Abstract 808: Functional evaluation of novel germline DNA repair variants identified in patients with early-onset renal cancer
Authors: Demidova Elena V. , Iqbal Waleed , Serebriiskii Ilya G. , Forman Andrea F. , Kent Tatiana , Pomerantz Richard T. , Golemis Erica A. , Hall Michael J. , Chen David Y. , Daly Mary B. , Arora Sanjeevani 
Published: July 2021

Background: Early-onset renal cancer (eoRC) is typically associated with significant family history of cancer, and often associated with germline pathogenic variants (PVs) in ‘RC-specific' genes including VHL, MET, FLCN, TSC1, TSC2, FH, SDH, PTEN and BAP1. However, most eoRC patients lack PVs in RC-specific genes; rather, we recently identified an enrichment of likely PVs in DNA repair genes in eoRC patients. Here, using eoRC patient resources (primary and transformed lymphocytes, lymphocyte DNA, and tumor tissue), we functionally evaluated the DNA repair variants identified in eoRC patients.

Methods: We performed whole-exome sequencing (WES) on lymphocyte DNA from 22 patients with genetically undefined eoRC, with extensive family history of RC and/or other cancers, provided by Risk Assessment Program and Genitourinary Group at Fox Chase Cancer Center. Prioritized variants were assessed by structural, biochemical and cellular studies.

Results: 70% of patients had rare, heterozygous, missense variants in genes that suppress DNA damage. ~18% of the variants were in DNA polymerase genes (POLD1, POLE, POLH, POLK), which mediate DNA replication-repair. Increased tumor mutation burden (&gt;10 mutations/Mb) was observed in tumors carrying predicted damaging polymerase variants. In functional testing, induction of DNA damage in primary lymphocytes from eoRC patients and matched cancer-free controls (n=20 each) selectively elevated γH2AX foci (indicative of DNA damage) in cells from eoRC patients (P&lt;0.001, pairwise T-test). DNA fiber analysis of eoRC patient-derived lymphocyte lines carrying the polymerase variants, showed significantly slower rate of DNA replication, and replication fork restoration after DNA damage versus the matched control-derived lymphocyte lines (P&lt;0.01, Mann-Whitney test). Biochemical analysis of purified polymerase proteins found that the variants differ from wild type polymerase in their ability to extend DNA substrates and bypass DNA lesion(s), and exhibit dominant negative effects.

Conclusion and future work: Our results indicate that germline variants in DNA repair genes impact suppression of DNA damage in cells from patients with eoRC. Biological studies testing the impact of the identified variants on renal carcinogenesis are warranted. Overall, genetic testing for variation in DNA repair genes may provide a more comprehensive risk assessment in eoRC patients, and provide novel opportunities for targeting DNA repair vulnerabilities in RC.

Citation Format: Elena V. Demidova, Waleed Iqbal, Ilya G. Serebriiskii, Andrea F. Forman, Tatiana Kent, Richard T. Pomerantz, Erica A. Golemis, Michael J. Hall, David Y. Chen, Mary B. Daly, Sanjeevani Arora. Functional evaluation of novel germline DNA repair variants identified in patients with early-onset renal cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2021; 2021 Apr 10-15 and May 17-21. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2021;81(13_Suppl):Abstract nr 808.