Chromosomal instability selects gene copy number variants encoding core regulators of proliferation in ER+ breast cancer
Menée sur des lignées cellulaires et à partir de données issues du projet "The Cancer Genome Atlas", cette étude met en évidence des mécanismes par lesquels une instabilité chromosomique favorise la prolifération des cellules tumorales d'un cancer du sein ER+
Chromosomal instability (CIN) is associated with poor outcome in epithelial malignancies including breast carcinomas. Evidence suggests that prognostic signatures in estrogen receptor-positive (ER+) breast cancer define tumors with CIN and high proliferative potential. Intriguingly, CIN induction in lower eukaryotic cells and human cells is context-dependent, typically resulting in a proliferation disadvantage but conferring a fitness benefit under strong selection pressures. We hypothesised that CIN permits accelerated genomic evolution through the generation of diverse DNA copy number events that may be selected during disease development. In support of this hypothesis, we found evidence for selection of gene amplification of core regulators of proliferation in CIN-associated cancer genomes. Stable DNA copy number amplifications of the core regulators TPX2 and UBE2C were associated with expression of a gene module involved in proliferation. The module genes were enriched within prognostic signature gene sets for ER+ breast cancer, providing a logical connection between CIN and prognostic signature expression. Our results provide a framework to decipher the impact of intratumor heterogeneity on key cancer phenotypes, and they suggest that CIN provides a permissive landscape for selection of copy number alterations which drive cancer proliferation.