Our study is the first to demonstrate that recurrent genetic mutations occur in cervical cancer. An earlier study that examined this question did not identify
LKB1 mutations in sporadic cervical cancers, but only minimal deviation adenocarcinomas were analyzed, as the goal of the study was to ascertain
LKB1 mutation frequencies in gynecologic malignancies known to be associated with PJS. However, this earlier study, performed prior to the advent of MLPA, identified LOH of the
LKB1 19p13.3 region in 3/8 cases, suggesting that
LKB1 deletions may have been present
[23]. Another study where 26 cervical tumors were analyzed by single-strand conformational polymorphism analysis identified
LKB1 mutations in only one case
[24]. However, this study also greatly underestimated the frequency of
LKB1 mutations in lung cancer, now known to occur in >20% of cases. The advent of MLPA now facilitates the definitive identification of
LKB1 deletions, which account for ~50% of mutations in lung and cervical cancer (this and other studies)
[9]. Another factor potentially obscuring prior sequence analyses is the unusually high GC content of
LKB1 exonic regions. In our experience, automated base call software overlooked a high percentage of mutations, necessitating direct inspection of chromatograms.
The discovery of a homozygous
LKB1 deletion in HeLa is noteworthy because of the historical significance of this cell line to biomedical research. HeLa was derived in 1951 from a cervical adenocarcinoma. As the first immortalized human cell line isolated and successfully perpetuated
in vitro, HeLa greatly accelerated the progress of biomedical research in the second half of the 20
th century
[25]. HeLa cells were unusual in growing so rapidly in culture, but the primary tumor was also aggressive. The primary tumor was confined to the cervix at the time of diagnosis, but it metastasized early and widely despite aggressive therapy including radiation treatment, leading to the patient's death just six months after the initial diagnosis
[26],
[27],
[28]. Our results suggest that the homozygous deletion we have documented within
LKB1 contributed to this aggressive growth phenotype, rationalizing some of the unusual features of the HeLa primary tumor and cell line. Consistent with this idea, enforced expression of
LKB1 cDNA into HeLa and other HeLa-deficient cell lines induces growth arrest (unpublished data, see also
[9],
[19]).
This is also the first report that
LKB1 mutations confer a worse prognosis for a particular human cancer. However, this observations is in line with genetically-engineered mouse models of
LKB1 deficiency that have consistently found that Lkb1 loss promotes invasive/metastatic growth. In
K-ras driven mouse models of lung cancer,
Lkb1 inactivation provided the strongest cooperation in terms of tumor latency and frequency of metastasis (as compared to classic tumor suppressors such as
p53 and
Ink4a/Arf). It is also notable that
Lkb1 loss in the lung was associated with a broad histologic spectrum (squamous cell carcinomas to adenocarcinomas), recalling that
LKB1 inactivation characterizes cervical carcinomas of varied histologic subtypes
[9]. Similarly, mice with targeted inactivation of
Lkb1 in endometrial epithelium develop highly invasive (yet paradoxically extremely well-differentiated) endometrial adenocarcinomas
[11]. Taken together, these and other results
[12],
[29] argue that LKB1 suppresses invasion and metastasis and suggest that assays based on LKB1 may prove useful for prognostication in a variety of cancers. It will be of interest to determine if
LKB1 mutations are also useful prognostically in other cancers
[9].
The fact that 99% of cervical cancers contain HPV DNA
[2] as is the case for most of the cervical cancer cell lines in which we demonstrated homozygous
LKB1 deletions (e.g. HeLa harbors integrated HPV-18 sequences)
[30] suggest that
LKB1 and HPV cooperate in some manner. HPV infection promotes the formation of
in situ lesions, leading us to propose that additional mutations in genes including
LKB1 are required to convert
in situ dysplasias to invasive carcinomas, an idea consistent with the diverse animal models discussed above. Further studies i.e. with genetically-engineered animal models will be required to understand the biological basis of the interaction between HPV and LKB1. The biological and biochemical basis of LKB1-mediated carcinogenesis remains to be fully elucidated. Misregulation of the AMPK-mTOR pathway likely contributes to LKB1's role as a tumor suppressor, but probably does not entirely account for its role in mediating invasion
[31]. Nonetheless, misregulation of mTOR in LKB1-deficient tumors may present opportunities for targeted therapy (e.g. through the use of metformin or rapamycin analogs) in women whose cervical tumors have confirmed
LKB1 mutations/deletions, an idea that merits further investigation in the future.
The biological basis of the progression of HPV-induced precancers has been undefined. This study presents the first definitive evidence that recurring mutations in discrete host genes occur in invasive cervical cancer. Although other factors likely influence progression, this study demonstrates that a process likely to be stochastic—namely the acquisition of discrete genetic mutations—drives progression of cervical dysplasias to invasive lethal carcinomas and that these mutations have the potential to serve as useful prognosticators.