Feasibility of blood testing combined with PET-CT to screen for cancer and guide intervention.

Cancer treatments are often more successful when the disease is detected early. We evaluated the feasibility and safety of multicancer blood testing coupled with positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) imaging to detect cancer in a prospective, interventional study of 10,006 women not previously known to have cancer. Positive blood tests were independently confirmed by a diagnostic PET-CT, which also localized the cancer. Twenty-six cancers were detected by blood testing. Of these, 15 underwent PET-CT imaging and nine (60%) were surgically excised. Twenty-four additional cancers were detected by standard-of-care screening and 46 by neither approach. One percent of participants underwent PET-CT imaging based on false-positive blood tests, and 0.22% underwent a futile invasive diagnostic procedure. These data demonstrate that multicancer blood testing combined with PET-CT can be safely incorporated into routine clinical care, in some cases leading to surgery with intent to cure.

Personalized genomic analyses for cancer mutation discovery and interpretation.

Massively parallel sequencing approaches are beginning to be used clinically to characterize individual patient tumors and to select therapies based on the identified mutations. A major question in these analyses is the extent to which these methods identify clinically actionable alterations and whether the examination of the tumor tissue alone is sufficient or whether matched normal DNA should also be analyzed to accurately identify tumor-specific (somatic) alterations. To address these issues, we comprehensively evaluated 815 tumor-normal paired samples from patients of 15 tumor types. We identified genomic alterations using next-generation sequencing of whole exomes or 111 targeted genes that were validated with sensitivities >95% and >99%, respectively, and specificities >99.99%. These analyses revealed an average of 140 and 4.3 somatic mutations per exome and targeted analysis, respectively. More than 75% of cases had somatic alterations in genes associated with known therapies or current clinical trials. Analyses of matched normal DNA identified germline alterations in cancer-predisposing genes in 3% of patients with apparently sporadic cancers. In contrast, a tumor-only sequencing approach could not definitively identify germline changes in cancer-predisposing genes and led to additional false-positive findings comprising 31% and 65% of alterations identified in targeted and exome analyses, respectively, including in potentially actionable genes. These data suggest that matched tumor-normal sequencing analyses are essential for precise identification and interpretation of somatic and germline alterations and have important implications for the diagnostic and therapeutic management of cancer patients.

Genomic analyses of gynaecologic carcinosarcomas reveal frequent mutations in chromatin remodelling genes.

Malignant mixed Müllerian tumours, also known as carcinosarcomas, are rare tumours of gynaecological origin. Here we perform whole-exome analyses of 22 tumours using massively parallel sequencing to determine the mutational landscape of this tumour type. On average, we identify 43 mutations per tumour, excluding four cases with a mutator phenotype that harboured inactivating mutations in mismatch repair genes. In addition to mutations in TP53 and KRAS, we identify genetic alterations in chromatin remodelling genes, ARID1A and ARID1B, in histone methyltransferase MLL3, in histone deacetylase modifier SPOP and in chromatin assembly factor BAZ1A, in nearly two thirds of cases. Alterations in genes with potential clinical utility are observed in more than three quarters of the cases and included members of the PI3-kinase and homologous DNA repair pathways. These findings highlight the importance of the dysregulation of chromatin remodelling in carcinosarcoma tumorigenesis and suggest new avenues for personalized therapy.

Integrated next-generation sequencing and avatar mouse models for personalized cancer treatment.

BACKGROUND: Current technology permits an unbiased massive analysis of somatic genetic alterations from tumor DNA as well as the generation of individualized mouse xenografts (Avatar models). This work aimed to evaluate our experience integrating these two strategies to personalize the treatment of patients with cancer. METHODS: We performed whole-exome sequencing analysis of 25 patients with advanced solid tumors to identify putatively actionable tumor-specific genomic alterations. Avatar models were used as an in vivo platform to test proposed treatment strategies. RESULTS: Successful exome sequencing analyses have been obtained for 23 patients. Tumor-specific mutations and copy-number variations were identified. All samples profiled contained relevant genomic alterations. Tumor was implanted to create an Avatar model from 14 patients and 10 succeeded. Occasionally, actionable alterations such as mutations in NF1, PI3KA, and DDR2 failed to provide any benefit when a targeted drug was tested in the Avatar and, accordingly, treatment of the patients with these drugs was not effective. To date, 13 patients have received a personalized treatment and 6 achieved durable partial remissions. Prior testing of candidate treatments in Avatar models correlated with clinical response and helped to select empirical treatments in some patients with no actionable mutations. CONCLUSION: The use of full genomic analysis for cancer care is encouraging but presents important challenges that will need to be solved for broad clinical application. Avatar models are a promising investigational platform for therapeutic decision making. While limitations still exist, this strategy should be further tested.

Effect of tumor necrosis factor alpha on electrically induced calcium transients elicited in C2C12 skeletal myotubes.

Diseases involving chronic inflammation can lead to prolonged exposure of skeletal muscle to inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFalpha), which may contribute to the skeletal muscle weakness seen in these conditions. In this study we examined the effect of a prolonged exposure to TNFalpha on intracellular Ca(2+) transients elicited in skeletal C(2)C(12) myotubes. A 48-h exposure to TNFalpha (10 ng/mL) significantly reduced the peaks, time to peak, and rate of Ca(2+) decay of electrically induced Ca(2+) transients elicited in C(2)C(12) skeletal myotubes. TNFalpha exposure had no significant effect on the resting Ca(2+) levels. The results of this study indicate that prolonged exposure to TNFalpha decreases sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca(2+) release in cultured skeletal muscle cells. This altered Ca(2+) release could contribute to the muscle weakness found in conditions involving chronic inflammation.

Improved marker combination for detection of de novo genetic variation and aberrant DNA in colorectal neoplasia.

BACKGROUND: The genetic heterogeneity of sporadic colorectal cancer (CRC) makes the choice of genetic markers and sequence variation-detection technologies critical to the performance of screening assays. We have previously described the effectiveness of a CRC assay composed of 22 known variants in KRAS, APC, TP53, and BAT-26 (V1). We introduce a new marker formulation (V2) that includes detection of de novo variation in APC, PIK3CA, and CTNNB1, hypermethylated sequences within SMARCA3 and VIM, and a single-base variation within BRAF. We compared the abilities of the V1 and V2 markers to detect aberrant DNA in colorectal neoplasias. METHODS: V1 and V2 marker formulations were used to analyze 144 colorectal tissue samples comprising 50 precancerous adenomas, 94 carcinomas, and 11 nonpathologic tissues. V1 analysis consisted of single-base extension analysis of the 22 V1 variants. V2 analysis consisted of DNA scanning of the APC mutation cluster region, PIK3CA exons 9 and 20, CTNNB1 exon 3, analysis for the BRAF Val600Glu substitution, and methylation-specific PCR analysis of VIM and SMARCA3. RESULTS: The V2 marker formulation had significantly higher sensitivity than the V1 markers for carcinomas (93.6% and 72.3%, respectively; P = 0.0002) and adenomas (92.0% and 62.0%, respectively; P = 0.0006). None of the nonpathologic samples were positive for any marker. CONCLUSIONS: We demonstrate improved sensitivity of a new marker formulation (V2) to detect aberrant DNA in CRC and precancerous adenoma tumor tissues.

Enhanced retrieval of DNA from human fecal samples results in improved performance of colorectal cancer screening test.

Colorectal cancer accounts for more than 10% of all cancer deaths but is curable, if detected early. We reported previously on a stool-based screening test in which DNA from stool samples is subjected to genome analysis; sensitivity of the test has been limited in part by inefficiency of retrieving DNA from stool. Our aim was to test the impact of a new purification method that would increase the yield of human DNA from stool. DNA from 86 cancer and 100 non-cancer subjects (diagnosed by colonoscopy) were purified from stool with a new method for DNA recovery based on sequence-specific capture with acrylamide gel immobilized capture probes as well as with a previously developed magnetic bead-capture procedure. The new purification method gives an average 5.4-fold increase in the quantity of human DNA that can routinely be retrieved from fecal samples. The increased recovery of DNA corresponds with an increase in assay sensitivity from 53% (CI: 42 to 64%) to 70% (CI: 59 to 79%); P = 0.0005 (by McNemar's test), with no change in specificity. The newly developed sample preparation method mitigates a major problem in detecting rare cancer-associated genetic changes in heterogeneous clinical samples such as stool.