WHOLE EXOME SEQUENCING IDENTIFIED THAT THE MAPK AND PI3K PATHWAYS ARE THE MAIN TARGETS FOR MUTATIONS IN INTRACRANIAL GERM CELL TUMORS

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Intracranial germ cell tumors (iGCTs) are rare in the Western countries, however they are the second most common brain tumors in patients under 14 in Japan. Unlike other common pediatric brain tumors, the biology of iGCTs is largely unknown. METHODS: We performed a whole exome sequencing in a large series of iGCTs to elucidate their molecular pathogenesis. A total of 198 germ cell tumors (GCTs) including 133 iGCTs (69 pure germinomas, 56 NGGCTs and 8 metastatic tumors) as well as 65 testicular germ cell tumors (tGCTs) (39 seminomas and 26 non-seminoma GCTs) were collected from 13 centers participating in the Intracranial Germ Cell Tumor Consortium in Japan. Somatic mutations in all coding exons were investigated by whole exome sequencing (WES) in 41 tumors and the matched normal DNAs. Based on the WES data, 41 candidate genes were selected according to the frequency and/or significance of the mutations found. All coding exons of these 41 genes spanning over 160kb were PCR-amplified in a further 157 GCTs and sequenced using the IonTorrent system. The results were integrated with the patients' clinical information that was available for 124 iGCT patients. RESULTS: On average, 15.4 non-synonymous somatic mutations were observed in each tumor, ranging from 1 to 140 by WES in 41 iGCTs. The combined WES and IonTorrent screenings showed that KIT was the most frequently mutated gene in both iGCTs (27%) and tGCTs (18%). MTOR was the second most frequently mutated also in both iGCTs (7%) and tGCTs (6%). RAS mutations (KRAS, HRAS, NRAS) were altogether found in 13% of iGCTs and 12% of tGCTs. These mutations were mutually exclusive to each other and also to KIT mutations. Collectively, the genes involved in the MAPK pathway (e.g., KIT, RAS, NF1) and the PI3K/MTOR pathway (e.g., MTOR, PTEN) were mutated in 44% and 13% of all GCTs. Among the iGCTs, these alterations were significantly more common among pure germinomas than NGGCTs. The mutated MTOR protein was shown to have increased kinase activity, which was suppressed by specific MTOR inhibitors. CONCLUSIONS: Our comprehensive mutational genomic analysis of GCTs revealed that alterations of the MAPK and/or PI3K/MTOR pathways play a critical role in the pathogenesis of both iGCTs and tGCTs, although the extent of their involvement depends on the histopathological subtypes. Our findings will hopefully lead to the development of a targeted therapy for treatment-resistant iGCTs. SECONDARY CATEGORY: Tumor Biology.