The viral landscape in metastatic solid cancers

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Virology
• Genomics

Background:

• The viral landscape in metastatic cancer remains largely unexplored.
• Understanding virus-host interactions is crucial for cancer research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To comprehensively analyze the virome in blood and tissue samples from a large cohort of metastatic cancer patients.
• To identify prevalent viral genera and their association with specific cancer types and host molecular features.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of viral DNA in blood and tissue from 4918 metastatic cancer patients across 38 cancer types (Hartwig Medical Foundation cohort).
• Utilized a coverage-based filtering approach for viral detection.
• Investigated associations between viral presence, host mutational signatures, and gene expression.

Main Results:

• Detected 25 unique viral genera across 32 cancer types.
• Common viruses included Torque teno virus and Alphatorquevirus in blood, and Alphapapillomavirus and Roseolovirus in tissue.
• Alphapapillomavirus was enriched in genital, anal, and colorectal cancers, linked to immune and DNA repair pathways.
• HPV integration correlated with higher mutation rates and extrachromosomal DNA.

Conclusions:

• Viral presence is common in metastatic cancer patients, varying between blood and tissue.
• Alphapapillomavirus shows significant associations with specific cancers and host molecular profiles.
• Alphapapillomavirus detection in blood from cervical and anal cancers suggests potential as a non-invasive biomarker.