Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Oncogenomics
  • Published:

PIK3CA gene is frequently mutated in breast carcinomas and hepatocellular carcinomas

Abstract

A recent report revealed that phosphoinositide-3-kinase, catalytic, alpha (PIK3CA) gene is somatically mutated in several types of human cancer, suggesting the mutated PIK3CA gene as an oncogene in human cancers. However, because the previous report focused the mutational search primarily on colon cancers, the data on PIK3CA mutations in other types of human cancers have been largely unknown. Here, we performed mutational analysis of the PIK3CA gene by polymerase chain reaction-single-strand conformation polymorphism assay in 668 cases of common human cancers, including hepatocellular carcinomas, acute leukemias, gastric carcinomas, breast carcinomas, and non-small-cell lung cancers. We detected PIK3CA somatic mutations in 26 of 73 hepatocellular carcinomas (35.6%), 25 of 93 breast carcinomas (26.9%), 12 of 185 gastric carcinomas (6.5%), one of 88 acute leukemias (1.1%), and three of 229 non-small-cell lung cancers (1.3%). Some of the PIK3CA mutations were detected in the early lesions of breast cancer carcinoma, hepatocellular carcinoma, and gastric carcinomas, suggesting that PIK3CA mutation may occur independent of stage of the tumors. The high incidence and wide distribution of PIK3CA gene mutation in the common human cancers suggest that alterations of lipid kinase pathway by PIK3CA mutations contribute to the development of human cancers.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1

Similar content being viewed by others

Abbreviations

PCR:

polymerase chain reaction

SSCP:

single-strand conformation polymorphism

PTK:

protein-tyrosine kinase

PI3K:

phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase

PIP3:

phosphatidylinositol-3,4,5-triphosphate

LGDN:

low-grade dysplastic nodule

HGDN:

high-grade dysplastic nodule

References

  • Arteaga CL, Moulder SL and Yakes FM . (2002). Semin. Oncol., 29, 4–10.

  • Bellacosa A, de Feo D, Godwin AK, Bell DW, Cheng JQ, Altomare DA, Wan M, Dubeau L, Scambia G, Masciullo V, Ferrandina G, Benedetti Panici P, Mancuso S, Neri G and Testa JR . (1995). Int. J. Cancer, 64, 280–285.

  • Benistant C, Chapuis H and Roche S . (2000). Oncogene, 19, 5083–5090.

  • Bogomoletz WV . (1984). Am. J. Surg. Pathol., 8, 381–391.

  • Cantley LC . (2002). Science, 296, 1655–1657.

  • Cantley LC and Neel BG . (1999). Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 96, 4240–4245.

  • Druker BJ, Sawyers CL, Kantarjian H, Resta DJ, Reese SF, Ford JM, Capdeville R and Talpaz M . (2001). N. Engl. J. Med., 344, 1038–1042.

  • Edmondson HA and Steiner PE . (1954). Cancer, 7, 462–503.

  • International Working Party (1995). Hepatology, 22, 983–993.

  • Kim HS, Lee JW, Soung YH, Park WS, Kim SY, Lee JH, Park JY, Cho YG, Kim CJ, Jeong SW, Nam SW, Kim SH, Lee JY, Yoo NJ and Lee SH . (2003). Gastroenterology, 125, 708–715.

  • Lee JY, Dong SM, Kim SY, Yoo NJ, Lee SH and Park WS . (1998). Virchows Arch., 433, 305–309.

  • Luo J, Manning BD and Cantley LC . (2003). Cancer Cell, 4, 257–262.

  • Phillips WA, St Clair F, Munday AD, Thomas RJ and Mitchell CA . (1998). Cancer, 83, 41–47.

  • Samuels Y, Wang Z, Bardelli A, Silliman N, Ptak J, Szabo S, Yan H, Gazdar A, Powell SM, Riggins GJ, Willson JK, Markowitz S, Kinzler KW, Vogelstein B and Velculescu VE . (2004). Science, 304, 554.

  • Shay JW, Wright WE and Werbin H . (1993). Breast Cancer Res. Treat., 25, 83–94.

  • Shayesteh L, Lu Y, Kuo WL, Baldocchi R, Godfrey T, Collins C, Pinkel D, Powell B, Mills GB and Gray JW . (1999). Nat. Genet., 21, 99–102.

  • Stokoe D, Stephens LR, Copeland T, Gaffney PR, Reese CB, Painter GF, Holmes AB, McCormick F and Hawkins PT . (1997). Science, 277, 567–570.

  • Ueki K, Algenstaedt P, Mauvais-Jarvis F and Kahn CR . (2000). Mol. Cell. Biol., 20, 8035–8046.

  • Vanhaesebroeck B and Alessi DR . (2000). Biochem. J., 346 (Part 3), 561–576.

  • Vivanco I and Sawyers CL . (2002). Nat. Rev. Cancer, 2, 489–501.

  • Wakeling AE, Guy SP, Woodburn JR, Ashton SE, Curry BJ, Barker AJ and Gibson KH . (2002). Cancer Res., 62, 5749–5754.

  • Yuan ZQ, Sun M, Feldman RI, Wang G, Ma X, Jiang C, Coppola D, Nicosia V and Cheng JQ . (2000). Oncogene, 19, 2324–2330.

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the funds from KOSEF (R01-2004-000-10463-0).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sug Hyung Lee.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lee, J., Soung, Y., Kim, S. et al. PIK3CA gene is frequently mutated in breast carcinomas and hepatocellular carcinomas. Oncogene 24, 1477–1480 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1208304

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.onc.1208304

Keywords

This article is cited by

Search

Quick links