Unlike most tumor suppressor genes, the most common genetic alterations in tumor protein p53 (TP53) are missense mutations. Mutant p53 protein is often abundantly expressed in cancers and specific allelic variants exhibit dominant-negative or gain-of-function activities in experimental models. To gain a systematic view of p53 function, we interrogated loss-of-function screens conducted in hundreds of human cancer cell lines and performed TP53 saturation mutagenesis screens in an isogenic pair of TP53 wild-type and null cell lines. We found that loss or dominant-negative inhibition of wild-type p53 function reliably enhanced cellular fitness. By integrating these data with the Catalog of Somatic Mutations in Cancer (COSMIC) mutational signatures database, we developed a statistical model that describes the TP53 mutational spectrum as a function of the baseline probability of acquiring each mutation and the fitness advantage conferred by attenuation of p53 activity. Collectively, these observations show that widely-acting and tissue-specific mutational processes combine with phenotypic selection to dictate the frequencies of recurrent TP53 mutations.

Cancer genome characterization efforts now provide an initial view of the somatic alterations in primary tumors. However, most point mutations occur at low frequency. and the function of these alleles remain undefined. We have developed a scalable systematic approach to interrogate the function of cancer-associated gene variants. We subjected 474 mutant alleles curated from 5,338 tumors to pooled in vivo tumor formation assays and gene expression profiling. We identified 12 transforming alleles including two in genes (PIK3CB, POT1) that have not been shown to be tumorigenic. One rare KRAS allele, D33E, displayed tumorigenicity and constitutive activation of known RAS effector pathways. By comparing gene expression changes induced upon expression of wild type and mutant alleles, we inferred the activity of specific alleles. Since alleles found to be mutated only once in 5,338 tumors rendered cells tumorigenic, these observations underscore the value of integrating genomic information with functional studies.

African-American men have the highest incidence and mortality from prostate cancer. Whether a biological basis exists for this disparity remains unclear. Exome sequencing (n=102) and targeted validation (n = 90) of localized primary hormone-naïve prostate cancer in African-American men identified several gene mutations not previously observed in this context, including recurrent loss-of-function mutations in ERF, an ETS transcriptional repressor, in 5% of cases. Analysis of existing prostate cancer cohorts revealed ERF deletions in 3% of primary prostate cancers and mutations or deletions in ERF in 3–5% of lethal castration-resistant prostate cancers. Knockdown of ERF confers increased anchorage-independent growth and generates a gene expression signature associated with oncogenic ETS activation and androgen signaling. Together, these results suggest that ERF is a prostate cancer tumor suppressor gene. More generally, our findings support the application of systematic cancer genomic characterization in settings of broader ancestral diversity to enhance discovery and, eventually, therapeutic applications.