Richenberg George, Francis Amy, Owen Carina N, Gray Victoria, Robinson Timothy, Gabriel Aurélie Ag, Lawrenson Kate, Crosbie Emma J, Schildkraut Joellen M, Mckay James D, Gaunt Tom R, Relton Caroline L, Vincent Emma E, Kar Siddhartha P
MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK.
medRxiv. 2023 Oct 10:2023.10.09.23296765. doi: 10.1101/2023.10.09.23296765.
High body mass index (BMI) is a causal risk factor for endometrial cancer but the tumor molecular mechanisms affected by adiposity and their therapeutic relevance remain poorly understood. Here we characterize the tumor multi-omic landscape of endometrial cancers that have developed on a background of lifelong germline genetic exposure to elevated BMI. We built a polygenic score (PGS) for BMI in women using data on independent, genome-wide significant variants associated with adult BMI in 434,794 women. We performed germline (blood) genotype quality control and imputation on data from 354 endometrial cancer cases from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA). We assigned each case in this TCGA cohort their genetically predicted life-course BMI based on the BMI PGS. Multivariable generalized linear models adjusted for age, stage, microsatellite status and genetic principal components were used to test for associations between the BMI germline PGS and endometrial cancer tumor genome-wide genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, epigenomic and immune traits in TCGA. High BMI germline PGS was associated with (i) upregulated tumor gene expression in the - pathway (FDR=4.2×10); (ii) increased estimated intra-tumor activated mast cell infiltration (FDR=0.008); (iii) increased single base substitution (SBS) mutational signatures 1 (FDR=0.03) and 5 (FDR=0.09) and decreased SBS13 (FDR=0.09), implicating age-related and APOBEC mutagenesis, respectively; and (iv) decreased tumor EGFR protein expression (FDR=0.07). Alterations in -- signaling gene and EGFR protein expression were, in turn, significantly associated with both overall survival and progression-free interval. Thus, we integrated germline and somatic data using a novel study design to identify associations between genetically predicted lifelong exposure to higher BMI and potentially actionable endometrial cancer tumor molecular features. These associations inform our understanding of how high BMI may influence the development and progression of this cancer, impacting endometrial tumor biology and clinical outcomes.
高体重指数(BMI)是子宫内膜癌的一个因果风险因素,但肥胖影响的肿瘤分子机制及其治疗相关性仍知之甚少。在此,我们描述了在终生种系基因暴露于高BMI背景下发生的子宫内膜癌的肿瘤多组学图谱。我们利用434794名女性中与成人BMI相关的独立全基因组显著变异数据,构建了女性BMI的多基因评分(PGS)。我们对来自癌症基因组图谱(TCGA)的354例子宫内膜癌病例的数据进行了种系(血液)基因型质量控制和填充。我们根据BMI PGS为该TCGA队列中的每个病例分配其遗传预测的终生BMI。使用针对年龄、分期、微卫星状态和遗传主成分进行调整的多变量广义线性模型,来测试TCGA中BMI种系PGS与子宫内膜癌肿瘤全基因组的基因组、转录组、蛋白质组、表观基因组和免疫特征之间的关联。高BMI种系PGS与以下因素相关:(i)-途径中肿瘤基因表达上调(FDR = 4.2×10);(ii)估计肿瘤内活化肥大细胞浸润增加(FDR = 0.008);(iii)单碱基替换(SBS)突变特征1(FDR = 0.03)和5(FDR = 0.09)增加,SBS13减少(FDR = 0.09),分别暗示与年龄相关的诱变和APOBEC诱变;以及(iv)肿瘤表皮生长因子受体(EGFR)蛋白表达降低(FDR = 0.07)。-信号基因和EGFR蛋白表达的改变又与总生存期和无进展生存期显著相关。因此,我们使用一种新颖的研究设计整合种系和体细胞数据,以确定遗传预测的终生暴露于更高BMI与潜在可操作的子宫内膜癌肿瘤分子特征之间的关联。这些关联有助于我们理解高BMI如何影响这种癌症的发生和进展,影响子宫内膜肿瘤生物学和临床结果。