Soft tissue sarcoma subtypes exhibit distinct patterns of acquired uniparental disomy

BACKGROUND: Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) are heterogeneous mesenchymal tumors with diverse subtypes. STS can be classified into two main categories according to the type of genomic alteration: recurrent translocation driven STS, and non-recurrent translocations. However, little has known about acquired uniparental disomy in STS. METHODS: In this study, we analyzed SNP microarray data to determine the frequency and distribution patterns of acquired uniparental disomy (aUPD) in major soft tissue sarcoma (STS) subtypes using CNAG and R softwares. RESULTS: We identified recurrent aUPD regions specific to alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma with the most frequent at 11p15.4, gastrointestinal stromal tumor at 1p36.11-p35.3, leiomyosarcoma at 17p13.3-p13.1, myxofibrosarcoma at 1p35.1-p34.2 and 16q23.3-q24.1, and pleomorphic liposarcoma at 13q13.2-q13.3 and 13q14.11-q14.2. In contrast, specific recurrent aUPD regions were not identified in dedifferentiated liposarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, myxoid/round cell liposarcoma, and synovial sarcoma. Strikingly total, centromeric and segmental aUPD regions are more frequent in STS that do not exhibit recurrent translocation events. CONCLUSIONS: Our study yields a detailed map of aUPD across 9 diverse STS subtypes and suggests the potential location of several novel tumor suppressor genes and oncogenes.