SCI

21 September 2024

Chromothripsis-mediated small cell lung carcinoma

 (Cancer Discov, IF: 29.7)

  • Rekhtman N, Tischfield SE, Febres-Aldana CA, et al: Chromothripsis-mediated small cell lung carcinoma. Cancer Discov 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-24–0286, 2024

Abstract 

Small cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) is a highly aggressive malignancy that is typically associated with tobacco exposure and inactivation of RB1 and TP53 genes. Here we performed detailed clinicopathologic, genomic and transcriptomic profiling of an atypical subset of SCLC that lacked RB1 and TP53 co-inactivation and arose in never/light smokers. We found that most cases were associated with chromothripsis - massive, localized chromosome shattering - recurrently involving chromosomes 11 or 12, and resulting in extrachromosomal (ecDNA) amplification of CCND1 or co-amplification of CCND2/CDK4/MDM2, respectively. Uniquely, these clinically aggressive tumors exhibited genomic and pathologic links to pulmonary carcinoids, suggesting a previously uncharacterized mode of SCLC pathogenesis via transformation from lower-grade neuroendocrine tumors or their progenitors. Conversely, SCLC in never-smokers harboring inactivated RB1 and TP53 exhibited hallmarks of adenocarcinoma-to-SCLC derivation, supporting two distinct pathways of plasticity-mediated pathogenesis of SCLC in never-smokers.

小细胞肺癌(SCLC)是一种高度恶性的恶性肿瘤,通常与烟草接触和 RB1和 TP53基因失活有关。在这里,我们进行了详细的临床病理,基因组和转录组分析的非典型小细胞肺癌亚组,缺乏 RB1和 TP53共失活,并出现在从不/轻吸烟者。我们发现大多数病例与染色体大量,局部染色体粉碎有关,反复涉及染色体11或12,并分别导致染色体外(ecDNA)扩增 CCND1或共扩增 CCND2/CDK4/MDM2。特别的是,这些临床侵袭性肿瘤表现出与肺类癌的基因组和病理学联系,提示通过从低级别神经内分泌肿瘤或其祖细胞转化的 SCLC 发病机制的以前未表征的模式。相反,携带灭活 RB1和 TP53的从不吸烟者中的 SCLC 表现出腺癌到 SCLC 衍生的特征,支持从不吸烟者中 SCLC 可塑性介导的发病机制的两种不同途径。