Abstract 2599: Taxane pharmacogenomics: Identifying genetic variation associated with drug cytotoxicity using a genome-wide association approach and a cell line model system
Authors: Niu Nifang , Fridley Brooke L. , Kalari Krishna R. , Jenkins Gregory D. , Anthony Batzler , Wang Liewei 
Published: February 2011

Background Taxane, a class of common anticancer agent, is widely used to treat many cancers. Among the taxanes, paclitaxel and docetaxel are the most commonly used agents. The mechanism of action for taxane drugs is through stabilizing microtubules by enhancing tubulin assembly and against depolymerization, thereby disrupting the dynamics of the microtubule. Large inter-individual variation has been observed in response to taxane treatment. Therefore, in the present study, we conducted a genome-wide association (GWA) study to identify genetic polymorphisms that might contribute to variation in response to taxanes drugs using the “Human Variation Panel” lymphoblastoid cell line (LCL) model system that consists of 287 ethnically defined cell lines.

Method Genome-wide SNP and basal gene expression data were obtained for 287 LCLs using Illumina HumanHap 550K, 510S BeadChips, Affymetix SNP Array 6.0 and Affymetrix U133 plus 2.0 GeneChip. Cytotoxicity assay was also performed in the same cell lines for both paclitaxel and docetaxel. Candidate genes were selected based on an integrated analysis of genome-wide SNPs, expression array data and IC50 values (a cytotoxicity phenotype indicating the drug concentration required for 50% inhibition of maximal cell growth) for paclitaxel and docetaxel. SiRNA screening was performed to functionally validate those top candidates, followed by MTS assay in a breast cancer cell line, MDA-MB231.

Results Of the 54,000 probe sets considered, 390 probe sets, representing 272 unique annotated genes, were found to be associated with docetaxel cytotoxicity (IC50 value) with p value &lt;10−3, while 176 probe sets, representing 124 unique genes, were associated with paclitaxel IC50. Of these probe sets, 50 probe sets were associated with IC50 for both drugs. Analysis of 1.3 million SNPs identified 11 loci, defined as a region containing at least 1 SNP of p value &lt;10−5 and 1 SNP of p value &lt;10−4 within 50kb, associated with docetaxel IC50, while 7 loci were associated with paclitaxel IC50. One locus was found to be associated with both drugs. Previous studies suggested that gene expression is regulated in a cell-type specific manner. Therefore, based on our analysis and biological implication, we selected 16 top candidate genes that were expressed in our LCLs to perform functional validation studies using siRNA, followed by MTS assay in a breast cancer cell line, MDA-MB231. Functional studies showed that knockdown of SLC44A1 and HSPA5 significantly desensitized the cancer cell to both taxanes treatment. Conclusion GWAS using LCL model system could provide potential pharmacogenomic candidates for future clinical translational studies. Functional validation in tumor cell lines may help determine the genomic mechanism contributing to the inter-individual variation of taxane response.

Citation Format: {Authors}. {Abstract title} [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 101st Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2010 Apr 17-21; Washington, DC. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2010;70(8 Suppl):Abstract nr 2599.