Genomic heterogeneity of multiple synchronous lung cancer

• Published in: Nature communications Vol. 7; no. 1; pp. 13200 - 8
• Main Authors: Liu, Yu, Zhang, Jianjun, Li, Lin, Yin, Guangliang, Zhang, Jianhua, Zheng, Shan, Cheung, Hannah, Wu, Ning, Lu, Ning, Mao, Xizeng, Yang, Longhai, Zhang, Jiexin, Zhang, Li, Seth, Sahil, Chen, Huang, Song, Xingzhi, Liu, Kan, Xie, Yongqiang, Zhou, Lina, Zhao, Chuanduo, Han, Naijun, Chen, Wenting, Zhang, Susu, Chen, Longyun, Cai, Wenjun, Shen, Miaozhong, Xu, Ningzhi, Cheng, Shujun, Yang, Huanming, Lee, J. Jack, Correa, Arlene, Fujimoto, Junya, Behrens, Carmen, Chow, Chi-Wan, William, William N., Heymach, John V., Hong, Waun Ki, Swisher, Stephen, Wistuba, Ignacio I., Wang, Jun, Lin, Dongmei, Liu, Xiangyang, Futreal, P. Andrew, Gao, Yanning
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 21.10.2016; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/208/68; 631/67/1612/1350; 631/67/2329; 631/67/69; Adenocarcinoma - genetics; Adenocarcinoma - pathology; Gene Expression Profiling - methods; Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; Genetic Heterogeneity; Genome, Human - genetics; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Lung cancer; Lung Neoplasms - genetics; Lung Neoplasms - pathology; multidisciplinary; Mutation; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sequence Analysis, DNA - methods
• ISSN: 2041-1723; 2041-1723
• DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13200

Multiple synchronous lung cancers (MSLCs) present a clinical dilemma as to whether individual tumours represent intrapulmonary metastases or independent tumours. In this study we analyse genomic profiles of 15 lung adenocarcinomas and one regional lymph node metastasis from 6 patients with MSLC. All 15 lung tumours demonstrate distinct genomic profiles, suggesting all are independent primary tumours, which are consistent with comprehensive histopathological assessment in 5 of the 6 patients. Lung tumours of the same individuals are no more similar to each other than are lung adenocarcinomas of different patients from TCGA cohort matched for tumour size and smoking status. Several known cancer-associated genes have different mutations in different tumours from the same patients. These findings suggest that in the context of identical constitutional genetic background and environmental exposure, different lung cancers in the same individual may have distinct genomic profiles and can be driven by distinct molecular events. Some patients present with multiple lung tumours but it is unclear whether these are metastases or individual lesions. Here, the authors use genomics techniques to demonstrate in six patients that multiple tumours have individual genetic profiles and represent separate tumours.