Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC
Stephen V. Liu , Rebecca Feldman , Hossein Borghaei , Shirish M. Gadgeel , Patrick C. Ma , Jorge J. Nieva , Alexander I. Spira , Ari M. Vanderwalde , Antoinette J. Wozniak , Sushma Jonna , Edward S. Kim
Background: NRG1 gene fusions are an emerging potential therapeutic target in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). NRG1 is a ligand for the HER3 tyrosine kinase and NRG1 fusions can activate oncogenic HER2/HER3 and PI3K-AKT signaling. The pan-ErbB inhibitor afatinib has been associated with durable response in patients with NRG1+ lung adenocarcinoma. NRG1 fusions and the specific fusion partners have not been well characterized across different tumor types. Methods: Tumor samples submitted for profiling between 01/16 - 01/18 at a CLIA-certified genomics laboratory (Caris Life Sciences, Phoenix, AZ) were assayed with anchored multiplex PCR for targeted RNA sequencing with the ArcherDX fusion assay (Boulder, CO). Novel isoforms and fusions with high reads (defined as > 10% of total reads), high confidence after bioinformatics filtering and considered in-frame are included in this analysis. Results: In a cohort of 14,150 tumors successfully assayed, 31 cases (0.2%) harbored an NRG1 fusion. The incidence of NRG1 fusions varied by tumor type: 0.9% thyroid (1/116), 0.5% ovary (3/574), 0.5% cholangiocarcinoma (1/194), 0.4% pancreas(2/510), 0.3% NSCLC (20/5869), 0.2% breast (2/927), 0.2% sarcoma (1/475), and 1 case in sinonasal teratocarcinoma (SNTC). One of the 20 NSCLC cases (NRG1- SDC4) had squamous histology, the remaining were adenocarcinoma. No NRG1 fusions were detected in colorectal cancer (0/1382) or glioblastoma multiforme (0/1200). In NSCLC, NRG1 fusions were mutually exclusive with oncogenic alterations in EGFR, ALK, ROS1, RET, and KRAS with the exception of one case that co-occurred with a KRAS G12C mutation. Fusion partners are shown below. Conclusions: Gene fusions in NRG1 can be identified in various tumor types though the highest number of events was in NSCLC. Consistent detection of NRG1 fusions will need to account for multiple fusion partners. The optimal treatment of tumors harboring NRG1 fusions needs to be established.
Tumor Type | NRG1 fusion partners |
---|---|
NSCLC | CD74 (n = 8), SDC4 (n = 3), ATPB1, DPYSL2, MRPL13, OAS2, PARP8, ROCK1, SLCA3, TNC, WRN (n = 1, each) |
Ovary | ZMYM2, SETD4, TSHZ2 (n = 1, each) |
Pancreas | CDH1, VTCN1 (n = 1, each) |
Breast | ADAM9, COX10-AS1 (n = 1, each) |
Thyroid | TRAF3IP2 |
Cholangiocarcinoma | NOTCH2 |
Sarcoma | WHSC1L1 |
SNTC | HMBOX1 |
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