Somatic protospacer adjacent motifs are numerous and selectively targetable in cancers

Abstract

Somatic mutations are desirable targets for selective elimination of cancer, yet most are found within the noncoding regions. We propose a novel, cancer-specific killing approach using CRISPR-Cas9 which exploits the requirement of a protospacer adjacent motif (PAM) for Cas9 activity. Through whole genome sequencing (WGS) of paired tumor minus normal (T-N) samples from three pancreatic cancer patients (Panc480, Panc504, and Panc1002), we identified an average of 417 somatic PAMs per tumor produced from single base substitutions. We analyzed 591 paired T-N samples from The International Cancer Genome Consortium and discovered medians of [~]455 somatic PAMs per tumor in pancreatic, [~]2800 in lung, and [~]3200 in esophageal cancer cohorts. Finally, we demonstrated >80% selective cell death of two targeted pancreatic cancer cell lines in co-cultures using 4-9 sgRNAs, targeting noncoding regions, designed from the somatic PAM discovery approach. We also showed no off-target activity from these tumor-specific sgRNAs through WGS. Statement of significanceThis study demonstrates the potential of CRISPR-Cas9 as a novel and selective anti-cancer strategy. It requires just a few targets to induce double strand breaks for significant cytotoxicity. Our findings markedly expand the repertoire of targetable mutations in cancers and support genetically targeting other adult solid tumor types.