# Evaluation of TP53 mutations in non-cancerous tissue as novel biomarkers of ovarian cancer risk.

> **NIH NIH R21** · UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON · 2020 · $202,928

## Abstract

Evaluation of TP53 mutations in non-cancerous tissue as novel biomarkers of ovarian cancer risk
TP53 is the most mutated gene in human tumors. Surprisingly, recent research has revealed that TP53
mutations are also found at very low frequency in non-cancerous tissues. Whether these mutations increase
the risk of future cancer progression is currently unknown. However this possibility is supported by the fact that
TP53 mutations in normal tissue are similar to TP53 mutations in cancers: they tend to cluster in hotspots and
are mostly deleterious. This indicates an ongoing evolutionary process of positive selection that takes place
through life and might result in cancer progression in some individuals. Accordingly, we hypothesize that
individuals with an elevated load of somatic TP53 mutations might be at a higher risk of developing cancer. We
will test this hypothesis for high grade serous ovarian cancer (HGSOC), a cancer type driven by TP53
mutations and which is typically diagnosed at late stage, causing high mortality. The need for better HGSOC
risk biomarkers is especially critical for women with germline mutations in BRCA1 and BRCA2 (BRCA1/2
carriers) who have about 45% and 20% lifelong risk of HGSOC, respectively. Using an ultra-accurate
sequencing method called Duplex Sequencing we recently demonstrated that women with HGSOC as well as
BRCA1/2 carriers harbor higher frequency of TP53 mutations in blood DNA. Similarly, Pap smear DNA from
women with HGSOC contained significantly higher frequency of TP53 cancer-like mutations than Pap smears
from women without cancer. These findings support our hypothesis that a constitutionally higher load of TP53
mutant clones might elevate the risk of HGSOC. We propose to further explore these results and their potential
utility as cancer biomarkers taking advantage of (1) CRISPR-DS, a Duplex Sequencing based method
developed by our group that is more efficient, faster, cheaper, and requires less DNA than the original method;
and (2) the University of Washington Gynecologic Oncology Tissue Bank, which has an extensive repository of
blood and Pap smear samples collected from women that underwent gynecological surgery for suspected
masses or prophylactically due to inherited cancer susceptibility. In Aim 1, we will perform ultra-deep (~3,000x)
CRISPR-DS TP53 sequencing of blood DNA from BRCA1/2 carriers and non-carriers with and without HGSOC
and we will determine associations between TP53 mutations, HGSOC, and germline BRCA1/2 mutations. For
a subset of women, in Aim 2 we will test whether TP53 mutations in Pap smear DNA are also associated with
HGSOC and/or germline mutation status and whether the combination of TP53 mutational information from
Pap smear and blood has a better cancer predictive value than either test separately. This research breaks
ground on the potential biomarker value of somatic TP53 mutations, which were unrecognized until recently
due to their very low frequency. CRISPR-DS allows the...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9941061
- **Project number:** 5R21CA240885-02
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON
- **Principal Investigator:** Rosa Ana Risques
- **Activity code:** R21 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $202,928
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2019-06-03 → 2022-05-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9941061

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9941061, Evaluation of TP53 mutations in non-cancerous tissue as novel biomarkers of ovarian cancer risk. (5R21CA240885-02). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-28 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9941061. Licensed CC0.

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