Amplification of MDS1/EVI1 and EVI1, located in the 3q26.2 amplicon, is associated with favorable patient prognosis in ovarian cancer

Increased copy number involving chromosome 3q26 is a frequent and early event in cancers of the ovary, lung, head and neck, cervix, and BRCA1 positive and basal breast cancers. The p110α catalytic subunit of phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3KCA) and protein kinase Cι (PKCι) have previously been shown as functionally deregulated by 3q copy number increase. High-resolution array comparative genomic hybridization of 235 high-grade serous epithelial ovarian cancers using contiguous bacterial artificial chromosomes across 3q26 delineated an ∼2 Mb-wide region at 3q26.2 encompassing PDCD10 to MYNN (chr3:168722613-170908630). Ecotropic viral integration site-1 (EVI1) and myelodysplastic syndrome 1 (MDS1) are located at the center of this region, and their DNA copy number increases are associated with at least 5-fold increased RNA transcript levels in 83% and 98% of advanced ovarian cancers, respectively. Moreover, MDS1/EVI1 and EVI1 protein levels are increased in ovarian cancers and cancer cell lines. EVI1 and MDS1/EVI1 gene products increased cell proliferation, migration, and decreased transforming growth factor-β- mediated plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 promoter activity in ovarian epithelial cells. Intriguingly, the increases in EVI1 DNA copy number and MDS1/EVI1 transcripts are associated with improved patient outcomes, whereas EVI1 transcript levels are associated with a poor patient survival. Thus, the favorable patient prognosis associated with increased DNA copy number seems to be as a result of high-level expression of the fusion transcript MDS1/EVI1. Collectively, these studies suggest that MDS1/EVI1 and EVI1, previously implicated in acute myelogenous leukemia, contribute to the pathophysiology of epithelial ovarian cancer.