Integrative Analyses of Lung Squamous Cell Carcinoma in Ten Chinese Patients with Transcriptome Sequencing

Few effective therapies have been developed for the treatment of lung squamous cell carcinoma (SQCC), in part due to a lack of understanding regarding the mechanisms underlying the initiation and development of this disease. Whole transcriptome sequencing not only provides insight into the expression of all transcribed genes, but offers an efficient approach for identifying genetic variations, including gene fusions, mutations and alternative splicing. In this study, we performed whole transcriptome sequencing of 10 patients with stage IIIA lung SQCC, and discovered a large number of single nucleotide variants (SNVs; mean of 12.2 SNVs/Mb), with C>T/G>A and A>G/T>C transitions being the most frequently observed. Additionally, a total of 132 gene fusions were identified based upon TopHat alignments, 70.5% (93/132) of which occurred as a result of intra-chromosomal rearrangements. Based on the number of supporting reads for each fusion, we further validated 20 of the 26 top gene fusions by RT-PCR and Sanger sequencing. Taken together, these data provide an in-depth view of transcriptional alterations in lung SQCC patients, and may be useful for identification of new therapeutic targets.