The identification of "driver" tumor genetic events in key oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes plays an essential role in the diagnosis and treatment of many cancers1. Large-scale research efforts utilizing massively parallel "next-generation" sequencing have enabled the identification of many such cancer-associated genes in recent years2. However, these sequencing platforms typically require large quantities of DNA isolated from fresh frozen tissues, thus posing a major limitation in characterizing and analyzing DNA mutations from preserved tissues, such as formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) tumor samples. Improved efforts to efficiently and reliably characterize "actionable" genomic information from FFPE tumor samples will enable the retrospective analysis of previously-banked specimens and further encourage individualized approaches to cancer management.
Traditionally, molecular diagnostic laboratories have relied on time-consuming, low-throughput methodologies such as Sanger sequencing and real-time PCR for DNA mutation profiling. More recently, higher-throughput methods utilizing multiplexed PCR or mass spectrometric genotyping have been developed to investigate recurrent somatic mutations in key cancer genes3-5. These approaches, however, are limited in that only predesignated "hotspot" mutations are assayed, making them unsuitable for detecting inactivating mutations in tumor suppressor genes. Massively parallel sequencing offers several advantages over these strategies including the ability to interrogate entire exons for both common and rare mutations, the ability to reveal additional classes of genomic alterations such as copy number gains and losses, and greater detection sensitivity in heterogeneous samples6, 7. Whole genome sequencing represents the most comprehensive approach for mutation discovery, though it is relatively expensive and incurs large computational demands for data analysis and storage.
For clinical applications, where only a small fraction of the genome may be of clinical interest, two particular innovations in sequencing technology have been transformative. First, through hybridization-based exon capture, one can isolate DNA corresponding to key cancer-associated genes for targeted mutation profiling8, . Second, through ligation of molecular barcodes (i.e. DNA sequences 6-8 nucleotides in length), one can pool hundreds of samples per sequencing run and fully take advantage of the ever-increasing capacity of massively parallel sequencing instruments10. When combined, these innovations enable tumors to be profiled for lower cost and at higher throughput, with smaller computational requirements11. Further, by redistributing sequence coverage to only those genes most critical to the particular application, one can achieve greater sequencing depth for higher detection sensitivity for low allele frequency events.
Here we describe our IMPACT assay (Integrated Mutation Profiling of Actionable Cancer Targets), which utilizes exon capture on barcoded sequence library pools by hybridization using custom oligonucleotides to capture all protein-coding exons and select introns of 279 key cancer-associated genes (Table 1). This strategy enables the identification of mutations, indels, copy number alterations, and select structural rearrangements involving these 279 genes. Our method is compatible with DNA isolated from both fresh frozen and FFPE tissue as well as fine needle aspirates and other cytology specimens.