Journal Article

Sequencing of Candidate Chromosome Instability Genes in Endometrial Cancers Reveals Somatic Mutations in ESCO1, CHTF18, and MRE11A

Hansen, Nancy F., Rudd, Meghan L., Hieter, Philip, Bell, Daphne W., Merino, Maria J., Price, Jessica C., Mohamed, Hassan, Hanigan, Christin L., Fogoros, Sarah K., Cruz, Pedro, Pollock, Lana M., Mullikin, James C., Sgroi, Dennis C., Le Gallo, Matthieu, Cherukuri, Praveen F., Zhang, Suiyuan, McManus, Kirk J., Godwin, Andrew K.

2013

Overview

Most endometrial cancers can be classified histologically as endometrioid, serous, or clear cell. Non-endometrioid endometrial cancers (NEECs; serous and clear cell) are the most clinically aggressive of the three major histotypes and are characterized by aneuploidy, a feature of chromosome instability. The genetic alterations that underlie chromosome instability in endometrial cancer are poorly understood. In the present study, we used Sanger sequencing to search for nucleotide variants in the coding exons and splice junctions of 21 candidate chromosome instability genes, including 19 genes implicated in sister chromatid cohesion, from 24 primary, microsatellite-stable NEECs. Somatic mutations were verified by sequencing matched normal DNAs. We subsequently resequenced mutated genes from 41 additional NEECs as well as 42 endometrioid ECs (EECs). We uncovered nonsynonymous somatic mutations in ESCO1, CHTF18, and MRE11A in, respectively, 3.7% (4 of 107), 1.9% (2 of 107), and 1.9% (2 of 107) of endometrial tumors. Overall, 7.7% (5 of 65) of NEECs and 2.4% (1 of 42) of EECs had somatically mutated one or more of the three genes. A subset of mutations are predicted to impact protein function. The co-occurrence of somatic mutations in ESCO1 and CHTF18 was statistically significant (P = 0.0011, two-tailed Fisher's exact test). This is the first report of somatic mutations within ESCO1 and CHTF18 in endometrial tumors and of MRE11A mutations in microsatellite-stable endometrial tumors. Our findings warrant future studies to determine whether these mutations are driver events that contribute to the pathogenesis of endometrial cancer.

• Publisher: Public Library of Science,Public Library of Science (PLoS)
• Subject: Acetyltransferases - genetics / Aneuploidy / Antigens / ATPases Associated with Diverse Cellular Activities / Biology / Cancer / Carrier Proteins - genetics / Cell Line, Tumor / Chromosomal Instability - genetics / Chromosomes / Deoxyribonucleic acid / DNA / DNA Mutational Analysis / DNA polymerase / DNA sequencing / DNA-Binding Proteins - genetics / Endometrial cancer / Endometrial Neoplasms - genetics / Endometrium / Exons / Female / Gene mutation / Gene sequencing / Genes / Genetic aspects / Genetic Association Studies / Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Genetics / Genomes / Humans / Impact prediction / Instability / Laboratories / Medical prognosis / Medical research / Medicine / Microsatellites / MRE11 Homologue Protein / Mutation / Mutation - genetics / Nuclear Proteins - genetics / Pathogenesis / Physiological aspects / Proteins / Splice junctions / Stability / Statistical analysis / Tumors / Uterine cancer