Description
Defining the frequency of DNA Virus Associations across Human Malignant Cancers: Analysis of 9,200 Cases Using TCGA RNA-Seq
Xiaoping Su1, and Gabriel G Malouf2
1Departments of Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, Texas 77030, USA: 2Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology (IGBMC), University of Strasbourg
Elucidation of tumor-DNA virus associations in many cancer types has enhanced our knowledge of fundamental oncogenesis mechanisms and provided a basis for cancer prevention initiatives. RNA-Seq is a novel tool to comprehensively assess such associations. We interrogated RNA-Seq data from 9,200 malignant neoplasms in The Cancer Genome Atlas database for the presence of viral sequences. Viral integration sites were also detected in expressed transcripts using a novel approach. Human papillomavirus (HPV) transcripts were detected using RNA-Seq analysis in cervical squamous cell carcinoma and endocervical adenocarcinoma, head-and-neck squamous cell carcinoma, bladder Urothelial Carcinoma, uterine endometrioid carcinoma, and squamous cell carcinoma of the lung. Detection of HPV by RNA-Seq correlated with detection by in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry in squamous cell carcinoma tumors of the head and neck. Hepatitis B virus and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) were detected using RNA-Seq in hepatocellular carcinoma and gastric carcinoma tumors, respectively. Integration sites of viral genes and oncogenes were detected in cancers harboring HPV or hepatitis B virus but not in EBV-positive gastric carcinoma. Integration sites of expressed viral transcripts frequently involved known coding areas of the host genome. No DNA virus transcripts were detected in acute myeloid leukemia, cutaneous melanoma, low- and high-grade gliomas of the brain, and adenocarcinomas of the breast, colon and rectum, lung, prostate, ovary, kidney, and thyroid. In conclusion, this study provides a large-scale overview of the frequency of DNA viruses in human malignant cancers. While further validation is necessary for specific cancer types, our findings highlight the utility of RNA-Seq in detecting tumor-associated DNA viruses and identifying viral integration sites that may unravel novel mechanisms of cancer pathogenesis.