Adrenocortical cancer cell line mutational profile reveals aggressive genetic background

Adrenocortical carcinomas are rare tumors with poor prognosis and limited treatment options. Although widely used as in vitro models to test novel therapeutic strategies, the adrenocortical carcinoma-derived cell lines NCI-H295R and SW-13 have only partially been described genetically. Our aim was to characterize the mutational landscape of these cells to improve their experimental utility and map them to clinical subtypes of adrenocortical carcinoma. Genomic DNA from NCI-H295R and SW-13 cells was subjected to whole-exome sequencing. Variants were filtered for non-synonymous mutations and curated for validated adrenocortical and pan-cancer driver gene mutations. Genes mutated in the cell lines were mapped using gene ontology and protein pathway tools to determine signaling effects and compared to mutational and clinical characteristics of 92 adrenocortical carcinoma cases from The Cancer Genome Atlas. NCI-H295R and SW-13 cells carried 1325 and 1836 non-synonymous variants, respectively. Of these, 61 and 76 were known cancer driver genes, of which 32 were shared between cell lines. Variant interaction analyses demonstrated dominant TP53 dysregulation in both cell lines complemented by distinct WNT (NCI-H295R) and chromatin remodeling (SW-13) pathway perturbations. Both cell lines genetically resemble more aggressive adrenocortical carcinomas with worse prognosis, for which development of targeted therapies is most critical. Careful incorporation of the genetic landscapes outlined in this study will further the in vitro utility of these cell lines in testing for novel therapeutic approaches for adrenocortical malignancy.