Different members of the phosphoinositide 3 kinase - serine threonine protein kinase (PI3K-AKT) pathway are altered in bladder cancer. Fibroblast growth factor receptor 3 (FGFR3) mutations characterize the low-grade tumors, and RAS genes are mutated in approximately 13% of all bladder tumors. Interestingly, a percentage of bladder tumors have alterations in more than 1 PI3K-AKT or rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog-RAF mitogen activated protein kinase (RAS-MAPK) pathway gene or their upstream regulators, but some combinations are mutually exclusive. We analyzed mutations in FGFR3, phosphoinositide 3 kinase catalytic alpha polypeptide (PIK3CA), v-akt murine thymoma viral oncogene homolog 1 (AKT1), v-Ki-ras2 Kirsten rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog (KRAS), v-Ha-ras Harvey rat sarcoma viral oncogene homolog (HRAS), and v-raf murine sarcoma viral oncogene homolog B1 (BRAF) in 88 urothelial cell carcinomas and the immunohistochemical expression of phospho-v-akt murine thymoma viral oncogene homolog (AKT) and mitogen-activated protein kinase 1 and 2 (pERK1/2) in 80 and 77 urothelial cell carcinomas, respectively. Approximately 43% and 20.5% of tumors presented 1 and 2 mutated genes, respectively. FGFR3 mutations were more frequent alone, whereas PIK3CA mutations were associated with another mutated gene (FGFR3 and KRAS). Overall, mutated FGFR3 (FGFR3(mut)) and mutated FGFR3 (FGFR3(mut))-mutated PIK3CA (PIK3CA(mut)) genotypes were associated with low-grade bladder tumors and mutated PIK3CA (PIK3CA(mut))-mutated KRAS (KRAS(mut)) and mutated AKT1 (AKT1(mut)) were only present in high-grade tumors. There are no mutated FGFR3 (FGFR3(mut))-mutated RAS (RAS(mut)) nor mutated PIK3CA (PIK3CA(mut))-mutated AKT1 (AKT1(mut)) combinations. Fifty percent and 56% of tumors showed high levels of pAKT and pERK1/2, respectively. High levels of pAKT were associated with total mutations, FGFR3(mut), and PIK3CA(mut) tumors but not with tumor grade or stage. Wild-type tumors presented significantly higher pERK1/2 expression. Mutations in FGFR3 and FGFR3-PIK3CA but not single PIK3CA mutations characterize low-grade bladder tumors. Single FGFR3 or PIK3CA mutations and the different mutation combinations FGFR3-PIK3CA/AKT1 and PIK3CA-RAS can activate the AKT but not the MAPK pathway. Other genes different from FGFR3 may be related with the pERK activation in bladder tumors.
Written by:
Juanpere N, Agell L, Lorenzo M, de Muga S, López-Vilaró L, Murillo R, Mojal S, Serrano S, Lorente JA, Lloreta J, Hernández S Are you the author?
Department of Pathology, Hospital del Mar-Parc de Salut Mar, 08003 Barcelona, Spain; Autonomous University of Barcelona, 08003 Barcelona, Spain
Reference: Hum Pathol. 2012 Mar 12
doi: 10.1016/j.humpath.2011.10.026
PubMed Abstract
PMID: 22417847