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. 2020 Feb 20;180(4):729-748.e26.
doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2020.01.026. Epub 2020 Feb 13.

Proteogenomic Characterization of Endometrial Carcinoma

Yongchao Dou  1 Emily A Kawaler  2 Daniel Cui Zhou  3 Marina A Gritsenko  4 Chen Huang  1 Lili Blumenberg  5 Alla Karpova  3 Vladislav A Petyuk  4 Sara R Savage  1 Shankha Satpathy  6 Wenke Liu  2 Yige Wu  3 Chia-Feng Tsai  4 Bo Wen  1 Zhi Li  2 Song Cao  3 Jamie Moon  4 Zhiao Shi  1 MacIntosh Cornwell  2 Matthew A Wyczalkowski  3 Rosalie K Chu  4 Suhas Vasaikar  7 Hua Zhou  2 Qingsong Gao  3 Ronald J Moore  4 Kai Li  1 Sunantha Sethuraman  3 Matthew E Monroe  4 Rui Zhao  4 David Heiman  6 Karsten Krug  6 Karl Clauser  6 Ramani Kothadia  6 Yosef Maruvka  6 Alexander R Pico  8 Amanda E Oliphant  9 Emily L Hoskins  9 Samuel L Pugh  9 Sean J I Beecroft  9 David W Adams  9 Jonathan C Jarman  9 Andy Kong  10 Hui-Yin Chang  10 Boris Reva  11 Yuxing Liao  1 Dmitry Rykunov  11 Antonio Colaprico  12 Xi Steven Chen  12 Andrzej Czekański  13 Marcin Jędryka  13 Rafał Matkowski  13 Maciej Wiznerowicz  14 Tara Hiltke  15 Emily Boja  15 Christopher R Kinsinger  15 Mehdi Mesri  15 Ana I Robles  15 Henry Rodriguez  15 David Mutch  16 Katherine Fuh  16 Matthew J Ellis  1 Deborah DeLair  17 Mathangi Thiagarajan  18 D R Mani  6 Gad Getz  6 Michael Noble  6 Alexey I Nesvizhskii  19 Pei Wang  11 Matthew L Anderson  20 Douglas A Levine  21 Richard D Smith  4 Samuel H Payne  9 Kelly V Ruggles  5 Karin D Rodland  22 Li Ding  23 Bing Zhang  24 Tao Liu  25 David Fenyö  26 Clinical Proteomic Tumor Analysis Consortium
Collaborators, Affiliations

Proteogenomic Characterization of Endometrial Carcinoma

Yongchao Dou et al. Cell. .

Abstract

We undertook a comprehensive proteogenomic characterization of 95 prospectively collected endometrial carcinomas, comprising 83 endometrioid and 12 serous tumors. This analysis revealed possible new consequences of perturbations to the p53 and Wnt/β-catenin pathways, identified a potential role for circRNAs in the epithelial-mesenchymal transition, and provided new information about proteomic markers of clinical and genomic tumor subgroups, including relationships to known druggable pathways. An extensive genome-wide acetylation survey yielded insights into regulatory mechanisms linking Wnt signaling and histone acetylation. We also characterized aspects of the tumor immune landscape, including immunogenic alterations, neoantigens, common cancer/testis antigens, and the immune microenvironment, all of which can inform immunotherapy decisions. Collectively, our multi-omic analyses provide a valuable resource for researchers and clinicians, identify new molecular associations of potential mechanistic significance in the development of endometrial cancers, and suggest novel approaches for identifying potential therapeutic targets.

Keywords: CTNNB1; TP53; acetylation; circular RNA; endometrial cancer; endometrioid endometrial cancer; immune evasion; proteogenomics; proteomics; serous endometrial cancer.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration Of Interests The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.. Proteogenomic Summary of the Cohort
Samples are ordered by genomic subtype and then by histology. Representative pathways are shown for genes with the greatest variation between subtypes. For each sample, we display mutation load, copy number indices (at both global and arm levels), and mutation status in SMGs. See also Figure S2; Table S3.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.. Effects of Somatic Mutations
(A) Cis and trans effects of mutations in EC SMGs. Affected proteins and phosphoproteins are grouped by pathway. (B) Effects of missense and truncation mutations. (C) Effects of CTNNB1 mutations. (D) p53 binds DNA as a tetramer. Highlighted in red is a mutation-phosphosite cluster that directly affects the DNA binding domain of p53. (E) Effects of TP53 mutations. See also Figure S3.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.. Acetylation
(A) Associations of the levels of key acetylation enzymes with histone acetylation sites. (B) Change in acetylation levels between tumor samples and normal endometrium samples. The horizontal line denotes an FDR cutoff of 0.05, and the vertical lines denote a fold change of 0.4. Grey points represent sites whose acetylation change is explained by a change in protein levels. (C) Association between histone acetylation sites and mutated SMGs. The acetylation change is shown for the most significant site in each histone protein. (D-F) Acetylation-level changes in specific histone sites in WT and mutated samples for CTNNB1 (D), ARID1A (E), and KRAS (F). See also Figure S4.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.. Proteomics Data Reveal SCNA and DNA Methylation Drivers of Tumor Progression
(A) MLH1 and HOX family genes are directly affected by DNA methylation. Samples are ranked from lowest (left) to highest (right) DNA methylation levels. (B) Effects of SCNA on mRNA and protein levels. Top: copy number correlation with mRNA (left) and protein (right). Positive and negative correlations are indicated in red and blue, respectively. Bottom: the frequency of correlations. Blue bars represent copy number correlation with mRNA (left) and protein (right), and black bars represent copy number correlation to both mRNA and protein. (C) 1q amplification is anticorrelated with p53 pathway activity. The samples are ranked based on their inferred p53 pathway activity. The triangles denote recurrent TP53 mutations across multiple cancer types. (D) Identifying novel p53 inhibitors encoded on 1q. On the top, all quantifiable genes in proteomics, transcriptomics, and copy number alterations are ranked based on the correlation between the protein level and p53 activity. On the bottom, from top to bottom, 1q genes, 1q genes with SCNA cis effects, and 1q histone modifiers with SCNA cis effects are highlighted. (E) The correlation between SCNAs, mRNA level, and protein levelsfor1q histone modifiers. Samples are ranked from lowest (left) to highest (right) copy number values. (F) SETDB1 protein levels showed anticorrelation with CDKN1A RNA. See also Figure S5; Table S5.
Figure 5.
Figure 5.. Discovery of circRNAs and Their Potential Roles in EMT Regulation
(A) Distributions of correlations between pairs of circRNAs and between circRNAs and their host genes. (B) Numbers of circRNAs correlated to RBPs. (C) Positive correlation is found between QKI protein level and EMT score. (D) Negative correlation is found between QKI and ESRP2 protein levels. (E) Correlation between QKI protein level and miRNA expression/activity. (F) Schematic of our model shows QKI, circRNAs, and miRNAs forming a positive feedback loop to promote EMT in EC. See also Figure S6; Table S5.
Figure 6.
Figure 6.. Proteomics-Driven Clinical Utility
(A) Differential levels of protein (green), phosphorylation sites (maroon), and acetylation sites (yellow) between MSI and MSS tumors. (B) Comparison of RPL22L1 protein levels between MSI tumors with and without RPL22 indel and MSS tumors. (C) Differential levels of protein (green), phosphorylation sites (maroon), and acetylation sites (yellow) between serous and endometrioid tumors. (D-F) Correlation between PLK1 level and the levels of its substrates TP53BP1-S1763 (D) and CHEK2-S163 (E) and G2M checkpoint protein level (F). (G) Dependence of PLK1 level on DNA damage signaling. * indicates p < 0.05 (H) Proteins with drug interactions that are enriched in DDR-high endometrioid and/or DDR-high serous samples (outlier analysis FDR < 0.05). (I) Proteins with drug interactions that are enriched in serous or endometrioid CNV-high samples (outlier analysis FDR < 0.05). See also Figure S7; Table S6.
Figure 7.
Figure 7.. Immune Landscape of EC
(A) Putative neoantigens and CT antigens. (B) Tumor samples are divided into four immune subtypes by TMB and APM efficiency. (C) Immune profiles of each immune subtype. (D) Comparison of the JAK/STAT pathway between TMB-H/APM-H and TMB-H/APM-L groups. * indicates p < 0.05; *** indicates p < 0.001. See also Table S7.

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