Clinical and pathological associations of PTEN expression in ovarian cancer: a multicentre study from the Ovarian Tumour Tissue Analysis Consortium.

BACKGROUND: PTEN loss is a putative driver in histotypes of ovarian cancer (high-grade serous (HGSOC), endometrioid (ENOC), clear cell (CCOC), mucinous (MOC), low-grade serous (LGSOC)). We aimed to characterise PTEN expression as a biomarker in epithelial ovarian cancer in a large population-based study. METHODS: Tumours from 5400 patients from a multicentre observational, prospective cohort study of the Ovarian Tumour Tissue Analysis Consortium were used to evaluate associations between immunohistochemical PTEN patterns and overall survival time, age, stage, grade, residual tumour, CD8+ tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL) counts, expression of oestrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and androgen receptor (AR) by means of Cox proportional hazard models and generalised Cochran-Mantel-Haenszel tests. RESULTS: Downregulation of cytoplasmic PTEN expression was most frequent in ENOC (most frequently in younger patients; p value = 0.0001) and CCOC and was associated with longer overall survival in HGSOC (hazard ratio: 0.78, 95% CI: 0.65-0.94, p value = 0.022). PTEN expression was associated with ER, PR and AR expression (p values: 0.0008, 0.062 and 0.0002, respectively) in HGSOC and with lower CD8 counts in CCOC (p value < 0.0001). Heterogeneous expression of PTEN was more prevalent in advanced HGSOC (p value = 0.019) and associated with higher CD8 counts (p value = 0.0016). CONCLUSIONS: PTEN loss is a frequent driver in ovarian carcinoma associating distinctly with expression of hormonal receptors and CD8+ TIL counts in HGSOC and CCOC histotypes.

High Incidence of Somatic BAP1 alterations in sporadic malignant mesothelioma.

BACKGROUND: Breast cancer 1-associated protein 1 (BAP1) is a nuclear deubiquitinase that regulates gene expression, transcription, DNA repair, and more. Several findings underscore the apparent driver role of BAP1 in malignant mesothelioma (MM). However, the reported frequency of somatic BAP1 mutations in MM varies considerably, a discrepancy that appeared related to either methodological or ethnical differences across various studies. METHODS: To address this discrepancy, we carried out comprehensive genomic and immunohistochemical (IHC) analyses to detect somatic BAP1 gene alterations in 22 frozen MM biopsies from U.S. MM patients. RESULTS: By combining Sanger sequencing, multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification, copy number analysis, and cDNA sequencing, we found alteration of BAP1 in 14 of 22 biopsies (63.6%). No changes in methylation were observed. IHC revealed normal nuclear BAP1 staining in the eight MM containing wild-type BAP1, whereas no nuclear staining was detected in the 14 MM biopsies containing tumor cells with mutated BAP1. Thus, IHC results were in agreement with those obtained by genomic analyses. We then extended IHC analysis to an independent cohort of 70 MM biopsies, of which there was insufficient material to perform molecular studies. IHC revealed loss of BAP1 nuclear staining in 47 of these 70 MM biopsies (67.1%). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings conclusively establish BAP1 as the most commonly mutated gene in MM, regardless of ethnic background or other clinical characteristics. Our data point to IHC as the most accessible and reliable technique to detect BAP1 status in MM biopsies.

BRCA1-IRIS overexpression promotes formation of aggressive breast cancers.

INTRODUCTION: Women with HER2(+) or triple negative/basal-like (TN/BL) breast cancers succumb to their cancer rapidly due, in part to acquired Herceptin resistance and lack of TN/BL-targeted therapies. BRCA1-IRIS is a recently discovered, 1399 residue, BRCA1 locus alternative product, which while sharing 1365 residues with the full-length product of this tumor suppressor gene, BRCA1/p220, it has oncoprotein-like properties. Here, we examine whether BRCA1-IRIS is a valuable treatment target for HER2(+) and/or TN/BL tumors. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Immunohistochemical staining of large cohort of human breast tumor samples using new monoclonal anti-BRCA1-IRIS antibody, followed by correlation of BRCA1-IRIS expression with that of AKT1, AKT2, p-AKT, survivin and BRCA1/p220, tumor status and age at diagnosis. Generation of subcutaneous tumors in SCID mice using human mammary epithelial (HME) cells overexpressing TERT/LT/BRCA1-IRIS, followed by comparing AKT, survivin, and BRCA1/p220 expression, tumor status and aggressiveness in these tumors to that in tumors developed using TERT/LT/Ras(V12)-overexpressing HME cells. Induction of primary and invasive rat mammary tumors using the carcinogen N-methyl-N-nitrosourea (NMU), followed by analysis of rat BRCA1-IRIS and ERα mRNA levels in these tumors. High BRCA1-IRIS expression was detected in the majority of human breast tumors analyzed, which was positively correlated with that of AKT1-, AKT2-, p-AKT-, survivin, but negatively with BRCA1/p220 expression. BRCA1-IRIS-positivity induced high-grade, early onset and metastatic HER2(+) or TN/BL tumors. TERT/LT/BRCA1-IRIS overexpressing HME cells formed invasive subcutaneous tumors that express high AKT1, AKT2, p-AKT and vimentin, but no CK19, p63 or BRCA1/p220. NMU-induced primary and invasive rat breast cancers expressed high levels of rat BRCA1-IRIS mRNA but low levels of rat ERα mRNA. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: BRCA1-IRIS overexpression triggers aggressive breast tumor formation, especially in patients with HER2(+) or TN/BL subtypes. We propose that BRCA1-IRIS inhibition may be pursued as a novel therapeutic option to treat these aggressive breast tumor subtypes.

Geminin overexpression induces mammary tumors via suppressing cytokinesis.

Aneuploidy plays an important role in the development of cancer. Here, we uncovered an oncogenic role for geminin in mitotic cells. In addition to chromatin, tyrosine phosphorylated geminin also localizes to centrosome, spindle, cleavage furrow and midbody during mitosis. Geminin binding to Aurora B prevents its binding to INCENP, and thus activation leading to lack of histone H3-(serine 10) phosphorylation, chromosome condensation failure, aborted cytokinesis and the formation of aneuploid, drug resistance cells. Geminin overexpressing human mammary epithelial cells form aneuploid, aggressive tumors in SCID mice. Geminin is overexpressed in more than half of all breast cancers analyzed. The current study reveals that geminin is a genuine oncogene that promotes cytokinesis failure and production of aneuploid, aggressive breast tumors when overexpressed and thus a worthy therapeutic target (oncotarget) for aggressive breast cancer.

Near-infrared micro-Raman spectroscopy for in vitro detection of cervical cancer.

Near-infrared Raman spectroscopy is a powerful analytical tool for detecting critical differences in biological samples with minimum interference in the Raman spectra from the native fluorescence of the samples. The technique is often suggested as a potential screening tool for cancer. In this article we report in vitro Raman spectra of squamous cells in normal and cancerous cervical human tissue from seven patients, which have good signal-to-noise ratio and which were found to be reproducible. These preliminary results show that several Raman features in these spectra could be used to distinguish cancerous cervical squamous cells from normal cervical squamous cells. In general, the Raman spectra of cervical cancer cells show intensity differences compared to those of normal squamous cell spectra. For example, several well-defined Raman peaks of collagen in the 775 to 975 cm(-1) region are observed in the case of normal squamous cells, but these are below the detection limit of normal Raman spectroscopy in the spectra of invasive cervical cancer cells. In the high frequency 2800 to 3100 cm(-1) region, it is found that the peak area under the CH stretching band is lower by a factor of approximately six in the spectra of cervical cancer cells as compared with that of the normal cells. The Raman chemical maps of regions of cancer and normal cells in the cervical epithelium made from the spectral features in the 775 to 975 cm(-1) and 2800 to 3100 cm(-1) regions are also found to show good correlation with each other.