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©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Profiling of gene fusion involving targetable genes in Chinese gastric cancer
Zhen-Hua Liu, Bo-Wen Zhu, Min Shi, Yu-Rong Qu, Xun-Jun He, Hong-Ling Yuan, Jie Ma, Wei Li, Dan-Dan Zhao, Zheng-Chuang Liu, Bao-Ming Wang, Chun-Yang Wang, Hou-Quan Tao, Tong-Hui Ma
Zhen-Hua Liu, Department of Medical Oncology, Fujian Medical University, Fuzhou 350001, Fujian Province, China
Bo-Wen Zhu, Min Shi, Yu-Rong Qu, Hong-Ling Yuan, Wei Li, Dan-Dan Zhao, Bao-Ming Wang, Chun-Yang Wang, Medical Center, Genetron Health (Beijing) Technology, Co. Ltd., Beijing 102200, China
Xun-Jun He, Department of Genetics and Genomic Medicine, Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital, Hangzhou 310000, Zhejiang Province, China
Xun-Jun He, Zheng-Chuang Liu, Hou-Quan Tao, Key Laboratory of Gastroenterology of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital, Hangzhou 310000, Zhejiang Province, China
Jie Ma, Department of Pathology, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, Hangzhou 310000, Zhejiang Province, China
Zheng-Chuang Liu, Hou-Quan Tao, Department of Gastroenterology of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital, Hangzhou 310000, Zhejiang Province, China
Tong-Hui Ma, Department of Translational Medicine, Genetron Health (Beijing) Technology, Co. Ltd., Beijing 102200, China
Author contributions: Liu ZH and Ma TH designed the study and reviewed the manuscript; Liu ZH, Zhu BW, Shi M analyzed the clinical and gene fusions data and wrote the manuscript; He XJ, Ma J, Liu ZC, and Tao HQ provided clinical advice; Yuan HL, Li W, Zhao DD, Wang BM, and Wang CY reviewed the manuscript and provided advice; All authors have read and approved the final manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Fujian Provincial Hospital, Institutional Review Board (Approval No. K2022-03-101).
Informed consent statement: All study participants or their legal guardian provided informed written consent about personal and medical data collection prior to study enrolment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See:
https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Corresponding author: Tong-Hui Ma, PhD, Director, Department of Translational Medicine, Genetron Health (Beijing) Technology, Co. Ltd., 1-2/F, Building 11, Zone 1, 8 Life Science Parkway, Changping District, Beijing 102200, China. tonghuima0818@sina.com
Received: March 30, 2022
Peer-review started: March 30, 2022
First decision: June 2, 2022
Revised: June 14, 2022
Accepted: July 19, 2022
Article in press: July 19, 2022
Published online: August 15, 2022
Processing time: 133 Days and 2.9 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
With rapid advancements in oncogenomics, increasing attention has been focused on gene fusions in cancer. The Food and Drug Administration has approved several fusion-targeted drugs for the treatment of solid tumors, such as larotrectinib for NTRK fusion-positive cancers and Zenocutuzumab for NRG1 fusion-positive cancers. However, targetable gene fusions in Chinese patients with gastric cancer (GC) have not been well characterized.
Research motivation
To investigate the incidence of gene fusions involving targetable genes in Chinese patients with GC and explore a potential treatment strategy for patients with GC.
Research objectives
To explore the types and proportion of targetable gene fusions in Chinese patients with GC and determine the distribution of patients with gene fusions among the molecular subtypes of GC.
Research methods
This was a multicenter retrospective study that evaluated patients with GC. A total of 954 tumor tissue samples from patients with GC who underwent gene fusion detection were included. Genetic alterations, including SNVs, indels, amplifications, and gene fusions, were analyzed. The enrichment of gene fusions in the molecular subtypes of GC was explored.
Research results
Twenty fusions involving targetable genes were detected. Among them, 18 novel gene fusion events were previously not reported in other cancers. Owing to a limited number of tumor tissue samples, only BRAF and FGFR2 fusions were identified by fluorescence in situ hybridization. Additionally, we found that gene fusions were enriched in patients with ERBB2 amplification.
Research conclusions
Gene fusions involving targetable genes were characterized in Chinese patients with GC. Testing gene fusions may provide insight for the treatment of GC.
Research perspectives
A large study should be performed to further confirm the targetable gene fusions and identify whether gene fusions are enriched in distinct molecular subtypes of GC.
