The mechanism underlying the development of tumors, particularly at early stages, still remains mostly elusive. Here, we report whole-genome long and short read sequencing analysis of 76 lung cancers, focusing on very early-stage lung adenocarcinomas such as adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS) and minimally invasive adenocarcinoma. The obtained data is further integrated with bulk and spatial transcriptomic data and epigenomic data. These analyses reveal key events in lung carcinogenesis. Minimal somatic mutations in pivotal driver mutations and essential proliferative factors are the only detectable somatic mutations in the very early-stage of AIS. These initial events are followed by copy number changes and global DNA hypomethylation. Particularly, drastic changes are initiated at the later AIS stage, i.e., in Noguchi type B tumors, wherein cancer cells are exposed to the surrounding microenvironment. This study sheds light on the pathogenesis of lung adenocarcinoma from integrated pathological and molecular viewpoints.
See details in Haga, et. al. (2023) Nat Commun.
Yasuhiko Haga, Yoshitaka Sakamoto, Keiko Kajiya, Hitomi Kawai, Miho Oka, Noriko Motoi, Masayuki Shirasawa, Masaya Yotsukura, Shun-Ichi Watanabe, Miyuki Arai, Junko Zenkoh, Kouya Shiraishi, Masahide Seki, Akinori Kanai, Yuichi Shiraishi, Yasushi Yatabe, Daisuke Matsubara, Yutaka Suzuki, Masayuki Noguchi, Takashi Kohno, Ayako Suzuki (2023) Whole-genome sequencing reveals the molecular implications of the stepwise progression of lung adenocarcinoma., Nature communications, Volume 14, Number 1, pp. 8375
Published in 2023 Dec 15 (Electronic publication in Dec. 15, 2023, midnight )
(Abstract) The mechanism underlying the development of tumors, particularly at early stages, still remains mostly elusive. Here, we report whole-genome long and short read sequencing analysis of 76 lung cancers, focusing on very early-stage lung adenocarcinomas such as adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS) and minimally invasive adenocarcinoma. The obtained data is further integrated with bulk and spatial transcriptomic data and epigenomic data. These analyses reveal key events in lung carcinogenesis. Minimal somatic mutations in pivotal driver mutations and essential proliferative factors are the only detectable somatic mutations in the very early-stage of AIS. These initial events are followed by copy number changes and global DNA hypomethylation. Particularly, drastic changes are initiated at the later AIS stage, i.e., in Noguchi type B tumors, wherein cancer cells are exposed to the surrounding microenvironment. This study sheds light on the pathogenesis of lung adenocarcinoma from integrated pathological and molecular viewpoints.(MeSH Terms)