Abstract B38: Virome assembly and annotation in brain tissue based on next-generation sequencing

Abstract

Abstract Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is one of the most lethal brain tumors, and the virosphere in brain and its correlation with GBM triggering is controversy. The previous research in brain virosphere was mainly limited to the presence of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV); a comprehensive assessment of the brain virome based on the recently sequenced data and the understanding of the novel sequences that cannot be mapped to the known reference sequences are lacking. Here, we characterized the virome from 111 GBM samples and 57 normal brain samples from 8 projects in SRA database by known and novel viruses in a tested and comprehensive assembly approach. The annotation of those contigs showed most of the viral sequences belongs to the Retroviridae. A novel picornavirus, which was recently discovered from the invertebrate, can be detected in some GBM samples in full genome length. Furthermore, our analysis showed that the herpes virus fragments that are annotated as Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) only exist in the GBM with less than 1% of the EBV whole genome, supporting the absence of herpes virus in GBM. The further analysis showed that the contigs that have no annotations from the known databases may have the antibody properties and antibody epitopes to be the future drug targets. In this study, we characterized the virosphere in GBM and normal brain at a global level, to provide a basis for future GBM research and therapies. Citation Format: Zihao Yuan, Xiaohua Ye, Ningyan Zhang, Zhiqiang An, Wenjin Zheng. Virome assembly and annotation in brain tissue based on next-generation sequencing [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on the Microbiome, Viruses, and Cancer; 2020 Feb 21-24; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(8 Suppl):Abstract nr B38.