Identification of genetic variants for clinical management of familial colorectal tumors

The Hereditary Cancer Biobank of the Norwegian Radium Hospital was used to identify unrelated high-risk CRC individuals from families that fulfilled the AMS criteria or the revised Bethesda guidelines [7‐10, 27]. By the standard diagnostic clinical techniques, all study subjects were demonstrated not to carry pathogenic variants or large genomic rearrangements in MMR genes (MLH1, MSH2, MSH6 or PMS2).

Ethical approval for the study was granted by the Norwegian Data Inspectorate and Ethical Review Board (ref 2015/2382). All examined patients signed an informed consent for their participation in the study.

Genomic DNA was isolated from peripheral blood samples and targeted sequencing was carried out using a TrueSeq amplicon based assay v.1.5 on a MiSeq apparatus, as previously described [28, 29]. The 44-gene panel used in this study includes genes associated with cancer predisposition as described in a prior study [28, 29].

Paired-end sequence reads were aligned to the human reference genome (build GRCh37) using the BWA-mem algorithm (v.0.7.8-r55) [30]. The initial sequence alignments were converted to BAM format and subsequently sorted and indexed with SAMtools (v.1.1) [30]. Genotyping of single nucleotide variants (SNV) and short indels was performed by GATK’s HaplotypeCaller. Filtering of raw genotype calls and assessment of callable regions/loci were done according to GATK’s best practice procedures, as described more detailed previously [28].

Variants were annotated using ANNOVAR (version November 2015) [31] and were queried against a range of variant databases and protein resources, namely dbSNP (build 147) [32], 1000 Genome Project phase3 [33], Exome Aggregation Consortium (ExAC) (http://​exac.​broadinstitute.​org, accessed August 2015) [34], Genome Aggregation Database (gnomAD) (http://​gnomad.​broadinstitute.​org, accessed October 2017) [34], Norwegian Germline Variations Database (http://​norgene.​no/​vcf-miner/​, accessed October 2017), ClinVar (May 2016) [35], UniProt Knowledgebase (release March 2016) [36] and the Pfam protein domain database (v29, December 2015) [28, 37].

The nomenclature guidelines of the Human Genome Variation Society (HGVS) were used to describe the detected genetic variants [38]. The recurrence of the identified variants was established by interrogating four databases (in their latest releases as of November 2016): the Leiden Open Variation Database (LOVD), the Universal Mutation Database (UMD), ClinVar and the Human Gene Mutation Database (HGMD). The variants were classified according to the 5-tier classification system into the following categories: class 5 (pathogenic), class 4 (likely pathogenic), class 3 (uncertain variants or variants of unknown significance, VUS), class 2 (likely not pathogenic) and class 1 (not pathogenic) [3].

Two types of bioinformatics methods were used to predict the impact of selected variants on RNA splicing. First, we used MaxEntScan (MES) and SSF-like (SSFL) to predict variant-induced alterations in 3′ and 5′ splice site strength, as described by Houdayer et al. 2012 [39], except that here both algorithms were interrogated by using the integrated software tool Alamut Batch version 1.5, (Interactive Biosoftware, http://​www.​interactive-biosoftware.​com). For prediction of variant-induced impact on exonic splicing regulatory elements (ESR), we resorted to ΔtESRseq- [40], ΔHZei- [41], and SPANR-based [42] as described by Soukarieh et al. [43]. Score differences (Δ) between variant and wild-type (WT) cases were taken as proxies for assessing the probability of a splicing defect. More precisely, we considered that a variant mapping at a splice site was susceptible of negatively impacting exon inclusion if ΔMES≥15% and ΔSSFL≥5% [39], whereas an exonic variant located outside the splice sites was considered as a probable inducer of exon skipping if negative Δ scores (below the thresholds described below) were provided by all the 3 ESR-dedicated in silico tools. We chose the following thresholds: <− 0.5 for ΔtESRseq-, <− 10 for ΔHZei-, and < − 0.5 for SPANR-based scores. In addition, we evaluated the possibility of variant-induced de novo splice sites by taking into consideration local changes in MES and SSFL scores. In this case, we considered that variants located outside the splice sites were susceptible of creating a competing splice site if local MES scores were equal to or greater than those of the corresponding reference splice site for the same exon.

In silico protein impact predictions of missense variants were performed with Align-GVGD (the VUS were predicted as deleterious when the values were from C35 or higher), SIFT, and MAPP using Alamut Batch version 1.4.4 (Interactive Biosoftware) and additionally with PolyPhen-2 and MutationTaster [44‐48].

In order to determine the impact of selected exonic variants on splicing, we performed functional assays based on the comparative analysis of the splicing pattern of WT and mutant reporter minigenes, as follows. First, genomic regions containing the exon of interest (internal exons only) and at least 150 nucleotides of the flanking introns were amplified by PCR [49] using patients’ DNA as template and primers indicated in Additional file 1: Table S1. Next, representative minigenes were created by inserting the PCR-amplified fragments into a previously linearized pCAS2 vector [43]. All constructs were sequenced to ensure that no unwanted mutations had been introduced into the inserted fragments during PCR or cloning. Then, WT and mutant minigenes were transfected into HeLa cells grown in 12-well plates (at ~ 70% confluence) using the FuGENE 6 transfection reagent (Roche Applied Science). Twenty-four hours later, total RNA was extracted using the NucleoSpin RNA II kit (Macherey Nagel) and, the minigenes’ transcripts were analyzed by semi-quantitative RT-PCR using the OneStep RT-PCR kit (Qiagen), as previously described [43]. The sequences of the RT-PCR primers are shown in Additional file 1: Table S1. Later, RT-PCR products were separated by electrophoresis on 2.5% agarose gel containing EtBr and visualized by exposure to UV light under saturating conditions using the Gel Doc XR image acquisition system (Bio-Rad), followed by gel-purification and Sanger sequencing for proper identification of the minigenes’ transcripts. Finally, splicing events were quantitated by performing equivalent fluorescent RT-PCR reactions followed by capillary electrophoresis on an automated sequencer (Applied Biosystems), and computational analysis by using the GeneMapper v5.0 software (Applied Biosystems).

Upon querying the Hereditary Cancer Biobank of the Norwegian Radium Hospital for cases that fulfill the AMS and/or the revised Bethesda guidelines, we identified 34 unrelated potential high-risk CRC individuals who did not carry pathogenic variants in MMR genes. The median age at first CRC diagnosis was 51.5 years (range: 34–86 years).

Pedigree information showed that 13 (38%) families fulfilled the AMS I and/or II criteria and the revised Bethesda guidelines while 21 (62%) met the revised Bethesda guidelines only (Table 1). Fifteen (44%) patients had tumors with MSI and/or MMR IHC data available, of which 2 (13%) were MSI-high and/or MMR deficient. Clinical, family and tumor data information is detailed in Table 1.

Given that the families that fulfilled the AMS criteria and/or the Bethesda guidelines did not carry pathogenic variants in the MMR genes, we hypothesized that other genes could be implicated in the genetic determinism of these phenotypes.

In order to pursue this hypothesis, we collected DNA samples from all probands and performed high-throughput sequencing of a panel of 44 cancer-associated genes. For the 34 samples, mean depth of coverage ranged from 127 to 507 with the fraction of target bases with coverage ≥25 ranging from 80% to 93. The NGS results revealed that each individual carried an average of 26 SNV (between 19 and 33 per individual) in the set of 44 cancer susceptibility genes, most of which were common polymorphisms (allele frequency ≥ 1% in the general population) according to the ExAC database, and some being classified as benign or likely benign (class 1 or class 2) according to either ClinVar or the American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics (ACMG) guidelines [35, 50] (Table 2).

Importantly, we identified a likely pathogenic variant in a moderate-penetrance gene (CHEK2 c.470 T > C, p.I157T) in a female patient diagnosed with colon cancer at 42 years, melanoma at 44 years and BC at 57 years with a proficient IHC MMR profile and fulfilling the revised Bethesda guidelines (Patient 19,609) (Table 1).

The CHEK2 c.470 T > C has been classified as pathogenic according to the ACMG guidelines [51], and has a lower allele frequency (1.89*10–3) in the Norwegian population, compared to the non-Finnish European population (5.4*10–3) (http://​norgene.​no/​vcf-miner/​ and gnomAD database, respectively) [34, 35, 50]. The variant is reported in ClinVar as “conflicting interpretations of pathogenicity, risk factor” (Variation ID: 5591). When the revised Bethesda guidelines were considered, the mutation detection rate was thus 4.8% (1/21).

Overall, 25 unique VUS were found in 18 out of the 34 patients (Table 2). The detected VUS were distributed among 17 different genes: MAP3K1 (in 2 patients), NBN (in 3 patients), NOTCH3 (in 3 patients), RAD51B (in 3 patients), MSH2 (in 2 patients), PALB2 (in 2 patients), POLE (in 2 patients) and the remaining were found in APC, ATM, AXIN2, BRCA1, CHEK2, EPCAM, MSH6, MUTYH, RAD51C and STK11 (Table 2). The minor allele frequency (MAF) values of these variants were very low or no frequency data have been reported.

The 25 unique VUS were analyzed by using five in silico prediction tools with different underlying algorithms to estimate the impact of the variants on the structure and function of the corresponding proteins.

Concordances between the 5 prediction tools were found for 2 out of the 25 VUS, suggesting a potentially damaging effect on protein level for the variants: MUTYH c.812G > A (p.R271Q) and MSH2 c.128A > G (p.Y43C) (Table 3). In the other hand, 6 out of 25 VUS were consistently predicted as benign: NBN c.1720 T > A (p.L574I),

BRCA1 c.4315C > T (p.L1439F), MAP3K1 c.764A > G (p.N255S), CHEK2 c.74 T > C (p.V25A), PALB2 c.232G > A (p.V78I) and APC c.4334C > T (p.T1445I). Discrepancies were pronounced for the variants in the POLE (n = 2), STK11, MAP3K1, PSMC3IP, RAD51C, MSH6, AXIN2, MSH2, NBN, NOTCH3, RAD51B, PALB2 and EPCAM genes (Table 3).

Two out of the 25 VUS were bioinformatically predicted to affect RNA maturation by potentially modifying splicing signals (Table 3). More specifically, according to our in silico results, NOTCH3 c.5854G >A (identified in Patients 3222 and 4932) was predicted to potentially induce exon 32 skipping by alteration of exonic splicing regulatory elements, whereas MAP3K1 c.764A > G (detected in Patient 21,368) was predicted to introduce a deletion of the first 131 nucleotides of exon 3 (r.634_764del) due to the creation of a putative new acceptor splice site. Skipping of NOTCH3 exon 32 would produce a transcript with a frameshift deletion of 98 nucleotides (NOTCH3 r.5816_5913del), potentially leading to the production of a carboxy-terminally truncated NOTCH3 protein p.(Lys1940Glyfs*14). The MAP3K1 r.634_764del transcript would be expected to be degraded by nonsense mediated decay and/or result in a very short MAP3K1 protein p.(Val212Leufs*45). The NOTCH3 c.5854G >A was identified in two patients (Patients 3222 and 4932) that fulfilled the revised Bethesda guidelines and AMS criteria, respectively while the MAP3K1 c.764A > G (Patient 21,368) in a patient which family fulfilled the revised Bethesda guidelines (Table 1).

Because patient RNA was not available, we decided to experimentally assess the impact of these 2 variants (NOTCH3 c.5854G >A and MAP3K1 c.764A > G) might have on RNA splicing by performing cell-based minigene splicing assays.

As shown in Fig. 1 we found that NOTCH3 c.5854G >A and MAP3K1 c.764A > G did not modify the splicing pattern of the minigenes’ transcripts. These data thus disagree with the in silico predictions and suggest that either the exon 32 of NOTCH3 and the exon 3 of MAP3K1 are refractory to splicing mutations (the predictions thus being incorrect) or that the minigenes used in our study do not fully reproduce the splicing pattern of the mutant exons in NOTCH3 and MAP3K1 bona fide transcripts (the predictions being eventually correct). Complementary studies using RNA from NOTCH3 c.5854G >A and MAP3K1 c.764A > G carriers need to be performed to verify the pertinence of these results.