An APOBEC cytidine deaminase mutagenesis pattern is widespread in human cancers.

Nat Genet
Authors
Keywords
Abstract

Recent studies indicate that a subclass of APOBEC cytidine deaminases, which convert cytosine to uracil during RNA editing and retrovirus or retrotransposon restriction, may induce mutation clusters in human tumors. We show here that throughout cancer genomes APOBEC-mediated mutagenesis is pervasive and correlates with APOBEC mRNA levels. Mutation clusters in whole-genome and exome data sets conformed to the stringent criteria indicative of an APOBEC mutation pattern. Applying these criteria to 954,247 mutations in 2,680 exomes from 14 cancer types, mostly from The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), showed a significant presence of the APOBEC mutation pattern in bladder, cervical, breast, head and neck, and lung cancers, reaching 68% of all mutations in some samples. Within breast cancer, the HER2-enriched subtype was clearly enriched for tumors with the APOBEC mutation pattern, suggesting that this type of mutagenesis is functionally linked with cancer development. The APOBEC mutation pattern also extended to cancer-associated genes, implying that ubiquitous APOBEC-mediated mutagenesis is carcinogenic.

Year of Publication
2013
Journal
Nat Genet
Volume
45
Issue
9
Pages
970-6
Date Published
2013 Sep
ISSN
1546-1718
URL
DOI
10.1038/ng.2702
PubMed ID
23852170
PubMed Central ID
PMC3789062
Links
Grant list
U54 HG003067 / HG / NHGRI NIH HHS / United States
U54HG003067 / HG / NHGRI NIH HHS / United States
HHSN273201000086U / PHS HHS / United States
GS-23F-9806H / PHS HHS / United States
Z01 ES065073 / ES / NIEHS NIH HHS / United States
Z99 ES999999 / Intramural NIH HHS / United States