scholarly journals The telomere length landscape of prostate cancer

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Livingstone ◽  
Yu-Jia Shiah ◽  
Takafumi N. Yamaguchi ◽  
Lawrence E. Heisler ◽  
Vincent Huang ◽  
...  

AbstractReplicative immortality is a hallmark of cancer, and can be achieved through telomere lengthening and maintenance. Although the role of telomere length in cancer has been well studied, its association to genomic features is less well known. Here, we report the telomere lengths of 392 localized prostate cancer tumours and characterize their relationship to genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic features. Shorter tumour telomere lengths are associated with elevated genomic instability, including single-nucleotide variants, indels and structural variants. Genes involved in cell proliferation and signaling are correlated with tumour telomere length at all levels of the central dogma. Telomere length is also associated with multiple clinical features of a tumour. Longer telomere lengths in non-tumour samples are associated with a lower rate of biochemical relapse. In summary, we describe the multi-level integration of telomere length, genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics in localized prostate cancer.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Livingstone ◽  
Yu-Jia Shiah ◽  
Takafumi N Yamaguchi ◽  
Lawrence E Heisler ◽  
Vincent Huang ◽  
...  

Replicative immortality is a hallmark of cancer, and can be achieved through telomere lengthening and maintenance. We report telomere lengths (TLs) of 392 localized prostate cancer tumours and characterize their relationship to genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic features. Shorter tumour TLs were associated with elevated genomic instability, including single-nucleotide variants, indels and structural variants. Genes involved in cell proliferation and signaling were correlated with tumour TL at all levels of the central dogma. TL was also associated with multiple clinical features of a tumour. Longer TLs in non-tumour (blood) samples were associated with a lower rate of biochemical relapse after definitive local therapy. Our analysis integrates multi-omics data to illuminate the relationship of specific genomic alterations in a tumour and TL in prostate cancer. Although the role of telomere length in cancer has been well studied, its association to genomic features is less well known. We describe the multi-level integration of telomere length, genomics, transcriptomics and proteomics in localized prostate cancer. Patient Summary: We examined the association between telomere length and multiple omics-level data in prostate cancer. We observed that traditional telomere mutations are rare in prostate cancer and that telomere length is associated with multiple measure of genomic instability.


Genetics ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 152 (1) ◽  
pp. 143-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Siyuan Le ◽  
J Kent Moore ◽  
James E Haber ◽  
Carol W Greider

Abstract Telomere length is maintained by the de novo addition of telomere repeats by telomerase, yet recombination can elongate telomeres in the absence of telomerase. When the yeast telomerase RNA component, TLC1, is deleted, telomeres shorten and most cells die. However, gene conversion mediated by the RAD52 pathway allows telomere lengthening in rare survivor cells. To further investigate the role of recombination in telomere maintenance, we assayed telomere length and the ability to generate survivors in several isogenic DNA recombination mutants, including rad50, rad51, rad52, rad54, rad57, xrs2, and mre11. The rad51, rad52, rad54, and rad57 mutations increased the rate of cell death in the absence of TLC1. In contrast, although the rad50, xrs2, and mre11 strains initially had short telomeres, double mutants with tlc1 did not affect the rate of cell death, and survivors were generated at later times than tlc1 alone. While none of the double mutants of recombination genes and tlc1 (except rad52 tlc1) blocked the ability to generate survivors, a rad50 rad51 tlc1 triple mutant did not allow the generation of survivors. Thus RAD50 and RAD51 define two separate pathways that collaborate to allow cells to survive in the absence of telomerase.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ianthe A. E. M. van Belzen ◽  
Alexander Schönhuth ◽  
Patrick Kemmeren ◽  
Jayne Y. Hehir-Kwa

AbstractCancer is generally characterized by acquired genomic aberrations in a broad spectrum of types and sizes, ranging from single nucleotide variants to structural variants (SVs). At least 30% of cancers have a known pathogenic SV used in diagnosis or treatment stratification. However, research into the role of SVs in cancer has been limited due to difficulties in detection. Biological and computational challenges confound SV detection in cancer samples, including intratumor heterogeneity, polyploidy, and distinguishing tumor-specific SVs from germline and somatic variants present in healthy cells. Classification of tumor-specific SVs is challenging due to inconsistencies in detected breakpoints, derived variant types and biological complexity of some rearrangements. Full-spectrum SV detection with high recall and precision requires integration of multiple algorithms and sequencing technologies to rescue variants that are difficult to resolve through individual methods. Here, we explore current strategies for integrating SV callsets and to enable the use of tumor-specific SVs in precision oncology.


Author(s):  
Jacqueline Neubauer ◽  
Shouyu Wang ◽  
Giancarlo Russo ◽  
Cordula Haas

AbstractSudden unexplained death (SUD) takes up a considerable part in overall sudden death cases, especially in adolescents and young adults. During the past decade, many channelopathy- and cardiomyopathy-associated single nucleotide variants (SNVs) have been identified in SUD studies by means of postmortem molecular autopsy, yet the number of cases that remain inconclusive is still high. Recent studies had suggested that structural variants (SVs) might play an important role in SUD, but there is no consensus on the impact of SVs on inherited cardiac diseases. In this study, we searched for potentially pathogenic SVs in 244 genes associated with cardiac diseases. Whole-exome sequencing and appropriate data analysis were performed in 45 SUD cases. Re-analysis of the exome data according to the current ACMG guidelines identified 14 pathogenic or likely pathogenic variants in 10 (22.2%) out of the 45 SUD cases, whereof 2 (4.4%) individuals had variants with likely functional effects in the channelopathy-associated genes SCN5A and TRDN and 1 (2.2%) individual in the cardiomyopathy-associated gene DTNA. In addition, 18 structural variants (SVs) were identified in 15 out of the 45 individuals. Two SVs with likely functional impairment were found in the coding regions of PDSS2 and TRPM4 in 2 SUD cases (4.4%). Both were identified as heterozygous deletions, which were confirmed by multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification. In conclusion, our findings support that SVs could contribute to the pathology of the sudden death event in some of the cases and therefore should be investigated on a routine basis in suspected SUD cases.


2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miriam W. Lagemaat ◽  
Tom W. J. Scheenen

2020 ◽  
Vol 22 (Supplement_3) ◽  
pp. iii351-iii351
Author(s):  
Frank Dubois ◽  
Ofer Shapira ◽  
Noah Greenwald ◽  
Travis Zack ◽  
Jessica W Tsai ◽  
...  

Abstract BACKGROUND Driver single nucleotide variants (SNV) and somatic copy number aberrations (SCNA) of pediatric high-grade glioma (pHGGs), including Diffuse Midline Gliomas (DMGs) are characterized. However, structural variants (SVs) in pHGGs and the mechanisms through which they contribute to glioma formation have not been systematically analyzed genome-wide. METHODS Using SvABA for SVs as well as the latest pipelines for SCNAs and SNVs we analyzed whole-genome sequencing from 174 patients. This includes 60 previously unpublished samples, 43 of which are DMGs. Signature analysis allowed us to define pHGG groups with shared SV characteristics. Significantly recurring SV breakpoints and juxtapositions were identified with algorithms we recently developed and the findings were correlated with RNAseq and H3K27ac ChIPseq. RESULTS The SV characteristics in pHGG showed three groups defined by either complex, intermediate or simple signature activities. These associated with distinct combinations of known driver oncogenes. Our statistical analysis revealed recurring SVs in the topologically associating domains of MYCN, MYC, EGFR, PDGFRA & MET. These correlated with increased mRNA expression and amplification of H3K27ac peaks. Complex recurring amplifications showed characteristics of extrachromosomal amplicons and were enriched in coding SVs splitting protein regulatory from effector domains. Integrative analysis of all SCNAs, SNVs & SVs revealed patterns of characteristic combinations between potential drivers and signatures. This included two distinct groups of H3K27M DMGs with either complex or simple signatures and different combinations of associated variants. CONCLUSION Recurrent SVs associate with signatures shaped by an underlying process, which can lead to distinct mechanisms to activate the same oncogene.


Reproduction ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 151 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
C de Frutos ◽  
A P López-Cardona ◽  
N Fonseca Balvís ◽  
R Laguna-Barraza ◽  
D Rizos ◽  
...  

Offspring telomere length (TL) has been correlated with paternal TL, but the mechanism for this parent of origin-specific inheritance remains unclear. The objective of this study has been to determine the role of spermatozoa TL in embryonic telomere lengthening by using two mouse models showing dimorphism in their spermatozoa TL: Mus musculus vs Mus spretus and old vs young Mus musculus. Mus spretus spermatozoa displayed a shorter TL than Mus musculus. Hybrid offspring exhibited lower TL compared with Mus musculus starting at the two-cell stage, before the onset of telomerase expression. To analyze the role of spermatozoa telomeres in early telomere lengthening, we compared the TL in oocytes, zygotes, two-cell embryos and blastocysts produced by parthenogenesis or by fertilization with Mus musculus or Mus spretus spermatozoa. TL was significantly higher in spermatozoa compared with oocytes, and it increased significantly from the oocyte to the zygote stage in those embryos fertilized with Mus musculus spermatozoa, but not in those fertilized with Mus spretus spermatozoa or produced by parthenogenesis. A further increase was noted from the zygote to the two-cell stage in fertilized Mus musculus embryos, whereas hybrid embryos maintained the oocyte TL. Spermatozoa TL shortened with age in Mus musculus and the offspring from young males showed a significantly higher TL compared with that fathered by old males. These significant differences were already noticeable at the two-cell stage. These results suggest that spermatozoa telomeres act as a guide for telomerase-independent telomere lengthening resulting in differences in TL that persist after birth.Free Spanish abstract: A Spanish translation of this abstract is freely available at http://www.reproduction-online.org/content/151/1/1/suppl/DC1.


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