Histologic and Genotypic Characterization of Lung Cancer in the Inuit Population of the Eastern Canadian Arctic

Inuit are the Indigenous Arctic peoples and residents of the Canadian territory of Nunavut who have the highest global rate of lung cancer. Given lung cancer’s mortality, histological and genomic characterization was undertaken to better understand the disease biology. We retrospectively studied all Inuit cases from Nunavut’s Qikiqtani (Baffin) region, referred to the Ottawa Hospital Cancer Center between 2001 and 2011. Demographics were compiled from medical records and tumor samples underwent pathologic/histologic confirmation. Tumors were analyzed by next generation sequencing (NGS) with a cancer hotspot mutation panel. Of 98 patients, the median age was 66 years and 61% were male. Tobacco use was reported in 87%, and 69% had a history of lung disease (tuberculosis or other). Histological types were: non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC), 81%; small cell lung carcinoma, 16%. Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) represented 65% of NSCLC. NGS on 55 samples demonstrated mutation rates similar to public lung cancer datasets. In SCC, the STK11 F354L mutation was observed at higher frequency than previously reported. This is the first study to characterize the histologic/genomic profiles of lung cancer in this population. A high incidence of SCC, and an elevated rate of STK11 mutations distinguishes this group from the North American population.