Mesothelioma – the 2nd expertise of FunGeST

Group Leader

Didier JEAN

CR1 Inserm

PhD

Actual Projects

D Jean, MC Jaurand, F Le Pimpec-Barthes, C Meiller, W Blum, L Quetel. Fundings: LNCC IdF and CIT, Chancellerie des Universités de Paris-Legs Poix

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a rare tumor, with a poor prognosis mainly due to the lack of efficient treatment. It is therefore important to develop new therapies that take into account the heterogeneity of MPM at the molecular level. We have recently defined a molecular classification of MPMs that defines two main groups C1 and C2. A subgroup of C2, with a double mutation in the Hippo, NF2 and LATS2 pathway genes, was identified. The C2 group and the NF2 / LATS2 double mutant subgroup contain MPMs from patients with a very poor prognosis. We  focus on four major aims:

(1) Refine the molecular classification of malignant pleural mesothelioma and transfer it to clinic: Integrated multi-omic analysis using our large collection of tumors will allow to identify new tumor subgroups. Identification of specific biomarkers and development of prediction tools should facilitate the implementation of this classification to clinic.

(2) Determine the mechanisms of mesothelial carcinogenesis: Functional analysis using our cell lines biobank will lead to define the contribution of specific gene alterations and signal pathways to carcinogenesis.

(3) Develop therapeutic strategy: High-content screening and validation using in vitro and in vivo models will be used to study the correlation between anti-tumor compounds sensibility and the molecular phenotype and will constitute a first step toward precision medicine for mesothelioma.

(4) Characterize intra-tumor heterogeneity: Molecular analysis will be performed to explore heterogeneity of tumor samples at different anatomical sites and presence of cancer stem cells.

Past Works

We performed a genetic and transcriptomic characterization of malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) using our tumor biobanks. We identified the first recurrent oncogenic mutation in the TERT promoter and showed this alteration was frequent in MPM of the sarcomatoid subtype (1). Based on transcriptomic data, we defined a robust molecular classification consisting of two groups (C1 and C2) with different molecular profiles, gene alterations, histology subtypes, and survival outcomes. One of the major interests was to separate the epithelioid MPM, the most frequent histologic subtype, according to their survival prognosis (2). Recently, by coupling transcriptomic and genetic analysis, we identified a new specific MPM molecular subgroup (C2^LN) characterized by a co-occurring mutation in LATS2 and NF2 tumor suppressor genes. We identified a specific biomarker and highlighted a high sensitivity to mTOR/PI3K/AKT (PF-04691502) inhibitor treatment for this subgroup (3).

Tallet et al, Oncogene, 2014; de Reynies et al… Jean, Clinical Cancer Research, 2014; Tranchant et al, Clinical Cancer Research, 2017 

Fundings

Team

Didier JEAN

CR1 Inserm

PhD

Marie-Claude JAURAND

DR1 Inserm - Emeritat

PhD

Françoise LE PIMPEC BARTHES

PUPH - UPHP

MD, PhD

Clément MEILLER

IE Inserm

Jean-Baptiste ASSIE

MCU-PH AP-HP

MD, PhD

Maya ARNOULD

PhD student

Khawla BENNANI ZIATNI

PhD student

-

Guillaume TOSATO

Postdoctoral researcher

PharmD, PhD

Camille BOANO

M2 student

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