Human papilloma virus (HPV) integration signature in Cervical Cancer: identification of MACROD2 gene as HPV hot spot integration site

• Published in: British journal of cancer Vol. 124; no. 4; pp. 777 - 785
• Main Authors: Kamal, Maud, Lameiras, Sonia, Deloger, Marc, Morel, Adeline, Vacher, Sophie, Lecerf, Charlotte, Dupain, Célia, Jeannot, Emmanuelle, Girard, Elodie, Baulande, Sylvain, Dubot, Coraline, Kenter, Gemma, Jordanova, Ekaterina S, Berns, Els M J J, Bataillon, Guillaume, Popovic, Marina, Rouzier, Roman, Cacheux, Wulfran, Le Tourneau, Christophe, Nicolas, Alain, Servant, Nicolas, Scholl, Suzy M, Bièche, Ivan, Lafanechère, Laurence
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cancer Research UK 16.11.2020
• Subjects: Life Sciences
• ISSN: 0007-0920; 1532-1827
• DOI: 10.1038/s41416-020-01153-4

BACKGROUND: Cervical cancer (CC) remains a leading cause of gynaecological cancer-related mortality with infection by human papilloma virus (HPV) being the most important risk factor. We analysed the association between different viral integration signatures, clinical parameters and outcome in pre-treated CCs. METHODS: Different integration signatures were identified using HPV double capture followed by next-generation sequencing (NGS) in 272 CC patients from the BioRAIDs study [NCT02428842]. Correlations between HPV integration signatures and clinical, biological and molecular features were assessed. RESULTS: Episomal HPV was much less frequent in CC as compared to anal carcinoma (p < 0.0001). We identified >300 different HPV-chromosomal junctions (inter-or intra-genic). The most frequent integration site in CC was in MACROD2 gene followed by MIPOL1/TTC6 and TP63. HPV integration signatures were not associated with histological subtype, FIGO staging, treatment or PFS. HPVs were more frequently episomal in PIK3CA mutated tumours (p = 0.023). Viral integration type was dependent on HPV genotype (p < 0.0001); HPV18 and HPV45 being always integrated. High HPV copy number was associated with longer PFS (p = 0.011). CONCLUSIONS: This is to our knowledge the first study assessing the prognostic value of HPV integration in a prospectively annotated CC cohort, which detects a hotspot of HPV integration at MACROD2; involved in impaired PARP1 activity and chromosome instability.