Human transcription factor and protein kinase gene fusions in human cancer

Oncogenic gene fusions are estimated to account for up-to 20% of cancer morbidity. Recently sequence-level studies have established oncofusions throughout all tissue types. However, the functional implications of the identified oncofusions have often not been investigated. In this study, identified oncofusions from a fusion detection approach (DEEPEST) were analyzed in detail. Of the 28,863 oncofusions, we found almost 30% are expected to produce functional proteins with features from both parent genes. Kinases and transcription factors were the main gene families of the protein producing fusions. Considering their role as initiators, actors, and termination points of cellular signaling pathways, we focused our in-depth analyses on them. Domain architecture of the fusions and their wild-type interactors suggests that abnormal molecular context of protein domains caused by fusion events may unlock the oncogenic potential of the wild type counterparts of the fusion proteins. To understand overall oncofusion effects, we performed differential expression analysis using TCGA cancer project samples. Results indicated oncofusion-specific alterations in gene expression levels, and lower expression levels of components of key cellular pathways, in particular signal transduction and transcription regulation. The sum of results suggests that kinase and transcription factor oncofusions deregulate cellular signaling, possibly via acquiring novel functions.