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From the Departments of Pathology*
and
Preventive Medicine,
University of Southern
California School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California
| Abstract |
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| Introduction |
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One approach counts MS mutations by measuring the proportion of loci with alleles different from germline lengths. This is the basis for tumor classification as stable (MSI-S), and with low (MSI-L) or high (MSI-H) instability.5 MSI-H but not MSI-S or MSI-L tumors have MMR defects. However, proportions of mutated loci do not completely count total mutations because a single MS allele can mutate multiple times.6-8 Therefore, MS alleles can record both loss of MMR (by changes from germline) and the interval since loss of MMR (by the extent of changes from germline).
One of the first alterations observed in tumors lacking MMR were deletions in polyA simple repeat sequences.9,10 Counting polyA mutations may be simpler than stepwise mutations in dinucleotide repeat loci7 because most mutations are deletions. PolyA sequences such as BAT25 and BAT26 are frequently and extensively deleted.9-12 Yeast polyA deletions are predominately single base pair losses13 suggesting larger deletions result from multiple smaller sequential or stepwise replication errors that accumulate throughout many divisions. Multiple successive single base pair polyA deletions likely also occur in mammalian MMR-deficient tissues.8,9,12 To further characterize polyA deletion dynamics, MMR-deficient tissues were examined at multiple such loci. Similar to CA-repeat MS loci,7 polyA deletions in MSI+ tumors likely reflect hundreds of divisions since loss of MMR.
| Materials and Methods |
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DNA extracted from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded colorectal cancer sections were screened for MSI at four CA-dinucleotide MS loci14 and two polyA repeats (BAT25, BAT26). The 20 MSI+ colorectal cancers in this study would be classified as MSI-H.5 None of the patients had histories consistent with hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer.
DNA was also extracted from fixed normal small and large intestines of mlh1-/--deficient mice15 of different ages. Colorectal cancer cell lines HT29, SW480, and SW837 (MMR-proficient); HCT116 and SW48 (MMR (MLH1)-deficient16 ); and HCT15 [MMR (MSH6)-deficient17 ] were obtained from American Type Culture Collection (Manassas, VA). Their germline BAT allele lengths were estimated from the average germline lengths of the MSI+ cancers.
A 26-bp polyA sequence was inserted into the nontranscribed multiple cloning site of a pBluescript based plasmid vector and transfected into HCT116. Stable transfected G418-resistant clones were isolated by limiting dilution and propagated in mass culture for 469 days. Multiple copies (>10) of the A26 transgene were present per cell.
MS Analysis
DNA was amplified incorporating 33P-dCTP
during 32 to 38 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) cycles. Deletions were
estimated by comparing lengths between tumor and normal DNA after
electrophoresis on 6% sequencing gels. The length of an allele was
determined by its most intense band using a phosphoimager (Molecular
Dynamics, Sunnyvale, CA). BAT25, BAT26, BAT40,18
and BAT20
(Table 1)
were analyzed for the human
specimens. Similar sized mbat polyA murine sequences (Table 1)
were
used to analyze mlh1-/- mice. Germline murine sizes were determined
by amplification of MMR-proficient mlh1+/+ littermates. Mononucleotide
repeat lengths were confirmed by sequencing some of their PCR products.
Lengths of the A26 transgene were determined by sequencing PCR products
cloned into bacteria (TA cloning kit; Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA).
Although multiple copies of the A26 transgene were present per cell,
each measured allele likely reflect mutations in different cells
because PCR was performed with DNA extracted from mass cultures.
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| Results |
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| Discussion |
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500 divisions. Their progressive and smaller
deletions are consistent with a sequential stepwise deletion process. These observations in mammalian cells are consistent with studies in yeast. Unrepaired slippage during DNA replication is the likely mechanism for MS mutations in MMR-deficient cells,19,20 linking mutation with division. Yeast polyA mutations are predominantly single base deletions.13 Therefore, multiple base pair deletions potentially count numbers of divisions needed to accumulate multiple individual smaller base pair deletion replication errors.
Counting mutations based on the extent of deletion may underestimate
total mutations because less frequent insertions may also occur.
Furthermore, deletions are nonlinear with respect to numbers of
divisions because replication errors are a function of repeat length.
For example, the mutation rate with an A14 repeat was estimated at
160 x 10-5 whereas it was 8.4 x
10-5 (
19-fold lower) with an A12 repeat in
yeast.13
Similarly, by direct serial measurement deletions
in already shortened polyA sequences in a MMR-deficient cell line were
fewer compared to a longer repeat transfected into the same cell line,
or longer repeats in normal murine intestines. Therefore, progressively
more divisions are required for further deletion as a repeat shortens,
which can account for the apparent lower length boundary (
15 to 20
As) observed in MSI+ cancers and cell lines. Of note, CA-dinucleotide
MS loci seem to be more suitable as molecular tumor clocks because
additions are approximately equal to deletions that reduce a lower
boundary effect.7
Although counting dinucleotide MS
mutations is more complex, mutations continue to be proportional to
divisions throughout greater time intervals.7
Further complicating division counting since loss of MMR is the
stochastic nature of mutation. For example the extent of deletion
varied for the A26 transgene within a single culture (Figure 3)
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addition, the underlying MMR deficiency may effect loss rates as
compared to msh2-deficient cells, deletions with msh6-deficient yeast
are
100-fold less frequent.21
This observation is
consistent with the fewer deletions estimated for the MSH6-deficient
cell line HCT15 compared to MLH1-deficient cell lines. Therefore,
variability of total deletions in MSI+ cancers (Figure 1B)
may reflect
factors other than numbers of divisions after loss of MMR.
Nevertheless, it is apparent that deletions in MSI+ cancers are more
extensive than in MMR-deficient normal and neoplastic cells observed
throughout several hundred divisions.
Tumor analysis typically provides static genetic snapshots because
progression is based on histological criteria. MS loci in MMR-deficient
tumors provide an independent dimension of time because numbers of
divisions since loss of MMR can be inferred by their amount of drift
from germline regardless of tumor histology. The extensive polyA
deletions observed in MSI+ cancers likely reflect hundreds of divisions
since loss of MMR, consistent with a quantitative analysis of
dinucleotide repeat loci that inferred
2000 divisions typically
intervene between loss of MMR and tumor removal.7
Some
mutations recorded by MS loci may even precede visible progression or a
gatekeeper mutation because loss of MMR and somatic mutations including
deletions in BAT26 and BAT40 can accumulate in phenotypically normal
cells.22
The gradual accumulation of noncoding MS
mutations during progression9-12
may not be accompanied
by recognizable changes in phenotype.
The ability to count mutations in noncoding MS loci may have important clinical implications because many selective mutations in MSI+ tumors seem to occur after loss of MMR. Frameshift mutations in short polynucleotide repeats of tumor suppressor genes are common in MSI+ tumors but rare in MSI- tumors.18,23 Although progression to cancer can be limited by the infrequency of mutation,24 mutations or time seem not to limit MSI+ cancers because most tumors present clinically within a few thousand divisions after loss of MMR.7 Assuming one division per day, MSI+ colorectal tumors appear within a decade after loss of MMR compared to the decades estimated for progression of most colorectal cancers.1 Limiting MSI+ cancers may be the initial loss of MMR, for example by methylation of MLH1 in sporadic colorectal cancers,25 or host resistance factors such as immune surveillance. Interestingly, loss of HLA expression has been associated with MSI+ but not MSI- colorectal cancers.26 Further studies may better define the analysis appropriate for reading tumor-specific histories from their mutations and deciphering the significance of these autobiographies.
| Footnotes |
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Supported by National Institutes of Health Grants CN67010, CA58704 and CA70858.
Accepted for publication February 5, 2001.
| References |
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