Letter abstract


Nature Genetics 40, 650 - 655 (2008)
Published online: 13 April 2008 | doi:10.1038/ng.117

No evidence of clonal somatic genetic alterations in cancer-associated fibroblasts from human breast and ovarian carcinomas

Wen Qiu1,2, Min Hu3,4, Anita Sridhar1, Ken Opeskin5,6, Stephen Fox7, Michail Shipitsin3,4, Melanie Trivett7, Ella R Thompson1,6, Manasa Ramakrishna1,6, Kylie L Gorringe1, Kornelia Polyak3,4, Izhak Haviv2,8 & Ian G Campbell1,6

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There is increasing evidence showing that the stromal cells surrounding cancer epithelial cells, rather than being passive bystanders, might have a role in modifying tumor outgrowth. The molecular basis of this aspect of carcinoma etiology is controversial. Some studies have reported a high frequency of genetic aberrations in carcinoma-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), whereas other studies have reported very low or zero mutation rates. Resolution of this contentious area is of critical importance in terms of understanding both the basic biology of cancer as well as the potential clinical implications of CAF somatic alterations. We undertook genome-wide copy number and loss of heterozygosity (LOH) analysis of CAFs derived from breast and ovarian carcinomas using a 500K SNP array platform. Our data show conclusively that LOH and copy number alterations are extremely rare in CAFs and cannot be the basis of the carcinoma-promoting phenotypes of breast and ovarian CAFs.

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  1. VBCRC Cancer Genetics Laboratory, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, East Melbourne, Victoria 3002, Australia.
  2. Department of Biochemistry, University of Melbourne, Melbourne 3010, Australia.
  3. Department of Medical Oncology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
  4. Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
  5. Department of Pathology, St Vincent's Hospital, Fitzroy, Victoria 3065, Australia.
  6. Department of Pathology, University of Melbourne, Melbourne 3010, Australia.
  7. Department of Pathology, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, East Melbourne, Victoria 3002, Australia.
  8. Cancer Cell Biology Laboratory, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, East Melbourne, Victoria 3002, Australia.

Correspondence to: Ian G Campbell1,6 e-mail: ian.campbell@petermac.org




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