1. Data from Late-Stage Metastatic Melanoma Emerges through a Diversity of Evolutionary Pathways
- Author
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Samra Turajlic, Mariam Jamal-Hanjani, Charles Swanton, Kevin Litchfield, James Larkin, Anna Green, Ula Mahadeva, Ruby Stewart, Lisa Pickering, Andrew J.S. Furness, Kate Young, Emma L. Nye, Gordon W.H. Stamp, Ian Proctor, Mary Falzon, David A. Moore, Miriam Mitchison, Elaine Borg, Cristina Naceur-Lombardelli, Jun Murai, Maise Al Bakir, Nicholas McGranahan, Ariana Huebner, Hang Xu, Aljosja Rogiers, Robert Mason, Joanna Lynch, Husayn Ahmed Pallikonda, Camille L. Gerard, Max Emmerich, Anne-Laure Cattin, Molly O'Flaherty, Charlotte Lewis, Justine Korteweg, Aida Murra, Jennifer Biano, Denise Kelly, Lauren Terry, Mary Mangwende, Sarah Vaughan, Sarah Sarker, Kayleigh Kelly, Kema Peat, Lauren Grostate, Karla Lingard, Zayd Tippu, Andreas M. Schmitt, Charlotte Spencer, Diana C.J. Spierings, Rene Wardenaar, Hilda van den Bos, Floris Foijer, Jaime Nobbs, Peta Hughes, Christina Messiou, Alexandra Renn, Nikki Hunter, Eleanor Carlyle, Kim Edmonds, Lewis Au, Elisa Piperni, Maria Goicoechea, Fiona Byrne, Benjamin Shum, Scott T.C. Shepherd, Desiree Schnidrig, Andrew Rowan, Irene Lobon, Alexander Coulton, and Lavinia Spain
- Abstract
Understanding the evolutionary pathways to metastasis and resistance to immune-checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) in melanoma is critical for improving outcomes. Here, we present the most comprehensive intrapatient metastatic melanoma dataset assembled to date as part of the Posthumous Evaluation of Advanced Cancer Environment (PEACE) research autopsy program, including 222 exome sequencing, 493 panel-sequenced, 161 RNA sequencing, and 22 single-cell whole-genome sequencing samples from 14 ICI-treated patients. We observed frequent whole-genome doubling and widespread loss of heterozygosity, often involving antigen-presentation machinery. We found KIT extrachromosomal DNA may have contributed to the lack of response to KIT inhibitors of a KIT-driven melanoma. At the lesion-level, MYC amplifications were enriched in ICI nonresponders. Single-cell sequencing revealed polyclonal seeding of metastases originating from clones with different ploidy in one patient. Finally, we observed that brain metastases that diverged early in molecular evolution emerge late in disease. Overall, our study illustrates the diverse evolutionary landscape of advanced melanoma.Significance:Despite treatment advances, melanoma remains a deadly disease at stage IV. Through research autopsy and dense sampling of metastases combined with extensive multiomic profiling, our study elucidates the many mechanisms that melanomas use to evade treatment and the immune system, whether through mutations, widespread copy-number alterations, or extrachromosomal DNA.
- Published
- 2023