Identification Of Genes That Frequently Exhibit Copy Number Alterations In Pediatric Ependymomas

Proceedings: AACR Annual Meeting 2014; April 5-9, 2014; San Diego, CA Ependymoma is a common pediatric central nervous system (CNS) tumor that is believed to originate from ependymal cells located in the lining of ventricular surfaces in the brain. Ependymoma presents great challenges in treatment despite the advances in neurosurgical techniques and adjuvant therapy. To uncover protein interaction networks that are consistently compromised in pediatric ependymomas, we conducted a computational analysis of the array CGH data derived from 203 primary ependymomas from the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital cohort, published by Johnson and colleagues [Nature, 466(7306):632-6, 2010]. The analysis (Bischof and Soares, manuscript in preparation) revealed 15 regions of copy number variation (CNVs) that occurred in at least 50% of the tumors. Peak genes from these CNVs were selected for a confirmatory study using DNA digital PCR assays with an independent ependymoma cohort from the Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago. In this study, all ependymomas displayed copy number alterations in at least one of the 10 genes tested by digital PCR. The digital PCR data sheds light into the biology of ependymomas as the 10 candidate genes have a wide range of cellular functions; from neural stem cell development, to tumor suppression, to the pathogenesis of glioblastoma. In conclusion, we have confirmed that the occurrence of DNA copy number variation in these 10 genes prevail in ependymomas. Indeed, all tumors exhibited at least one of these CNVs. These alterations provide insights into the protein interaction networks underlying development of ependymomas while uncovering targets that may be exploited for therapeutic intervention. Citation Format: Christopher A. Hamm, Fabricio F. Costa, Jared M. Bischof, Elio F. Vanin, Maria de Fatima Bonaldo, Steve Iannaccone, Veena Rajaram, David George, Tadanori Tomita, Stewart Goldman, Lawrence J. Jennings, Richard J. Gilbertson, Marcelo B. Soares. Identification of genes that frequently exhibit copy number alterations in pediatric ependymomas. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 105th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2014 Apr 5-9; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2014;74(19 Suppl):Abstract nr 3111. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2014-3111