Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 5, 2026

Virus Delivery of CRISPR Guides to the Murine Prostate for Gene Alteration
Published on: April 27, 2018
Single-Hit and Multi-hit PIK3CA Short Variant Genomic Alterations in Clinically Advanced Prostate Cancer: A Genomic
Michael F Basin1, Carla M Miguel1, Joseph M Jacob1
1Department of Urology, Upstate Medical University, 750 East Adams St., Syracuse, NY, 13210, USA.
Background:
Tumors harboring two or more PIK3CA short variant (SV) ("multi-hit") mutations have been linked to improved outcomes with anti-PIK3CA-targeted therapies in breast cancer. The landscape and clinical implications of multi-hit PIK3CA alterations in clinically advanced prostate cancer (CAPC) remains elusive.
Objective:
To evaluate the genomic landscape of single-hit and multi-hit PIK3CA genomic alterations in CAPC.
Patients And Methods:
The Foundation Medicine FoundationCore database was used to identify 19,978 CAPC tumors that underwent hybrid capture-based comprehensive genomic profiling to evaluate all classes of genomic alterations (GA) and determine tumor mutational burden (TMB), microsatellite instability (MSI), genomic ancestry, single-base substitution mutational signatures, and homologous recombination deficiency signature (HRDsig). Tumor cell PD-L1 expression was determined by IHC (Dako 22C3).
Results:
18,741 (93.8%) tumors were PIK3CA wild type (WT), 1155 (5.8%) featured single PIK3CA SV, and 82 (0.4%) featured multi-hit PIK3CA SVs. Single-hit (6.6 versus 3.8; p < 0.0001) and multi-hit (12.8 versus 3.8; p < 0.0001) featured more driver GA per tumor than PIK3CA WT CAPC, as well as higher prevalence of MMR mutational signature, MSI high status, and TMB levels versus PIK3CA WT (p < 0.0001). Other differences in GA included higher frequencies of GA in BRCA2 in multi-hit versus WT (18.3% versus 8.5%; p = 0.0191), ATM in multi-hit versus WT (13.4% versus 5.6%; p = 0.02) and PTEN in single-hit versus WT (40.2% versus 30.1%; p < 0.0001). Homologous recombination deficiency signatures were higher in PIK3CA WT versus single-hit (11.2% versus 7.6%; p = 0.0002). There were no significant differences in PD-L1 expression among the three groups.
Conclusions:
Identification of multi-hit PIK3CA GA in CAPC highlights a potentially unique phenotype that may be associated with response to anti-PIK3CA targeted therapy and checkpoint inhibition, supporting relevant clinical trial designs.
Related Concept Videos
Tumor Progression
Colon cancer is one of the best-documented examples of tumor progression. Early mutation in the APC gene in colon cells causes a small growth on the colon wall called a polyp. With time, this polyp grows into a benign, pre-cancerous tumor. Further...
Cancer-Critical Genes II: Tumor Suppressor Genes
When the function of certain critical genes, especially those involved in cell cycle regulation and cell growth signaling cascades, gets disrupted, it upsets the cell cycle progression. Such cells with unchecked cell cycles start proliferating uncontrollably and eventually develop into tumors.
Such genes that act...

