Clonality and evolutionary history of rhabdomyosarcoma

PLoS Genet. 2015 Mar 13;11(3):e1005075. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgen.1005075. eCollection 2015 Mar.

Abstract

To infer the subclonality of rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) and predict the temporal order of genetic events for the tumorigenic process, and to identify novel drivers, we applied a systematic method that takes into account germline and somatic alterations in 44 tumor-normal RMS pairs using deep whole-genome sequencing. Intriguingly, we find that loss of heterozygosity of 11p15.5 and mutations in RAS pathway genes occur early in the evolutionary history of the PAX-fusion-negative-RMS (PFN-RMS) subtype. We discover several early mutations in non-RAS mutated samples and predict them to be drivers in PFN-RMS including recurrent mutation of PKN1. In contrast, we find that PAX-fusion-positive (PFP) subtype tumors have undergone whole-genome duplication in the late stage of cancer evolutionary history and have acquired fewer mutations and subclones than PFN-RMS. Moreover we predict that the PAX3-FOXO1 fusion event occurs earlier than the whole genome duplication. Our findings provide information critical to the understanding of tumorigenesis of RMS.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Child
  • Child, Preschool
  • Chromosomes, Human, Pair 11
  • Genome, Human*
  • Genome-Wide Association Study
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Loss of Heterozygosity
  • Oncogene Proteins, Fusion / genetics
  • Paired Box Transcription Factors / genetics
  • Rhabdomyosarcoma / genetics*
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA*

Substances

  • Oncogene Proteins, Fusion
  • PAX3-FOXO1A fusion protein, human
  • Paired Box Transcription Factors