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Background: The PALB2 gene encoding protein is involved in the homologous recombination repair pathway and plays an important role in maintaining genomic integrity. PALB2 heterozygous pathological variants (PV) or likely pathogenic variants (LPV) are associated with increased risk of breast and ovarian cancer. However, the prevalence and clinicopathological association of PALB2 germline PV/LPV in Middle Eastern breast and ovarian cancers is not fully identified. Purpose: We retrospectively screened a cohort of 918 cancer patients (791 breast cancer and 127 ovarian cancer) from Saudi Arabia using targeted capture-based next generation sequencing (NGS) method for PALB2 germline variants regardless the family history of these patients or the presence of other hereditary cancer susceptibility genes mutations. Clinicopathological criteria were also fully analyzed. Results: Five heterozygous PVs or LPVs were identified in six cases, accounting for 0.65% (6/918) of entire cohort. Two cases (33.3%) harbored PVs and four cases (66.7%) carried LPVs. Four PVs/LPVs (80%) were frameshift along with one novel splicing LPV (c.2835-1 C>A). One recurrent LPV (c.3425delT) was identified in two cases. All six affected carriers have breast cancer diagnosis with median age of 39.5 years (range 34-49 years). Only two cases (33%) have documented family history of cancer. Breast cancer phenotype was invasive ductal unilateral cancer in all cases with 66.7% of hormone receptor positive and 16% of triple negative tumors. Conclusion: Germline PVs/LPVs in the PALB2 gene were observed in low frequency of 0.65% in Saudi breast and/or ovarian cancer. Our study confirms one recurrent LPV and one novel LPV in Saudi breast cancer patients. Citation Format: Rong Bu, Abdul K. Sira, Sandeep Parvathareddy, Kaleem Iqbal, Saud Azam, Zeeshan Qadri, Maha Al-Rasheed, Wael Haqawi, Mark Diaz, Ingrid G. Victoria, Khawla S. Al-Kuraya. PALB2 germline mutations in a large cohort Middle Eastern breast-ovarian cancer patients [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 6086.

Sanger Sequencing and immunohistochemistry was employed to investigate the TERT promoter mutations and TERT protein expression with their association to clinicopathological characteristics in over 2200 samples of Middle Eastern origin from 13 different types of cancers. The TERT promoter mutations were most frequently present in bladder cancer (68.6%), followed by central nervous system tumors (28.7%), thyroid cancer (15.4%), prostate cancer (9.3%), endometrial carcinoma (3.7%), rhabdomyosarcoma (1.4%), colorectal cancer (1%), epithelial ovarian carcinoma (0.7%) and breast cancer (0.7%). No mutations were observed in other types of cancers. In bladder cancer, we found significant inverse association with metastasis and a trend to good survival in patients with TERT mutations. In gliomas, TERT promoter mutations predicted poor prognosis. In thyroid cancer, high frequency of TERT mutation was observed in poorly differentiated carcinoma. In addition, TERT promoter mutations were associated with aggressive markers and poor outcome in follicular thyroid carcinomas.

Mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 1 (MAP2K1) is a dual specificity protein kinase that phosphorylates both threonine and tyrosine residues in ERK. MAP2K1 mutations have been identified in several cancers. However, their role in Middle Eastern papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) and colorectal cancer (CRC) is lacking. In this study, we evaluated the prevalence of MAP2K1 mutations in a large cohort of Middle Eastern PTC and CRC using whole-exome and Sanger sequencing technology. In the discovery cohort of 100 PTC and 100 CRC cases (comprising 50 MAPK mutant and 50 MAPK wildtype cases each), we found one MAP2K1 mutation each in PTC and CRC, both of which were MAPK wildtype. We further analyzed 286 PTC and 289 CRC MAPK wildtype cases and found three MAP2K1 mutant PTC cases and two MAP2K1 mutant CRC cases. Thus, the overall prevalence of MAP2K1 mutation in MAPK wildtype cases was 1.1% (4/336) in PTC and 0.9% (3/339) in CRC. Histopathologically, three of the four MAP2K1 mutant PTC cases were follicular variant and all four tumors were unifocal with absence of extra-thyroidal extension. All the three CRC cases harboring MAP2K1 mutation were of older age (> 50 years) and had moderately differentiated stage II/III tumors located in the left colon. In conclusion, this is the first comprehensive report of MAP2K1 somatic mutations prevalence in PTC and CRC from this ethnicity. The mutually exclusive nature of MAP2K1 and MAPK mutations suggests that each of these mutation may function as an initiating mutation driving tumorigenesis through MAPK signaling pathway.

Mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 1 (MAP2K1) is a dual specificity protein kinase that phosphorylates both threonine and tyrosine residues in ERK. MAP2K1 mutations have been identified in several cancers. However, their role in Middle Eastern papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) and colorectal cancer (CRC) is lacking. In this study, we evaluated the prevalence of MAP2K1 mutations in a large cohort of Middle Eastern PTC and CRC using whole-exome and Sanger sequencing technology. In the discovery cohort of 100 PTC and 100 CRC cases (comprising 50 MAPK mutant and 50 MAPK wildtype cases each), we found one MAP2K1 mutation each in PTC and CRC, both of which were MAPK wildtype. We further analyzed 286 PTC and 289 CRC MAPK wildtype cases and found three MAP2K1 mutant PTC cases and two MAP2K1 mutant CRC cases. Thus, the overall prevalence of MAP2K1 mutation in MAPK wildtype cases was 1.1% (4/336) in PTC and 0.9% (3/339) in CRC. Histopathologically, three of the four MAP2K1 mutant PTC cases were follicular variant and all four tumors were unifocal with absence of extra-thyroidal extension. All the three CRC cases harboring MAP2K1 mutation were of older age (> 50 years) and had moderately differentiated stage II/III tumors located in the left colon. In conclusion, this is the first comprehensive report of MAP2K1 somatic mutations prevalence in PTC and CRC from this ethnicity. The mutually exclusive nature of MAP2K1 and MAPK mutations suggests that each of these mutation may function as an initiating mutation driving tumorigenesis through MAPK signaling pathway.

Background Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a major contributor to morbidity and mortality related to cancer. Only ~5% of all CRCs occur as a result of pathogenic variants in well‐defined CRC predisposing genes. The frequency and effect of exonuclease domain pathogenic variants of POLE and POLD1 genes in Middle Eastern CRCs is still unknown. Methods Targeted capture sequencing and Sanger sequencing technologies were employed to investigate the germline exonuclease domain pathogenic variants of POLE and POLD1 in Middle Eastern CRCs. Immunohistochemical analysis of POLE and POLD1 was performed to look for associations between protein expression and clinico‐pathological characteristics. Results Five damaging or possibly damaging variants (0.44%) were detected in 1,135 CRC cases, four in POLE gene (0.35%, 4/1,135) and one (0.1%, 1/1,135) in POLD1 gene. Furthermore, low POLE protein expression was identified in 38.9% (417/1071) cases and a significant association with lymph node involvement (p = .0184) and grade 3 tumors (p = .0139) was observed. Whereas, low POLD1 expression was observed in 51.9% (555/1069) of cases and was significantly associated with adenocarcinoma histology (p = .0164), larger tumor size (T3 and T4 tumors; p = .0012), and stage III tumors (p = .0341). Conclusion POLE and POLD1 exonuclease domain pathogenic variants frequency in CRC cases was very low and these exonuclease domain pathogenic variants might be rare causative events of CRC in the Middle East. POLE and POLD1 can be included in multi‐gene panels to screen CRC patients., This study aims to investigate the POLE and POLD1 germline exonuclease domain pathogenic variants in Middle Eastern CRCs. In our cohort, low frequency of exonuclease domain pathogenic variants (0.44%) was identified in 1,135 CRC cases. Furthermore, low expression of POLE and POLD1 showed significant association with lymph node involvement (p = .0184), grade 3 tumors (p = .0139) and adenocarcinoma histology (p = .0164), larger tumor size (T3 and T4 tumors; p = .0012), stage III tumors (p = .0341) respectively. POLE and POLD1 can be included in multi‐gene panels to screen CRC patients.

Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most common type of thyroid cancer. Tumor recurrence occurs in ∼20% of PTCs and some reach advanced stages. Promoter mutation in the telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) gene is identified to be a prognostic marker in PTC. However, the contribution of TERT promoter mutation to cancer progression in PTC patients is still not fully understood. In this study, we investigated the incidence of TERT promoter mutations and TERT protein expression and their association with clinicopathological outcomes in a large cohort of PTC samples using direct sequencing technology and immunohistochemistry. Furthermore, two PTC cell lines were utilized to investigate role of TERT mutations in mediating metastasis. Two promoter hotspot mutations C228T and C250T were identified in 18.0% (167/927) of our cohort and were significantly associated with poor 5 years disease-free survival and distant metastasis of PTC. TERT protein overexpression was noted in 20.1% of our PTC cohort and was significantly associated with poor prognostic markers such as older age, extrathyroidal extension and Stage IV tumors. A significant association was also found between TERT overexpression and epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) markers. Functional analysis showed that TERT inhibition reduced cell growth, invasion, migration and angiogenesis in PTC via suppression of EMT in PTC cells. Our results suggest that TERT promoter mutation is an independent predictor of disease-free survival and might drive the metastasis, and downregulation of TERT could potentiate antitumor and antimetastatic activities in PTC.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the main causes of cancer related morbidity and mortality. Only ~ 5% of all CRCs occur as a result of mutations in well-defined CRC predisposing genes. The underlying causes in genetically unexplained CRC cases from Middle Eastern region are still unknown. We performed Capture sequencing and Sanger sequencing to screen the proofreading domains of DNA Polymerase Epsilon (POLE) and DNA Polymerase Delta 1 (POLD1) genes to find out the genetic causes in over 1100 CRC cases from Middle Eastern region. In our cohort, five mutations (0.44%) were identified in 1135 CRC cases, four in POLE gene (0.35%, 4/1135) and one (0.1%, 1/1135) in POLD1 gene. These mutations have been infrequently reported in Western populations. Furthermore, low expression of POLE was noted in 38.9% (417/1071) of cases and showed significant association with lymph node involvement (p=0.0184) and grade 3 tumors (p=0.0139). Whereas, low expression of POLD1 was observed in 51.9% (555/1069) of cases and was significantly associated with adenocarcinoma histology (p=0.0164), larger tumor size (T3 and T4 tumors; p=0.0012) and stage III tumors (p=0.0341). Our findings revealed that there was a low frequency of mutations in POLE and POLD1 proofreading region in CRC cases and established that the mutations in the proofreading domain of these two genes were a rare cause of CRC in Middle Eastern region. It is feasible to screen multiple cancer related genes in CRC patients from Middle Eastern region using multigene panels including POLE and POLD1. Citation Format: Rong Bu, Abdul K. Siraj, Kaleem Iqbal, Sandeep K. Parvathareddy, Tariq Masoodi, Nabil Siraj, Nabil Siraj, Maha Al-Rasheed, Sarah Siraj, Yan Kong, Saeeda O. Ahmed, Khadija A.S. Al-Obaisi, Ingrid G. Victoria, Khawla S. Al-Kuraya. Low frequency of germline mutations in POLE and POLD1 proofreading domains in Middle Eastern colorectal cancers [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 3549.

Thyroid cancer is the second most common malignancy among females in Saudi Arabia, with Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) accounting for 80-90%. Kruppel-like factor 5 (Klf5) is a transcription factor that plays a critical role in cell transformation, proliferation, and oncogenesis. Immunohistochemical analysis of KLF5 was performed in 1219 PTC cases. KLF5 over-expression was noted in 65.1% (793/1219) of PTCs, and was significantly associated with tall-cell variant (p Citation Format: Pratheeshkumar Poyil, Abdul K Siraj, Divya Padmaja, Sandeep Kumar Parvathareddy, Saravanan Thangavel, Roxanne Melosantos, Ingrid G. Victoria, Rafia Begum, Fouad Al-Dayel, Khawla S. Al-Kuraya. KLF5 and its association with HIF-1α promotes PTC progression and metastatic potential through AKT activation [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 2933.

Activation of telomerase induced by telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) promoter mutations has been implicated in human carcinogenesis. The two mutations termed C228T and C250T in TERT promoter region have been reported in various human tumor entities with different frequencies in Western populations. However, the contribution of these mutations to cancer progression in the Middle Eastern region remains poorly understood. In this study we investigated the frequency of TERT promoter mutations and TERT protein expression with their association to clinicopathological characteristics in 2113 samples from 13 different types of cancers. The TERT promoter mutations were most frequently present in bladder cancers (68.6%), followed by anaplastic thyroid cancers (50%), Hurthle cell carcinomas (40%), central nervous system (CNS) tumors (28.7%) and follicular thyroid cancers (19%). The low frequency of these mutations was found in medullary thyroid cancers (10%), prostate cancers (9.3%), endometrial carcinomas (3.7%), rhabdomyosarcomas (1.4%), colorectal cancers (CRC) (1%), epithelial ovarian carcinomas (EOC) (0.7%) and breast cancers (0.7%). No mutations were observed in gastric cancers, lung cancers, diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCL) and acute lymphoblastic leukemias (ALL). In CNS tumors the TERT promoter mutations were significantly associated with older age (p Citation Format: Rong Bu, Abdul K. Siraj, Kaleem Iqbal, Sandeep Parvathareddy, Mark Diaz, Dionne Rala, Ingrid G. Victoria, Khadija Al-Obaisi, Wael Al-Haqawi, Nabil Siraj, Allianah Benito, Khawla S. Al-Kuraya. Telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) promoter mutations in cancers derived from multiple organ sites among Middle Eastern population [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2019; 2019 Mar 29-Apr 3; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(13 Suppl):Abstract nr 1577.