title: A surprising cross-species conservation in the genomic landscape of mouse and human oral cancer identifies a transcriptional signature predicting metastatic disease.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Improved understanding of the molecular basis underlying oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) aggressive growth has significant clinical implications. Herein, cross-species genomic comparison of carcinogen-induced murine and human OSCCs with indolent or metastatic growth yielded results with surprising translational relevance.
  
  
  METHODS
  Murine OSCC cell lines were subjected to next-generation sequencing (NGS) to define their mutational landscape, to define novel candidate cancer genes, and to assess for parallels with known drivers in human OSCC. Expression arrays identified a mouse metastasis signature, and we assessed its representation in four independent human datasets comprising 324 patients using weighted voting and gene set enrichment analysis. Kaplan-Meier analysis and multivariate Cox proportional hazards modeling were used to stratify outcomes. A quantitative real-time PCR assay based on the mouse signature coupled to a machine-learning algorithm was developed and used to stratify an independent set of 31 patients with respect to metastatic lymphadenopathy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  NGS revealed conservation of human driver pathway mutations in mouse OSCC, including in Trp53, mitogen-activated protein kinase, phosphoinositide 3-kinase, NOTCH, JAK/STAT, and Fat1-4. Moreover, comparative analysis between The Cancer Genome Atlas and mouse samples defined AKAP9, MED12L, and MYH6 as novel putative cancer genes. Expression analysis identified a transcriptional signature predicting aggressiveness and clinical outcomes, which were validated in four independent human OSCC datasets. Finally, we harnessed the translational potential of this signature by creating a clinically feasible assay that stratified patients with OSCC with a 93.5% accuracy.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These data demonstrate surprising cross-species genomic conservation that has translational relevance for human oral squamous cell cancer. Clin Cancer Res; 20(11); 2873-84. ©2014 AACR.
authors.affiliation: Authors' Affiliations: Departments of Cell Biology and Physiology, Otolaryngology, Genetics, Pathology and Immunology, and Neurosurgery; The Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine; and John Cochran VA Medical Center, St. Louis, Missouri.
authors.forename: Michael D
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Onken
authors.affiliation: Authors' Affiliations: Departments of Cell Biology and Physiology, Otolaryngology, Genetics, Pathology and Immunology, and Neurosurgery; The Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine; and John Cochran VA Medical Center, St. Louis, Missouri.
authors.forename: Ashley E
authors.initials: AE
authors.lastname: Winkler
authors.affiliation: Authors' Affiliations: Departments of Cell Biology and Physiology, Otolaryngology, Genetics, Pathology and Immunology, and Neurosurgery; The Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine; and John Cochran VA Medical Center, St. Louis, Missouri.
authors.forename: Krishna-Latha
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Kanchi
authors.affiliation: Authors' Affiliations: Departments of Cell Biology and Physiology, Otolaryngology, Genetics, Pathology and Immunology, and Neurosurgery; The Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine; and John Cochran VA Medical Center, St. Louis, Missouri.
authors.forename: Varun
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Chalivendra
authors.affiliation: Authors' Affiliations: Departments of Cell Biology and Physiology, Otolaryngology, Genetics, Pathology and Immunology, and Neurosurgery; The Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine; and John Cochran VA Medical Center, St. Louis, Missouri.
authors.forename: Jonathan H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Law
authors.affiliation: Authors' Affiliations: Departments of Cell Biology and Physiology, Otolaryngology, Genetics, Pathology and Immunology, and Neurosurgery; The Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine; and John Cochran VA Medical Center, St. Louis, Missouri.
authors.forename: Charles G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Rickert
authors.affiliation: Authors' Affiliations: Departments of Cell Biology and Physiology, Otolaryngology, Genetics, Pathology and Immunology, and Neurosurgery; The Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine; and John Cochran VA Medical Center, St. Louis, Missouri.
authors.forename: Dorina
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Kallogjeri
authors.affiliation: Authors' Affiliations: Departments of Cell Biology and Physiology, Otolaryngology, Genetics, Pathology and Immunology, and Neurosurgery; The Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine; and John Cochran VA Medical Center, St. Louis, Missouri.
authors.forename: Nancy P
authors.initials: NP
authors.lastname: Judd
authors.affiliation: Authors' Affiliations: Departments of Cell Biology and Physiology, Otolaryngology, Genetics, Pathology and Immunology, and Neurosurgery; The Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine; and John Cochran VA Medical Center, St. Louis, Missouri.
authors.forename: Gavin P
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Dunn
authors.affiliation: Authors' Affiliations: Departments of Cell Biology and Physiology, Otolaryngology, Genetics, Pathology and Immunology, and Neurosurgery; The Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine; and John Cochran VA Medical Center, St. Louis, Missouri.
authors.forename: Jay F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Piccirillo
authors.affiliation: Authors' Affiliations: Departments of Cell Biology and Physiology, Otolaryngology, Genetics, Pathology and Immunology, and Neurosurgery; The Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine; and John Cochran VA Medical Center, St. Louis, MissouriAuthors' Affiliations: Departments of Cell Biology and Physiology, Otolaryngology, Genetics, Pathology and Immunology, and Neurosurgery; The Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine; and John Cochran VA Medical Center, St. Louis, Missouri.
authors.forename: James S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.affiliation: Authors' Affiliations: Departments of Cell Biology and Physiology, Otolaryngology, Genetics, Pathology and Immunology, and Neurosurgery; The Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine; and John Cochran VA Medical Center, St. Louis, MissouriAuthors' Affiliations: Departments of Cell Biology and Physiology, Otolaryngology, Genetics, Pathology and Immunology, and Neurosurgery; The Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine; and John Cochran VA Medical Center, St. Louis, Missouri.
authors.forename: Elaine R
authors.initials: ER
authors.lastname: Mardis
authors.affiliation: Authors' Affiliations: Departments of Cell Biology and Physiology, Otolaryngology, Genetics, Pathology and Immunology, and Neurosurgery; The Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine; and John Cochran VA Medical Center, St. Louis, MissouriAuthors' Affiliations: Departments of Cell Biology and Physiology, Otolaryngology, Genetics, Pathology and Immunology, and Neurosurgery; The Genome Institute, Washington University School of Medicine; and John Cochran VA Medical Center, St. Louis, Missouri uppalurr@wustl.edu.
authors.forename: Ravindra
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Uppaluri
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002294:Carcinoma, Squamous Cell / Q000235:genetics*; D023281:Genomics; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D009062:Mouth Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013045:Species Specificity; D060388:Support Vector Machine; D059467:Transcriptome / Q000235:genetics*