Browsing by Author "Sanhueza, Verónica"

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    The mutational landscape and actionable targets of gallbladder cancer: an ancestry-informed and comparative analysis of a Chilean population
    (2025) Erices, José; González, Evelin; Salgado, Marcela; Barahona, Carol; Freire, Matías; Sepúlveda, Gonzalo; Ampuero, Diego; Blanco, Alejandro; Gárate, Valentina; Báez, Pablo; Tapia, Camilo; Toro, Jessica; Gallegos, Iván; Barajas, Olga; Ahumada, Mónica; Sanhueza, Verónica; Spencer, Loreto; De Toro, Gonzalo; Morales, Erik; Gutiérrez, Lorena; Morales, Fernanda; Marin, Arnaldo; Varela, Nelson; Bermejo, Justo; Armisen, Ricardo; Marcelain, Katherine
    Introduction: Gallbladder cancer (GBC) is a highly aggressive malignancy with one of the highest incidence rates reported in Chile. Despite its clinical impact, molecular characterization of GBC in Latin American populations remains limited, and the absence of effective targeted therapies underscores the urgent need for new therapeutic strategies. Methods: We collected 118 tumor samples, of which 56 passed sequencing quality control using the Oncomine™ Comprehensive Assay v1. Somatic variants were identified with ANNOVAR and Cancer Genome Interpreter, and ancestry was inferred using ADMIXTURE and PCA with ancestry-informative markers. Comparative analyses were performed with Japanese, Singaporean, and U.S. cohorts. Results: A total of 535 somatic mutations were detected in 43 genes, with TP53 (30%), TSC2 (29%), and NOTCH1 (27%) being the most frequently mutated. We identified 121 clinically actionable variants in ATM, BRCA1/2, EGFR, ERBB2, and other genes. Exploratory analysis suggested an association between higher Mapuche ancestry and TP53 mutations. Comparative analyses revealed distinct mutational patterns in the Chilean cohort relative to Asian and U.S. datasets. Conclusion: This ancestry-informed genomic analysis provides the first comprehensive landscape of Chilean GBC, identifying actionable alterations with potential therapeutic relevance and supporting the development of population-specific precision oncology strategies.
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    Validation of an NGS Panel Designed for Detection of Actionable Mutations in Tumors Common in Latin America
    (2021) Salvo, Mauricio; González‐Feliú, Evelin; Toro, Jessica; Gallegos, Iván; Maureira, Ignacio; Miranda‐González, Nicolás; Barajas, Olga; Bustamante, Eva; Ahumada, Mónica; Colombo, Alicia; Armisén, Ricardo; Villamán, Camilo; Ibáñez, Carolina; Bravo, María Loreto; Sanhueza, Verónica; Spencer, M. Loreto; Toro, Gonzalo de; Morales, Erik; Bizama, Carolina; García, Patricia; Carrasco, Ana María; Gutiérrez, Lorena; Bermejo, Justo Lorenzo; Verdugo, Ricardo A.; Marcelain, Katherine
    Next‐generation sequencing (NGS) is progressively being used in clinical practice. How‐ ever, several barriers preclude using this technology for precision oncology in most Latin American countries. To overcome some of these barriers, we have designed a 25‐gene panel that contains pre‐ dictive biomarkers for most current and near‐future available therapies in Chile and Latin America. Library preparation was optimized to account for low DNA integrity observed in formalin‐fixed paraffin‐embedded tissue. The workflow includes an automated bioinformatic pipeline that ac‐ counts for the underrepresentation of Latin Americans in genome databases. The panel detected small insertions, deletions, and single nucleotide variants down to allelic frequencies of 0.05 with high sensitivity, specificity, and reproducibility. The workflow was validated in 272 clinical samples from several solid tumor types, including gallbladder (GBC). More than 50 biomarkers were de‐ tected in these samples, mainly in BRCA1/2, KRAS, and PIK3CA genes. In GBC, biomarkers for PARP, EGFR, PIK3CA, mTOR, and Hedgehog signaling inhibitors were found. Thus, this small NGS panel is an accurate and sensitive method that may constitute a more cost‐efficient alternative to multiple non‐NGS assays and costly, large NGS panels. This kind of streamlined assay with au‐ tomated bioinformatics analysis may facilitate the implementation of precision medicine in Latin America.

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