Molecular basis of targeted therapy in T/NK-cell lymphoma/leukemia: A comprehensive genomic and immunohistochemical analysis of a panel of 33 cell lines

PLoS One. 2017 May 15;12(5):e0177524. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0177524. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

T and NK-cell lymphoma is a collection of aggressive disorders with unfavorable outcome, in which targeted treatments are still at a preliminary phase. To gain deeper insights into the deregulated mechanisms promoting this disease, we searched a panel of 31 representative T-cell and 2 NK-cell lymphoma/leukemia cell lines for predictive markers of response to targeted therapy. To this end, targeted sequencing was performed alongside the expression of specific biomarkers corresponding to potentially activated survival pathways. The study identified TP53, NOTCH1 and DNMT3A as the most frequently mutated genes. We also found common alterations in JAK/STAT and epigenetic pathways. Immunohistochemical analysis showed nuclear accumulation of MYC (in 85% of the cases), NFKB (62%), p-STAT (44%) and p-MAPK (30%). This panel of cell lines captures the complexity of T/NK-cell lymphoproliferative processes samples, with the partial exception of AITL cases. Integrated mutational and immunohistochemical analysis shows that mutational changes cannot fully explain the activation of key survival pathways and the resulting phenotypes. The combined integration of mutational/expression changes forms a useful tool with which new compounds may be assayed.

MeSH terms

  • Antineoplastic Agents / pharmacology
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cluster Analysis
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Genomics / methods
  • High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing
  • Humans
  • Immunohistochemistry / methods
  • Lymphoma, Extranodal NK-T-Cell / drug therapy
  • Lymphoma, Extranodal NK-T-Cell / genetics*
  • Lymphoma, Extranodal NK-T-Cell / metabolism*
  • Lymphoma, Extranodal NK-T-Cell / pathology
  • Molecular Targeted Therapy
  • Mutation

Substances

  • Antineoplastic Agents

Grants and funding

This work was supported by grants from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) of the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competence (MINECO, RTICC ISCIII and CIBER CANCER) to MAP (SAF2013-47416-R, RD06/0020/0107-RD012/0036/0060 and Plan Nacional I+D+I: PI16/01294 and PIE15/0081) and from ISCIII-MINECO-AES-FEDER to MSB (Plan Estatal I+D+I 2013-2016: PI14/00221), and the Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer (AECC to MAP). CP is a recipient of a Sara Borrel postdoctoral contract from ISCIII (CD13/00088). RM is a recipient of a Rio Hortega specialised healthcare post-training contract (ISCIII, CM15/00186). JG-R is a recipient of an iPFIS predoctoral fellowship (IFI14/00003) from ISCIII-MINECO-AES-FEDER (Plan Estatal I+D+I 2013-2016). MSB was supported by a Miguel Servet contract (CP11/00018) from the ISCIII-MINECO-AES-FEDER (Plan Nacional I+D+I 2008-2011), and currently holds a Miguel Servet II contract (CPII16/00024), supported by ISCIII-MINECO-AES-FEDER (Plan Estatal I+D+I 2013-2016) and Fundación de Investigación Biomédica Puerta de Hierro. JPV was supported by a Ramón y Cajal research program (RYC-2013-14097). http://www.rticc.org/, http://www.isciii.es/. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.