Comprehensive genomic characterization of cutaneous malignant melanoma cell lines derived from metastatic lesions by whole-exome sequencing and SNP array profiling

PLoS One. 2013 May 21;8(5):e63597. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0063597. Print 2013.

Abstract

Cutaneous malignant melanoma is the most fatal skin cancer and although improved comprehension of its pathogenic pathways allowed to realize some effective molecular targeted therapies, novel targets and drugs are still needed. Aiming to add genetic information potentially useful for novel targets discovery, we performed an extensive genomic characterization by whole-exome sequencing and SNP array profiling of six cutaneous melanoma cell lines derived from metastatic patients. We obtained a total of 3,325 novel coding single nucleotide variants, including 2,172 non-synonymous variants. We catalogued the coding mutations according to Sanger COSMIC database and to a manually curated list including genes involved in melanoma pathways identified by mining recent literature. Besides confirming the presence of known melanoma driver mutations (BRAF(V600E), NRAS(Q61R) ), we identified novel mutated genes involved in signalling pathways crucial for melanoma pathogenesis and already addressed by current targeted therapies (such as MAPK and glutamate pathways). We also identified mutations in four genes (MUC19, PAICS, RBMXL1, KIF23) never reported in melanoma, which might deserve further investigations. All data are available to the entire research community in our Melanoma Exome Database (at https://155.253.6.64/MExDB/). In summary, these cell lines are valuable biological tools to improve the genetic comprehension of this complex cancer disease and to study functional relevance of individual mutational events, and these findings could provide insights potentially useful for identification of novel therapeutic targets for cutaneous malignant melanoma.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Exome / genetics*
  • Genes, Neoplasm / genetics
  • Genome, Human / genetics
  • Genomics*
  • Humans
  • Melanoma / genetics*
  • Melanoma / pathology*
  • Mutation / genetics
  • Neoplasm Metastasis
  • Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis / methods*
  • Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / genetics*
  • Sequence Analysis, DNA
  • Skin Neoplasms / genetics*
  • Skin Neoplasms / pathology

Grants and funding

This work was supported by Cariplo Foundation grant (Genomic, epigenetic and transcriptional analysis of cancer by next-generation sequencing, Rif. 2006.0771) and by PhD School of Molecular Medicine of University of Milan. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.