Shiyun Ling

Molecular Profiling Reveals Biologically Discrete Subsets and Pathways of Progression in Diffuse Glioma

Therapy development for adult diffuse glioma is hindered by incomplete knowledge of somatic glioma driving alterations and suboptimal disease classification. We defined the complete set of genes associated with 1,122 diffuse grade II-III-IV gliomas from The Cancer Genome Atlas and used molecular profiles to improve disease classification, identify molecular correlations, and provide insights into the progression from low- to high-grade disease. Whole-genome sequencing data analysis determined that ATRX but not TERT promoter mutations are associated with increased telomere length. Recent advances in glioma classification based on IDH mutation and 1p/19q co-deletion status were recapitulated through analysis of DNA methylation profiles, which identified clinically relevant molecular subsets. A subtype of IDH mutant glioma was associated with DNA demethylation and poor outcome; a group of IDH-wild-type diffuse glioma showed molecular similarity to pilocytic astrocytoma and relatively favorable survival. Understanding of cohesive disease groups may aid improved clinical outcomes.

A pan-cancer proteomic perspective on The Cancer Genome Atlas

Protein levels and function are poorly predicted by genomic and transcriptomic analysis of patient tumors. Therefore, direct study of the functional proteome has the potential to provide a wealth of information that complements and extends genomic, epigenomic and transcriptomic analysis in The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) projects. Here we use reverse-phase protein arrays to analyze 3,467 patient samples from 11 TCGA “Pan-Cancer” diseases, using 181 high-quality antibodies that target 128 total proteins and 53 post-translationally modified proteins. The resultant proteomic data is integrated with genomic and transcriptomic analyses of the same samples to identify commonalities, differences, emergent pathways and network biology within and across tumor lineages. In addition, tissue-specific signals are reduced computationally to enhance biomarker and target discovery spanning multiple tumor lineages. This integrative analysis, with an emphasis on pathways and potentially actionable proteins, provides a framework for determining the prognostic, predictive and therapeutic relevance of the functional proteome.

Distinct patterns of somatic genome alterations in lung adenocarcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas

To compare lung adenocarcinoma (ADC) and lung squamous cell carcinoma (SqCC) and to identify new drivers of lung carcinogenesis, we examined the exome sequences and copy number profiles of 660 lung ADC and 484 lung SqCC tumor–normal pairs. Recurrent alterations in lung SqCCs were more similar to those of other squamous carcinomas than to alterations in lung ADCs. New significantly mutated genes included PPP3CA, DOT1L, and FTSJD1 in lung ADC, RASA1 in lung SqCC, and KLF5, EP300, and CREBBP in both tumor types. New amplification peaks encompassed MIR21 in lung ADC, MIR205 in lung SqCC, and MAPK1 in both. Lung ADCs lacking receptor tyrosine kinase–Ras–Raf pathway alterations had mutations in SOS1, VAV1, RASA1, and ARHGAP35. Regarding neoantigens, 47% of the lung ADC and 53% of the lung SqCC tumors had at least five predicted neoepitopes. Although targeted therapies for lung ADC and SqCC are largely distinct, immunotherapies may aid in treatment for both subtypes.

Characterization of Human Cancer Cell Lines by Reverse-phase Protein Arrays

Cancer cell lines are major model systems for mechanistic investigation and drug development. However, protein expression data linked to high-quality DNA, RNA, and drug-screening data have not been available across a large number of cancer cell lines. Using reverse-phase protein arrays, we measured expression levels of ∼230 key cancer-related proteins in >650 independent cell lines, many of which have publically available genomic, transcriptomic, and drug-screening data. Our dataset recapitulates the effects of mutated pathways on protein expression observed in patient samples, and demonstrates that proteins and particularly phosphoproteins provide information for predicting drug sensitivity that is not available from the corresponding mRNAs. We also developed a user-friendly bioinformatic resource, MCLP, to help serve the biomedical research community.

Corrigendum: A pan-cancer proteomic perspective on The Cancer Genome Atlas

Nature Communications 5: Article number: 3887 (2014); Published 29 May 2014; Updated 28 Jan 2015 This Article contains an error in the Author contributions section that has resulted in incorrect credit for supervision of the network analysis. The correct Author contributions section is as follows: R.A.

Abstract 4371: Integrated molecular characterization of pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma including a novel, recurrent and prognostic fusion gene

Pheochromocytomas (PCC) and paragangliomas (PGL) are tumors of the autonomic nervous system; 25% are metastatic or locally aggressive. Characterization of the inherited basis of disease has identified a variety of underlying germline mutations; however, understanding of somatic alterations remains limited. As part of The Cancer Genome Atlas, we performed the most comprehensive genomic characterization of PCC/PGL to date, by applying eight genomic profiling assays to 173 patients. Despite having a low overall mutation rate per tumor, we observed remarkable diversity in genomic alterations. 27% of patients had a pathogenic germline mutation among eight known familial PCC/PGL susceptibility genes, thus making PCC/PGL the tumor type with the greatest rate of germline mutations in The Cancer Genome Atlas. 38% of patients possessed a somatic driver mutation across 12 genes. RET, NF1 and VHL were affected by both germline and somatic mutation, albeit with different mutation site tendencies. We identified a new somatic driver gene, CSDE1, which had coordinated intron splicing defects, DNA copy number loss, and RNA under-expression, suggesting a loss of function consequence. Most notably, we discovered the first fusion genes in PCC/PGL from RNA and DNA sequencing (7% of patients), demonstrating for the first time that inter-chromosomal translocation and gene fusion is a method of molecular pathogenesis in this disease. Recurrent, novel MAML3 fusion genes spanned three isoforms and were activating based on over-expression of MAML3 and on fusion transcript exonic expression. MAML3 fusion positive tumors had concomitant dual focal DNA amplification of the fusion gene partners and a significantly divergent methylation profile. Another novel driver gene in PCC/PGL, BRAF, was affected by a hotspot somatic mutation and by an activating fusion gene. Through integrated platform analysis, four statistically significant molecular subtypes of PCC/PGL were detected and found to represent divergent molecular etiology – the kinase signaling subtype, the pseudohypoxia subtype, the Wnt-altered subtype, and the cortical admixture subtype. In particular, MAML3 fusions and CSDE1 mutations defined the new Wnt-altered expression subtype of PCC. Adding to the limited set of prognostic markers in PCC/PGL, three molecular markers were positively associated with clinically aggressive disease: germline mutations in SDHB, somatic mutations in ATRX and fusions involving MAML3. Nearly all somatic driver mutations, germline driver mutations and fusion genes were mutually exclusive across the cohort and covered a large portion of the cohort (69%). Our study provides important novel insights into PCC/PGL biology and identifies potential markers for aggressive disease and therapeutic intervention. Citation Format: Lauren Fishbein, Ignaty Leshchiner, Vonn Walter, Ludmila Danilova, A Gordon Robertson, Amy Johnson, Tara Lichtenberg, Bradley A. Murray, Hanse K. Ghayee, Tobias Else, Shiyun Ling, Stuart R. Jefferys, Aguirre A. de Cubas, Brandon Wenz, Esther Korpershoek, Antonio L. Amelio, Liza Makowski, W Kimryn Rathmell, Anne-Paule Gimenez-Roqueplo, Thomas J. Giordano, Sylvia L. Asa, Arthur S. Tischler, The Cancer Genome Atlas Pheochromocytoma and Paraganglioma Analysis Working Group, Karel Pacak, Katherine L. Nathanson, Matthew D. Wilkerson. Integrated molecular characterization of pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma including a novel, recurrent and prognostic fusion gene. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 4371.