2023
More than bad luck: Cancer and aging are linked to replication-driven changes to the epigenome
Minteer C, Thrush K, Gonzalez J, Niimi P, Rozenblit M, Rozowsky J, Liu J, Frank M, McCabe T, Sehgal R, Higgins-Chen A, Hofstatter E, Pusztai L, Beckman K, Gerstein M, Levine M. More than bad luck: Cancer and aging are linked to replication-driven changes to the epigenome. Science Advances 2023, 9: eadf4163. PMID: 37467337, PMCID: PMC10355820, DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adf4163.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchConceptsStem cell divisionImmortalized human cellsTissue-specific cancer riskTumorigenic stateCell divisionDNA methylationEpigenetic changesAge-related accumulationHuman cellsMultiple tissuesSomatic mutationsClinical tissuesTissue differencesEpigenomeCellsTissueNormal tissuesMethylationMutationsReplicationNormal breast tissueSignaturesVitroAccumulationDivision
2022
Predictive Markers of Response to Neoadjuvant Durvalumab with Nab-Paclitaxel and Dose-Dense Doxorubicin/Cyclophosphamide in Basal-Like Triple-Negative Breast Cancer.
Blenman KRM, Marczyk M, Karn T, Qing T, Li X, Gunasekharan V, Yaghoobi V, Bai Y, Ibrahim EY, Park T, Silber A, Wolf DM, Reisenbichler E, Denkert C, Sinn BV, Rozenblit M, Foldi J, Rimm DL, Loibl S, Pusztai L. Predictive Markers of Response to Neoadjuvant Durvalumab with Nab-Paclitaxel and Dose-Dense Doxorubicin/Cyclophosphamide in Basal-Like Triple-Negative Breast Cancer. Clinical Cancer Research 2022, 28: 2587-2597. PMID: 35377948, PMCID: PMC9464605, DOI: 10.1158/1078-0432.ccr-21-3215.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchConceptsBasal-like triple-negative breast cancerPathologic complete responseResidual diseaseNeoadjuvant durvalumabDNA damage repairSomatic mutationsBreast cancerWnt/β-cateninHigh expressionTriple-negative breast cancerBasal-Like TripleDoxorubicin/cyclophosphamideDNA repairTumor mutation burdenRNA sequencingEpithelial-mesenchymal transitionFive-gene signatureB-cell markersCancer driversEnrichment analysisNegative breast cancerDamage repairGene expressionJAK-STATCell cycle
2021
Characterization of the tumor immune microenvironment of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients who self-identify as African American (AA) or non-African American (NonAA).
Blenman K, Marczyk M, Qing T, O'Meara T, Yaghoobi V, Pelekanou V, Bai Y, Reisenbichler E, Li X, Gunasekharan V, Ibrahim E, Rimm D, Pusztai L, Cole K. Characterization of the tumor immune microenvironment of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) patients who self-identify as African American (AA) or non-African American (NonAA). Journal Of Clinical Oncology 2021, 39: 564-564. DOI: 10.1200/jco.2021.39.15_suppl.564.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchTriple-negative breast cancerTumor immune microenvironmentAA patientsImmune microenvironmentWhole-exome sequencingAfrican AmericansTriple-negative breast cancer patientsYale Cancer CenterImmune checkpoint inhibitorsPD-L1 positivityPD-L1 expressionYear of diagnosisBreast cancer patientsCytokines/chemokinesImmune cell compositionTumor mutational burdenGermline whole-exome sequencingAge of diagnosisNegative breast cancerCorresponding clinical dataAllograft rejection pathwayNon-African AmericansSomatic mutationsFatty acid metabolismCheckpoint inhibitors
2020
Germline variant burden in cancer genes correlates with age at diagnosis and somatic mutation burden
Qing T, Mohsen H, Marczyk M, Ye Y, O’Meara T, Zhao H, Townsend JP, Gerstein M, Hatzis C, Kluger Y, Pusztai L. Germline variant burden in cancer genes correlates with age at diagnosis and somatic mutation burden. Nature Communications 2020, 11: 2438. PMID: 32415133, PMCID: PMC7228928, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-16293-7.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchConceptsAge groupsGermline variantsSomatic mutationsLate-onset cancerEarly-onset cancersCancer hallmark genesSomatic mutation burdenMutation burdenMalignant transformationCancer genesYounger ageGermline alterationsCancerVariant burdenBurdenAverage numberHallmark genesAgeNegative correlationStrong negative correlationMutationsPatientsGroup
2017
Functional germline variants as potential co-oncogenes
Agarwal D, Nowak C, Zhang NR, Pusztai L, Hatzis C. Functional germline variants as potential co-oncogenes. Npj Breast Cancer 2017, 3: 46. PMID: 29177190, PMCID: PMC5700137, DOI: 10.1038/s41523-017-0051-5.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchRecent genome sequencing studiesFunction of proteinsDifferent oncogenic eventsGermline variantsGenome sequencing studiesSomatic mutationsDriver mutationsPhenotypic variationSpecific cancer subtypesLarge breast cancer cohortSomatic driver mutationsSequencing studiesFull malignant transformationFunctional germline variantsCancer biologyRecurrent driver mutationsOncogenic eventsSomatic eventsMutationsGermline aberrationsGermline polymorphismsFamilial cancerIndividual cancersMalignant transformationPolymorphismErratum: Phylogenetic analysis of metastatic progression in breast cancer using somatic mutations and copy number aberrations
Brown D, Smeets D, Székely B, Larsimont D, Szász AM, Adnet PY, Rothé F, Rouas G, Nagy ZI, Faragó Z, Tőkés AM, Dank M, Szentmártoni G, Udvarhelyi N, Zoppoli G, Pusztai L, Piccart M, Kulka J, Lambrechts D, Sotiriou C, Desmedt C. Erratum: Phylogenetic analysis of metastatic progression in breast cancer using somatic mutations and copy number aberrations. Nature Communications 2017, 8: 15759. PMID: 28585536, PMCID: PMC5467204, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15759.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchPhylogenetic analysis of metastatic progression in breast cancer using somatic mutations and copy number aberrations
Brown D, Smeets D, Székely B, Larsimont D, Szász AM, Adnet PY, Rothé F, Rouas G, Nagy ZI, Faragó Z, Tőkés AM, Dank M, Szentmártoni G, Udvarhelyi N, Zoppoli G, Pusztai L, Piccart M, Kulka J, Lambrechts D, Sotiriou C, Desmedt C. Phylogenetic analysis of metastatic progression in breast cancer using somatic mutations and copy number aberrations. Nature Communications 2017, 8: 14944. PMID: 28429735, PMCID: PMC5474888, DOI: 10.1038/ncomms14944.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchConceptsDistant metastasisPrimary tumorClonal frequency analysisMultiple metastatic lesionsBreast cancer disseminationBreast cancer progressionSomatic mutationsWhole-exome sequencingAvailable metastasesMetastatic lesionsMetastatic precursorsPrimary lesionMetastatic tumorsDisease progressionBreast cancerPatterns of disseminationMetastasisMetastatic progressionCancer disseminationPatientsCancer progressionCopy number profilingCopy number aberrationsTumorsMonoclonal origin
2015
A genome-wide approach to link genotype to clinical outcome by utilizing next generation sequencing and gene chip data of 6,697 breast cancer patients
Pongor L, Kormos M, Hatzis C, Pusztai L, Szabó A, Győrffy B. A genome-wide approach to link genotype to clinical outcome by utilizing next generation sequencing and gene chip data of 6,697 breast cancer patients. Genome Medicine 2015, 7: 104. PMID: 26474971, PMCID: PMC4609150, DOI: 10.1186/s13073-015-0228-1.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchConceptsRNA-seq dataNext-generation sequencingBreast cancer patientsTranscriptomic fingerprintGenome-wide approachesGeneration sequencingClinical outcomesCancer patientsHuman gene mutationsTumor suppressor geneGene chip dataSuch genesRNA-seqGene mutationsLarge breast cancer cohortGene expressionChip dataSuppressor geneBreast cancer cohortGenesMicroarray dataMutationsSomatic mutationsClinical characteristicsCox regression