Circulating tumor DNA is readily detectable among Ghanaian breast cancer patients supporting non-invasive cancer genomic studies in Africa

Samuel Terkper Ahuno; Anna-Lisa Doebley; Thomas U Ahearn; Joel Yarney; Nicholas Titiloye; Nancy Hamel; Ernest Adjei; Joe-Nat Clegg-Lamptey; Lawrence Edusei; Baffour Awuah; Xiaoyu Song; Verna Vanderpuye; Mustapha Abubakar; Maire Duggan; Daniel G Stover; Kofi Nyarko; John M S Bartlett; Francis Aitpillah; Daniel Ansong; Kevin L Gardner; Felix Andy Boateng; Anne M Bowcock; Carlos Caldas; William D Foulkes; Seth Wiafe; Beatrice Wiafe-Addai; Montserrat Garcia-Closas; Alexander Kwarteng; Gavin Ha; Jonine D Figueroa; Paz Polak; Ghana Breast Health Study Team

doi:10.1038/s41698-021-00219-7

Circulating tumor DNA is readily detectable among Ghanaian breast cancer patients supporting non-invasive cancer genomic studies in Africa

NPJ Precis Oncol. 2021 Sep 17;5(1):83. doi: 10.1038/s41698-021-00219-7.

Authors

Samuel Terkper Ahuno^{1

2}, Anna-Lisa Doebley^{3

4}, Thomas U Ahearn⁵, Joel Yarney⁶, Nicholas Titiloye⁷, Nancy Hamel⁸, Ernest Adjei⁷, Joe-Nat Clegg-Lamptey^{6

9}, Lawrence Edusei⁶, Baffour Awuah⁷, Xiaoyu Song^{10

11}, Verna Vanderpuye⁶, Mustapha Abubakar⁵, Maire Duggan¹², Daniel G Stover^{13

14}, Kofi Nyarko⁹, John M S Bartlett^{15

16

17}, Francis Aitpillah^{7

18}, Daniel Ansong¹⁹, Kevin L Gardner²⁰, Felix Andy Boateng⁷, Anne M Bowcock^{2

11

21

22}, Carlos Caldas²³, William D Foulkes^{8

24

25}, Seth Wiafe²⁶, Beatrice Wiafe-Addai²⁷, Montserrat Garcia-Closas⁵, Alexander Kwarteng^{1

28}, Gavin Ha²⁹, Jonine D Figueroa^{30

31}, Paz Polak^{32

33

34}; Ghana Breast Health Study Team

Collaborators

Affiliations

¹ Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
² Department of Oncological Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, New York, USA.
³ Molecular and Cellular Biology Program, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA.
⁴ Division of Public Health Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA.
⁵ Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA.
⁶ Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra, Ghana.
⁷ Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital, Kumasi, Ghana.
⁸ Research Institute of the McGill University Health Centre, Montréal, QC, Canada.
⁹ University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana.
¹⁰ Department of Population Health Science and Policy, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, New York, USA.
¹¹ Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, New York, USA.
¹² Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.
¹³ Stefanie Spielman Comprehensive Breast Cancer, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
¹⁴ Division of Medical Oncology, Comprehensive Cancer Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
¹⁵ Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Toronto, ON, Canada.
¹⁶ Edinburgh Cancer Research Centre, Edinburgh, United Kingdom.
¹⁷ Department of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
¹⁸ School of Medicine & Dentistry, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
¹⁹ Department of Child Health, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana.
²⁰ Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, Columbia University Medical Center, New York, New York, USA.
²¹ Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, New York, USA.
²² Department of Dermatology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, New York, USA.
²³ Cancer Research UK Cambridge Centre, Cambridge, UK.
²⁴ Lady Davis Institute and Segal Cancer Centre, Jewish General Hospital, Montréal, QC, Canada.
²⁵ Program in Cancer Genetics, Departments of Oncology and Human Genetics, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada.
²⁶ School of Public Health, Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, CA, USA.
²⁷ Peace and Love Hospital, Kumasi, Ghana.
²⁸ Kumasi Center for Collaborative Research in Tropical Medicine (KCCR), Kumasi, Ghana.
²⁹ Division of Public Health Sciences, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Seattle, WA, USA. gha@fredhutch.org.
³⁰ Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD, USA. Jonine.figueroa@ed.ac.uk.
³¹ CRUK Edinburgh Centre, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK. Jonine.figueroa@ed.ac.uk.
³² Department of Oncological Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, New York, USA. paz.polak@mssm.edu.
³³ Tisch Cancer Institute, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, New York, USA. paz.polak@mssm.edu.
³⁴ Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City, New York, USA. paz.polak@mssm.edu.

Abstract

Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) sequencing studies could provide novel insights into the molecular pathology of cancer in sub-Saharan Africa. In 15 patient plasma samples collected at the time of diagnosis as part of the Ghana Breast Health Study and unselected for tumor grade and subtype, ctDNA was detected in a majority of patients based on whole- genome sequencing at high (30×) and low (0.1×) depths. Breast cancer driver copy number alterations were observed in the majority of patients.

Abstract

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