Title: Genomic signatures reveal DNA damage response deficiency in colorectal cancer brain metastases.

Authors: Jing Sun, Cheng Wang, Yi Zhang, Lingyan Xu, Weijia Fang, Yuping Zhu, Yi Zheng, Xiaofeng Chen, Xiju Xie, Xinhua Hu, Weidong Hu, Jingyu Zheng, Ping Li, Jian Yu, Zhu Mei, Xiaomin Cai, Biao Wang, Zhibin Hu, Yongqian Shu, Hongbing Shen, Yanhong Gu

Journal, date & volume: Nat Commun, 2019Jul18, 10, 3190

PubMed link: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31320627

Abstract
Brain metastases (BM) of colorectal cancer (CRC) are rare but lethal, and an understanding of their genomic landscape is lacking. We conduct an analysis of whole-exome sequencing (WES) and whole-genome sequencing (WGS) data on 19 trios of patient-matched BMs, primary CRC tumors, and adjacent normal tissue. Compared with primary CRC, BM exhibits elevated mutational signatures of homologous recombination deficiency (HRD) and mismatch repair deficiency (MMRD). Further analysis reveals two DNA damage response (DDR) signatures could emerge early and are enhanced in BM tissues but are eliminated eventually in matched primary CRC tissues. BM-specific mutations in DDR genes and elevated microsatellite instability (MSI) levels support the importance of DDR in the brain metastasis of CRC. We also identify BM-related genes (e.g., SCN7A, SCN5A, SCN2A, IKZF1, and PDZRN4) that carry frequent BM-specific mutations. These results provide a better understanding of the BM mutational landscape and insights into treatment.