Recurrent Germline Variant in the Cohesin Complex Gene RAD21 Predisposes Children to Lymphoblastic Leukemia and Lymphoma

Autor: Anne Schedel, Ulrike Anne Friedrich, Rabea Wagener, Juha Mehtonen, Claudia Saitta, Triantafyllia Brozou, Pia Michler, Carolin Walter, Peter Horak, Nagarajan Paramasivam, Grazia Fazio, Stefan Fröhling, Martin Dugas, Daniela Richter, Hanno Glimm, Merja Heinäniemi, Rolf Jessberger, Giovanni Cazzaniga, Arndt Borkhardt, Julia Hauer, Franziska Auer
Rok vydání: 2021
Předmět:
Zdroj: Blood. 138:3358-3358
ISSN: 1528-0020
0006-4971
DOI: 10.1182/blood-2021-150284
Popis: Introduction: Cohesin complex genes are commonly mutated in cancer particularly in myeloid malignancies. Yet patients with germline mutations in cohesin genes, leading to cohesinopathies like Cornelia-de-Lange syndrome (CdLS) are generally not known to be tumor-prone. The complex plays a major role in chromosome alignment and segregation (Uhlmann, Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, 2016), homologous recombination-driven DNA repair (Ström et al., Molecular Cell, 2004) and regulation of gene expression (Busslinger et al., Nature, 2017). To deepen the understanding of cohesin variants in cancer predisposition, we performed TRIO Sequencing in two independent pediatric cancer cohorts. Thereby, we identified a novel recurrent heterozygous germline variant in the cohesin gene RAD21 not described in CdLS patients , located in the binding domain of the cofactors WAPL and PDS5B . Methods: Whole exome sequencing (WES) in a TRIO (child-parent datasets) setting was carried out in two independent, unselected cancer cohorts (TRIO-D, n=158 (Wagener et al., European Journal of Human Genetics, 2021) and TRIO-DD, n=60). To investigate the oncogenic potential of the novel RAD21 variant molecular and functional assessment was performed focusing on potential implications on the complex. Results: The newly identified RAD21 variant at amino acid position 298 resulting in a Proline to Serine (p.P298S) and a Proline to Alanine exchange, respectively, (p.P298A) is only rarely mutated in the general population (gnomAD database n=118,479; RAD21 p.P298S MAF To assess the influence of RAD21 p.P298S/A on the binding capacity of the complex, RAD21 variants and the wildtype (WT) were cloned and transfected into HEK293T cells, respectively. Immunoprecipitation analysis of RAD21 with the cofactors WAPL and PDS5B showed no differential binding between the WT and the variants, suggesting that RAD21 p.P298S/A does not impact the formation of the complex. Nevertheless, on a transcriptional level 83 genes were significantly differentially expressed in RAD21 p.P298S and p.P298A compared to the wildtype (fc>1.5, adj. p-value For cross-validation of the germline variant RAD21 p.P298S/A and its potential role in pediatric lymphoblastic malignancies, we analysed a third cohort of 150 children with relapsed ALL (IntReALL) for RAD21 p.P298S/A. We again identified RAD21 p.P298A in a boy (12y) with B-cell precursor acute lymphoblastic leukemia. To compare our data to a non-pediatric cancer setting, a cohort of 2300 young adults ( Conclusion: Taken together, we present for the first time the potential role of RAD21 germline variants in pediatric lymphoblastic malignancies. This may shed new light on the many roles of the cohesin complex and its implication outside the typical syndromal presentation. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.
Databáze: OpenAIRE