norton L, Cottu PH, Weigelt B, Vincent-Salomon A, Reis-Filho JS
Lien Pubmed
Résumé
BACKGROUND: HER2 is overexpressed and amplified in approximately 15% of invasive breast cancers, and is the molecular target and predictive marker of response to anti-HER2 agents. In a subset of these cases, heterogeneous distribution of HER2 gene amplification can be found, which creates clinically challenging scenarios. Currently, breast cancers with HER2 amplification/overexpression in just over 10% of cancer cells are considered HER2-positive for clinical purposes; however, it is unclear as to whether the HER2-negative components of such tumors would be driven by distinct genetic alterations. Here we sought to characterize the pathologic and genetic features of the HER2-positive and HER2-negative components of breast cancers with heterogeneous HER2 gene amplification and to define the repertoire of potential driver genetic alterations in the HER2-negative components of these cases. RESULTS: We separately analyzed the HER2-negative and HER2-positive components of 12 HER2 heterogeneous breast cancers using gene copy number profiling and massively parallel sequencing, and identified potential driver genetic alterations restricted to the HER2-negative cells in each case. In vitro experiments provided functional evidence to suggest that BRF2 and DSN1 overexpression/amplification, and the HER2 I767M mutation may be alterations that compensate for the lack of HER2 amplification in the HER2-negative components of HER2 heterogeneous breast cancers. CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicate that even driver genetic alterations, such as HER2 gene amplification, can be heterogeneously distributed within a cancer, and that the HER2-negative components are likely driven by genetic alterations not present in the HER2-positive components, including BRF2 and DSN1 amplification and HER2 somatic mutations.
Référence
Genome Biol. 2015 May 22;16(1):107