Cell. 2017 Feb 23;168(5):890-903.e15. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2017.01.013. Epub 2017 Feb 2.

Gene Essentiality Profiling Reveals Gene Networks and Synthetic Lethal Interactions with Oncogenic Ras.

Wang T¹, Yu H², Hughes NW³, Liu B³, Kendirli A⁴, Klein K⁴, Chen WW¹, Lander ES⁵, Sabatini DM⁶.

Author information

1: Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
2: Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA.
3: Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
4: Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), 69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
5: Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Department of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Electronic address: lander@broadinstitute.org.
6: Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA; David H. Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA; Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA. Electronic address: sabatini@wi.mit.edu.

Abstract

The genetic dependencies of human cancers widely vary. Here, we catalog this heterogeneity and use it to identify functional gene interactions and genotype-dependent liabilities in cancer. By using genome-wide CRISPR-based screens, we generate a gene essentiality dataset across 14 human acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cell lines. Sets of genes with correlated patterns of essentiality across the lines reveal new gene relationships, the essential substrates of enzymes, and the molecular functions of uncharacterized proteins. Comparisons of differentially essential genes between Ras-dependent and -independent lines uncover synthetic lethal partners of oncogenic Ras. Screens in both human AML and engineered mouse pro-B cells converge on a surprisingly small number of genes in the Ras processing and MAPK pathways and pinpoint PREX1 as an AML-specific activator of MAPK signaling. Our findings suggest general strategies for defining mammalian gene networks and synthetic lethal interactions by exploiting the natural genetic and epigenetic diversity of human cancer cells.