The landscape of viral associations in human cancers
Marc Zapatka, Ivan Borozan, Daniel S. Brewer, Murat Iskar, Adam Grundhoff, Malik Alawi, Nikita Desai, Holger Sültmann, Holger Moch, PCAWG Pathogens, Malik Alawi, Ivan Borozan, Daniel S. Brewer, Colin S. Cooper, Nikita Desai, Roland Eils, Vincent Ferretti, Adam Grundhoff, Murat Iskar, Kortine Kleinheinz, Peter Lichter, Hidewaki Nakagawa, Akinyemi I. Ojesina, Chandra Sekhar Pedamallu, Matthias Schlesner, Xiaoping Su, Marc Zapatka, Colin S. Cooper, Roland Eils, Vincent Ferretti, Peter Lichter, Lauri A. Aaltonen, Federico Abascal, Adam Abeshouse, Hiroyuki Aburatani, David J. Adams, Nishant Agrawal, Keun Soo Ahn, Sung‐Min Ahn, Hiroshi Aikata, Rehan Akbani, Kadir C. Akdemir, Hikmat Al‐Ahmadie, Sultan T. Al‐Sedairy, Fátima Al‐Shahrour, Malik Alawi, Monique Albert, Kenneth Aldape, Ludmil B. Alexandrov, Adrian Ally, Kathryn Alsop, Eva G. Álvarez, Fernanda Amary, Samirkumar B. Amin, Brice Aminou, Ole Ammerpohl, Matthew J. Anderson, Yeng Ang, Davide Antonello, Pavana Anur, Samuel Aparício, Elizabeth L. Appelbaum, Yasuhito Arai, Axel Aretz, Koji Arihiro, Shun‐ichi Ariizumi, Joshua Armenia, Laurent Arnould, L. Sylvia, Yassen Assenov, Gurnit Atwal, Sietse Aukema, J. Todd Auman, Miriam R. R. Aure, Philip Awadalla, Marta Aymerich, Gary D. Bader, Adrian Baez‐Ortega, Matthew H. Bailey, Peter J. Bailey, Miruna Balasundaram, Saianand Balu, Pratiti Bandopadhayay, Rosamonde E. Banks, Stefano Barbi, Andrew P. Barbour, Jonathan Barenboim, Jill S. Barnholtz‐Sloan, Hugh Barr, Elisabet Barrera, John Bartlett, Javier Bartolomé, Claudio Bassi, Oliver F. Bathe, Daniel Baumhoer, Prashant Bavi, Stephen B. Baylin, Wojciech Bażant, Duncan Beardsmore, Tim Beck
Abstract
Here, as part of the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Consortium, for which whole-genome and-for a subset-whole-transcriptome sequencing data from 2,658 cancers across 38 tumor types was aggregated, we systematically investigated potential viral pathogens using a consensus approach that integrated three independent pipelines. Viruses were detected in 382 genome and 68 transcriptome datasets. We found a high prevalence of known tumor-associated viruses such as Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), hepatitis B virus (HBV) and human papilloma virus (HPV; for example, HPV16 or HPV18). The study revealed significant exclusivity of HPV and driver mutations in head-and-neck cancer and the association of HPV with APOBEC mutational signatures, which suggests that impaired antiviral defense is a driving force in cervical, bladder and head-and-neck carcinoma. For HBV, HPV16, HPV18 and adeno-associated virus-2 (AAV2), viral integration was associated with local variations in genomic copy numbers. Integrations at the TERT promoter were associated with high telomerase expression evidently activating this tumor-driving process. High levels of endogenous retrovirus (ERV1) expression were linked to a worse survival outcome in patients with kidney cancer.