Letter abstract
Nature Genetics 41, 1127 - 1132 (2009)
Published online: 30 August 2009 | doi:10.1038/ng.438
Analysis of the tyrosine kinome in melanoma reveals recurrent mutations in ERBB4
Todd D Prickett1, Neena S Agrawal1, Xiaomu Wei1, Kristin E Yates1, Jimmy C Lin2, John R Wunderlich3, Julia C Cronin1, Pedro Cruz4, NISC Comparative Sequencing Program5, Steven A Rosenberg3 & Yardena Samuels1
Tyrosine phosphorylation is important in signaling pathways underlying tumorigenesis. We performed a mutational analysis of the protein tyrosine kinase (PTK) gene family in cutaneous metastatic melanoma. We identified 30 somatic mutations affecting the kinase domains of 19 PTKs and subsequently evaluated the entire coding regions of the genes encoding these 19 PTKs for somatic mutations in 79 melanoma samples. We found ERBB4 mutations in 19% of individuals with melanoma and found mutations in two other kinases (FLT1 and PTK2B) in 10% of individuals with melanomas. We examined seven missense mutations in the most commonly altered PTK gene, ERBB4, and found that they resulted in increased kinase activity and transformation ability. Melanoma cells expressing mutant ERBB4 had reduced cell growth after shRNA-mediated knockdown of ERBB4 or treatment with the ERBB inhibitor lapatinib. These studies could lead to personalized therapeutics specifically targeting the kinases that are mutationally altered in individual melanomas.
- Cancer Genetics Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
- The Ludwig Center for Cancer Genetics and Therapeutics, Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
- Surgery Branch, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
- Genome Technology Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
- NIH Intramural Sequencing Center, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
Correspondence to: Yardena Samuels1 e-mail: samuelsy@mail.nih.gov
