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Department of Pathology, MD Anderson Cancer Center, The University of Texas, 1515 Holcombe Boulevard, Box 85, Houston, Texas 77030-4095, USA
1 Departments of Biostatistics and Applied Mathematics and
2 Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, MD Anderson Cancer Center, The University of Texas, Houston, Texas 77030, USA
(Requests for offprints should be addressed to A Rashid; Email: arashid{at}mdanderson.org)
| Abstract |
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| Introduction |
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Determination of chromosomal copy number alterations can help in localizing the chromosomal locations of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes in malignancies. Allelic imbalances (AI) may be detected by a variety of methods including karyotyping, comparative genomic hybridization, and microsatellite analysis, but these are either of low resolution or laborious to conduct on a genome-wide scale. In contrast, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) allelotyping is a sensitive method to detect DNA copy number and chromosomal loss of heterozygosity (LOH; Matsuzaki et al. 2004, Zhao et al. 2004, Irving et al. 2005, Lu et al. 2005, Nannya et al. 2005, Teh et al. 2005). This method has been used to determine AI in a variety of tumors (Lu et al. 2005, Teh et al. 2005), leukemias (Irving et al. 2005), and in a variety of tumor cell (Matsuzaki et al. 2004, Zhao et al. 2004, Nannya et al. 2005).
We report on genome-wide high-density SNP allelotyping of all the autosomal chromosomes and X chromosome to provide high resolution determination of copy numbers. We identified several whole and partial chromosomal aberrations and uniparental disomy as an alternative to LOH in PETs, and found that the alterations were more extensive in advanced tumors.
| Material and methods |
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Frozen tumor and non-neoplastic tissue of 15 patients who underwent resection for a PET were obtained from surgical specimens in the frozen section laboratory of the Department of Pathology at the M D Anderson Cancer Center. Surveillance Committee (institutional review board) approved this study. The patient records and histopathological findings were reviewed. The tumors were classified as PETs using established criteria as previously reported (Liu et al. 2005). The functional status of each tumor was ascertained by serum measurements of hormones and/or clinical syndrome due to hormonal production.
DNA extraction
DNA from both tumor and non-neoplastic pancreatic parenchyma in microdissected fresh-frozen specimens was extracted using a commercial kit (Qiagen DNA extraction kit, Qiagen Inc.), after a hematoxylin and eosin-stained slide from a frozen block was reviewed. The tumor cell cellularity was at least 70% in all samples. All the tumor and non-neoplastic tissue was obtained from the primary tumor and surrounding non-neoplastic pancreatic tissues.
XbaI mapping array hybridization
In this study Xba1 GeneChip Mapping 50K Assay Kit (Affymetrix Inc., Santa Clara, CA, USA) was used. This array covers 58 960 SNP loci distributed on all the autosomal chromosomes and X chromosome. The average heterozygosity for these SNPs is 0.3. The analyses were performed according to the manufacturers instructions. In brief, 250 ng of genomic DNA was digested with Xba1 restriction enzyme, ligated to adaptors, and amplified by PCR. The resulting amplicons were fragmented, end-labeled with biotinylated dideoxy ATP using terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase, and hybridized to the Xba1 GeneChip Mapping 50K array. Hybridization was detected by incubation with streptavidinphycoerythrin conjugates, followed by scanning the array for phycoerythrin fluorescence and quantization with the Affymetrix GeneChip Scanner 3000 using the GeneChip DNA Analysis Software, version 3.0 (Affymeterix Inc).
Data analysis and DNA copy number
The signal detection rate was the percentage of SNPs that passed the discrimination filter. The mean signal detection rates were 93.8% ± 3.8 in non-neoplastic DNA samples and 93.0 ± 2.0 in tumor samples. The copy number was estimated by the Chromosome Copy Number Analysis Tool, version 2.0 (Affymterix Inc.). The software used the log intensity as the basic measurement with appropriate chip-wise normalization. The log 2 of the arithmetic average of the perfect match and mismatch intensities across 40 probes was used as the basic measurement for any given SNP. The copy number was estimated by comparing the normalized intensity for the SNP to the expected intensity for two chromosomes in the reference set using the copy number response curve determined from dosageresponse data. The software also determined the significance of the copy number variation by comparing with the reference set (± log 10 P value). The non-neoplastic/tumor pairs were compared by determining the ratio of non-neoplastic copy number to tumor copy number multiplied by two at each SNP locus. In addition, the average chromosomal copy numbers of non-neoplastic and tumor samples were calculated for the entire chromosomes and chromosomal loci of interest.
Detection of LOH
The LOH calls were based on the SNP calls of the paired non-neoplastic and tumor samples of the same individual. The possible SNP calls made by Affymetrix software were AB (heterozygous SNP), AA and BB (homozygous SNP), and no call (when the software was unable to decide on the calls). Conversion of a heterozygous SNP in normal sample to a homozygous SNP in tumor sample indicated LOH (AB in normal, AA or BB in tumor). When normal samples have homozygous SNP or no call, these SNP loci were not informative.
SNP and gene position
The SNPs and the genes were positioned according to the same genome build: UCSC genome browser http//genome.ucsc.edu/October 2005 assembly. The October 2005 human reference sequence (UCSC version hg17) was based on NCBI build 35.
Statistical analysis
All statistical analysis was performed using SPSS (SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL, USA, USA). Comparisons of categorical variables were made using
2-test and Fishers exact test. Continuous data, including age and tumor size, were evaluated by Students t-test. Correlations among chromosomal aberrations in tumors were evaluated by means of Spearmans rank correlation coefficient.
| Results |
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The clinicopathological features of the 15 patients with PETs have been reported previously (Table 1
; Chan et al. 2003, Liu et al. 2005, Wang et al. 2005). There were nine well-differentiated neuroendocrine carcinomas and six neuroendocrine tumors of uncertain malignant potential. Both liver and lymph node metastasis were present in two patients (13%), liver metastasis alone in one patient (7%), and lymph node metastasis alone in four patients (27%). There were two gastrinomas and all other tumors were nonfunctional. Two patients had multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 (MEN-1).
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AI were identified by copy number variation from the reference set and from the copy number of the matched non-neoplastic samples. The average copy number for all the non-neoplastic samples was 2.0 ± 0.05. Chromosomal gains and losses were identified by comparing the ratio of tumor copy number to the non-neoplastic copy number multiplied by two at each SNP locus (examples in Fig. 1
). The mean of the copy number ratio with deletion of a chromosome or chromosomal loci was 1.79 ± 0.07, and with amplification of chromosome or chromosomal loci was 2.28 ± 0.13. A comparison was made between the SNP allelotyping data and the copy number estimation simultaneously (examples in Fig. 2
). All but two chromosomes with copy number losses had LOH, suggesting that the LOH was due to hemizygous deletion (Fig. 2A
). One tumor had LOH of chromosome 3 and another had LOH of chromosome 21 without alterations of copy number (Fig. 2B
). These findings suggest that these chromosomes have allelic loss of one chromosome and duplication of the other parental chromosome.
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We divided the PETs into two groups based on number of chromosomal aberrations: low AI with four or fewer chromosomal aberrations, and high AI with more than four chromosomal aberrations. In our study, six (40%) of PETs had low AI and nine (60%) had high AI. The mean size of tumors with high AI was 5.4 ± 3.1 cm compared with 2.3 ± 1.3 cm for tumors with low AI (P = 0.03). However, there was no correlation between AI and patients age, sex, histological type, liver metastasis, lymph node metastasis, MEN-1, and hormonal statuses.
| Discussion |
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In our present study, loss of chromosomes 1, 3, 11, or 22 was frequent in PETs. This finding corroborates previously reported studies of functional and nonfunctional PETs that showed frequent loss of chromosome 3, 6q, 11, and 22q by comparative genomic hybridization (Speel et al. 1999, Hessman et al. 2001). In previous studies, the allelic status of PETs was dependent on the tumor characteristics, including the hormonal status of tumors, and differed between MEN-1 associated and sporadic tumors. In a previous study, non-functional PETs had frequent loss of chromosome 6q and 11p compared with functional PETs, but chromosome 20p and 21 losses were frequent in both groups of tumors by allelotyping using microsatellite markers (Rigaud et al. 2001). Similarly, MEN-1 associated PETs had LOH of chromosome 11 but also had frequent loss of chromosomes 3, 6, 8, 10, 18, and 21 (Hessman et al. 2001). In our study, gain of chromosomes 5, 7, 12, 14, 17, and 20 was frequent. Similarly, previously reported studies showed frequent gain of chromosomes 5q, 7, 9q, 12, 14, 17, and 20 (Terris et al. 1998, Speel et al. 1999, 2001, Tönnies et al. 2001, Zhao et al. 2001). In one study, gain of chromosomes 4 or 7 was more common in metastasis compared with the primary tumors (Zhao et al. 2001).
In our study, one frequently deleted region on chromosome 3p21 harbors RASSF1A gene involved in renal (Dreijerink et al. 2001), lung, breast, and ovarian carcinomas (Agathanggelou et al. 2001). We have previously reported that the RASSF1A gene was methylated in 66% of PETs and was associated with lymph node metastasis (Liu et al. 2005).
In our study, we classified PETs into high AI and low AI, and tumors with high AI had larger tumor size. It has been reported that the total number of chromosomal aberrations is more frequent in PETs with metastasis, in tumors more than 2 cm in size, and in non-functional compared with functional tumors (Speel et al. 1999, 2001). Other studies reported that tumors with high AI were associated with adverse prognosis (Rigaud et al. 2001), larger tumor size, and more advanced stage (Speel et al. 1999).
In the present study, using a limited number of PETs we were unable to find any association of chromosomal alterations with clinical parameters or prognosis. However, previous studies (Speel et al. 1999, 2001, Rigaud et al. 2001) and our current study have shown that PETs are genetically heterogenous and that may explain in part difficulties encountered in histologic classification of these tumors and predicting clinical behavior or prognosis.
In summary, our data demonstrated the feasibility of utilizing SNP allelotyping for genome-wide evaluation of LOH and chromosomal copy numbers in PETs including uniparental disomy.
| Acknowledgements |
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| Funding |
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This study was supported by a grant to A R and J C Y from Dr and Mrs Raymond R and Beverly Sackler. There is no conflict of interest that would prejudice its impartiality.
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