Abstract 789: Leveraging transcriptomic and genomic data to better select models for preclinical oncology therapeutic development to identify cell lines most similar to patient tumors
Authors: Cha Yoonjeong , Labradorf Adam , Perez-Rogers Joseph , Haas Brian , Lysaght Andrew , Weiner Brian , Towfic Fadi , Fowler Kevin , Zeskind Benjamin , Kolitz Sarah , Vardarajan Badri , Artyomov Maxim , Kusko Rebecca L. 
Published: July 2016

Cancer cell lines represent the front line of new compound testing, and results from these experiments often decide which compounds go on for further testing. Genomic context plays a critical role in drug response and now genomic data for tumors and cell lines are widely available. However, cell lines are often chosen based on ease of access, literature prevalence, and ease of culture. We combined gene expression and CNV/mutation profiling from four pancreatic cancer tumor datasets (GSE21501, GSE28735, ICGC, TCGA,) and three pancreatic cancer cell line datasets (Klijn et al, Collisson et al, and CCLE) to identify which cell lines best match patient tumors.

CNV comparison revealed that popular cell lines do not always have the best CNV correlation with tumors: when comparing pancreatic cancer tumors to cell lines, the citations of the top five cell lines by CNV correlation were less than 10% of the pancreatic cancer cell line total. Next we filtered for driver mutations including SMAD4 and CDKN2A using mutation scoring algorithms and clustered tumors and cell lines. We found that many cell lines with few citation counts clustered readily amongst tumors (such as L33). Leveraging the hypothesis that different hits in the same pathway can have a similar downstream effect, we combined CNV, expression and mutation data and clustered cell lines together with tumors based on overall aberrations in MSigDB cancer pathways. L33 and YAPC clustered near tumors while the majority of other cell lines clustered together.

To identify coexpressed gene clusters, we ran WGCNA individually in all seven datasets and discovered modules consistent in cell line and tumor datasets using iGraph. One of the most interesting modules (interferon regulated genes) is expressed highly in the majority of tumors profiled. About half of cell lines also express this module highly, suggesting that they may be more ideal models for high interferon expression tumors than other cell lines.

Here we present evidence demonstrating that certain cell lines mimic pancreatic tumor genomes more closely while others represent patterns of genomic features not commonly observed in vivo. We also show that certain biologically relevant tumor subtypes may be better represented by some cell lines than others. Our analysis highlights the emerging role of genomics in advancing the clinical success of therapeutic trials.

Citation Format: Yoonjeong Cha, Adam Labradorf, Joseph Perez-Rogers, Brian Haas, Andrew Lysaght, Brian Weiner, Fadi Towfic, Kevin Fowler, Benjamin Zeskind, Sarah Kolitz, Badri Vardarajan, Maxim Artyomov, Rebecca L. Kusko. Leveraging transcriptomic and genomic data to better select models for preclinical oncology therapeutic development to identify cell lines most similar to patient tumors. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 789.