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Abstract
We characterized genome alterations in 1255 clinically annotated lung tumors of all
histological subgroups to identify genetically defined and clinically relevant subtypes.
More than 55% of all cases had at least one oncogenic genome alteration potentially
amenable to specific therapeutic intervention, including several personalized treatment
approaches that are already in clinical evaluation. Marked differences in the pattern
of genomic alterations existed between and within histological subtypes, thus challenging
the original histomorphological diagnosis. Immunohistochemical studies confirmed many
of these reassigned subtypes. The reassignment eliminated almost all cases of large
cell carcinomas, some of which had therapeutically relevant alterations. Prospective
testing of our genomics-based diagnostic algorithm in 5145 lung cancer patients enabled
a genome-based diagnosis in 3863 (75%) patients, confirmed the feasibility of rational
reassignments of large cell lung cancer, and led to improvement in overall survival
in patients with EGFR-mutant or ALK-rearranged cancers. Thus, our findings provide
support for broad implementation of genome-based diagnosis of lung cancer.
Although genomewide RNA expression analysis has become a routine tool in biomedical research, extracting biological insight from such information remains a major challenge. Here, we describe a powerful analytical method called Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) for interpreting gene expression data. The method derives its power by focusing on gene sets, that is, groups of genes that share common biological function, chromosomal location, or regulation. We demonstrate how GSEA yields insights into several cancer-related data sets, including leukemia and lung cancer. Notably, where single-gene analysis finds little similarity between two independent studies of patient survival in lung cancer, GSEA reveals many biological pathways in common. The GSEA method is embodied in a freely available software package, together with an initial database of 1,325 biologically defined gene sets.
Cancers arise owing to mutations in a subset of genes that confer growth advantage. The availability of the human genome sequence led us to propose that systematic resequencing of cancer genomes for mutations would lead to the discovery of many additional cancer genes. Here we report more than 1,000 somatic mutations found in 274 megabases (Mb) of DNA corresponding to the coding exons of 518 protein kinase genes in 210 diverse human cancers. There was substantial variation in the number and pattern of mutations in individual cancers reflecting different exposures, DNA repair defects and cellular origins. Most somatic mutations are likely to be 'passengers' that do not contribute to oncogenesis. However, there was evidence for 'driver' mutations contributing to the development of the cancers studied in approximately 120 genes. Systematic sequencing of cancer genomes therefore reveals the evolutionary diversity of cancers and implicates a larger repertoire of cancer genes than previously anticipated.
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