Abstract 883: Defining the observed mutual exclusivity between SF3B1 and TP53 mutations in cancer

Abstract

Abstract SF3B1 is the most commonly mutated splicing factor in cancer, occurring in a broad variety of hematologic and solid malignancies, including: breast, melanoma, pancreatic, bladder, colorectal, leukemia, and more. SF3B1 is a protein component of the spliceosome responsible for recognizing intronic splice sites and stabilizing the interaction between the spliceosome and pre-mRNA transcripts. Hotspot mutations in SF3B1 result in a neomorphic protein that causes aberrant splicing of hundreds of transcripts. These transcriptional alterations have several proposed impacts on known cancer pathways; however, the mechanisms by which SF3B1 mutations contribute to tumorigenesis are incompletely understood. Interestingly, systematic analysis of online cancer databases shows SF3B1 mutations and TP53 alterations are mutually exclusive in cancers with predominant SF3B1 hotspots, suggesting either synthetic lethality or overlapping roles in promoting tumorigenesis. To address this question, TP53 was knocked-out using CRISPR-Cas9 in AAV-generated SF3B1 K700E mutant knock-in and wild type MCF-10A breast epithelial cells. Successful generation of TP53 knock-outs in both the SF3B1 mutant and wild type groups suggests the mutations are unlikely to be synthetic lethal. Instead, this finding may direct us to novel mechanisms by which SF3B1 mutations contribute to cancer development and progression. Two overarching areas of interest based on preliminary data include changes in mitochondrial metabolism and metabolic reprogramming and alterations in DNA damage, repair, and genomic stability. Further defining the relationship between mutant SF3B1 and TP53 may reveal new mechanisms of tumorigenesis and reveal therapeutic vulnerabilities that can be additionally leveraged against the large subset of cancers with TP53 mutations. Citation Format: Riley Bergman, Ben Park, Sarah Croessmann. Defining the observed mutual exclusivity between SF3B1 and TP53 mutations in cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2022; 2022 Apr 8-13. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(12_Suppl):Abstract nr 883.