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Article |
Tumour extracellular vesicles and particles induce liver metabolic dysfunction
Remote tumours cause liver dysfunction by releasing extracellular vesicles and particles containing palmitic acid, which induces TNF signalling in Kupffer cells, resulting in inflammation, fatty deposits and metabolic dysregulation, thus both reducing the efficacy and increasing the toxicity of chemotherapies.
- Gang Wang
- , Jianlong Li
- & David Lyden
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Article |
Blebs promote cell survival by assembling oncogenic signalling hubs
A study demonstrates that sustained membrane blebs in cancer cells recruit curvature-sensing septins that form plasma membrane-proximal signalling hubs that promote cancer cell survival.
- Andrew D. Weems
- , Erik S. Welf
- & Gaudenz Danuser
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Article
| Open AccessRas drives malignancy through stem cell crosstalk with the microenvironment
Aberrant crosstalk between cancer stem cells and their microenvironment triggers angiogenesis and TGFβ signalling, creating conditions that are conducive for hijacking leptin and leptin receptor signalling, which in turn launches downstream PI3K–AKT–mTOR signalling during the benign-to-malignant transition.
- Shaopeng Yuan
- , Katherine S. Stewart
- & Elaine Fuchs
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Article
| Open AccessNeoadjuvant relatlimab and nivolumab in resectable melanoma
Patients with resectable clinical stage III or oligometastatic stage IV melanoma were given neoadjuvant relatlimab and nivolumab combination immunotherapy, which induced a high pathologic complete response rate, indicating the efficacy and safety of this regimen.
- Rodabe N. Amaria
- , Michael Postow
- & Hussein A. Tawbi
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Article |
A cellular hierarchy in melanoma uncouples growth and metastasis
A hierarchical model of melanoma tumour growth mirrors the cellular and molecular logic of cell-fate specification and differentiation of the underlying embryonic neural crest, and suggests that the ability to support growth and metastasis are limited to distinct pools of cells.
- Panagiotis Karras
- , Ignacio Bordeu
- & Jean-Christophe Marine
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Article |
Stromal changes in the aged lung induce an emergence from melanoma dormancy
Changes in the microenvironment of the aged lung relative to younger lung tissue can lead to the reactivation of dormant melanoma cells through a mechanism that involves a decrease in WNT5A and AXL signalling and an increase in MERTK.
- Mitchell E. Fane
- , Yash Chhabra
- & Ashani T. Weeraratna
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Article |
Landscape of helper and regulatory antitumour CD4+ T cells in melanoma
A survey of the CD4+ T cells in human melanomas indicates that immune evasion is mediated through direct stimulation of neoantigen-specific tumour-reactive regulatory T cells by HLA class II-positive melanoma cells.
- Giacomo Oliveira
- , Kari Stromhaug
- & Catherine J. Wu
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Article |
Anatomic position determines oncogenic specificity in melanoma
In a zebrafish model of human cutaneous and acral melanomas, CRKL amplification causes tumours to favour a fin location, indicating that tumour location is determined by both the driver oncogenes and the pre-existing positional identity gene program.
- Joshua M. Weiss
- , Miranda V. Hunter
- & Richard M. White
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Article |
KDM5B promotes immune evasion by recruiting SETDB1 to silence retroelements
KDM5B recruits SETDB1 to repress endogenous retroelements such as MMVL30, suppressing anti-tumour immunity, and the depletion of KDM5B induces a robust adaptive immune response and enhances the response to immune checkpoint blockade.
- Shang-Min Zhang
- , Wesley L. Cai
- & Qin Yan
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Article |
Phenotype, specificity and avidity of antitumour CD8+ T cells in melanoma
The authors use single-cell profiling and T cell receptor specificity screening to show how tumour antigen recognition shapes the phenotypes of CD8+ T cells and antitumour immune responses.
- Giacomo Oliveira
- , Kari Stromhaug
- & Catherine J. Wu
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Article |
ARAF mutations confer resistance to the RAF inhibitor belvarafenib in melanoma
The development, characterization and phase I clinical testing of the RAF inhibitor belvarafenib in cancer and a new resistance mechanism mediated by ARAF mutations are described.
- Ivana Yen
- , Frances Shanahan
- & Shiva Malek
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Article |
Identification of bacteria-derived HLA-bound peptides in melanoma
HLA peptidomic analysis identifies recurrent intracellular bacteria-derived peptides presented on HLA-I and HLA-II molecules in melanoma tumours, revealing how bacteria can modulate immune functions and responses to cancer therapies.
- Shelly Kalaora
- , Adi Nagler
- & Yardena Samuels
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Matters Arising |
Reply to: Beta human papillomaviruses and skin cancer
- John D. Strickley
- , Jonathan L. Messerschmidt
- & Shadmehr Demehri
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Article |
Anti-tumour immunity induces aberrant peptide presentation in melanoma
Tryptophan depletion in melanoma cells after prolonged treatment with interferon-γ (IFNγ) results in ribosomal frameshifting and the production of aberrant peptides that can be presented to T cells and induce an immune response.
- Osnat Bartok
- , Abhijeet Pataskar
- & Reuven Agami
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Article |
The genomic landscapes of individual melanocytes from human skin
A combination of clonal expansion and DNA amplification is used to sequence genetic material from individual melanocytes, shedding light on the mutational landscape of these cells and the development of melanomas.
- Jessica Tang
- , Eleanor Fewings
- & A. Hunter Shain
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Article |
Lymph protects metastasizing melanoma cells from ferroptosis
Melanoma cells undergo less oxidative stress and less ferroptosis in lymph than in blood, owing to higher levels of oleic acid in lymph, and thus exposure to the lymphatic environment increases subsequent metastasis through blood.
- Jessalyn M. Ubellacker
- , Alpaslan Tasdogan
- & Sean J. Morrison
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Article |
Tertiary lymphoid structures improve immunotherapy and survival in melanoma
The co-occurrence of tumour-associated CD8+ T cells and CD20+ B cells, and the formation of tertiary lymphoid structures, are linked with improved survival in cohorts of patients with metastatic melanoma.
- Rita Cabrita
- , Martin Lauss
- & Göran Jönsson
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Article |
B cells and tertiary lymphoid structures promote immunotherapy response
Multiomic profiling of several cohorts of patients treated with immune checkpoint blockade highlights the presence and potential role of B cells and tertiary lymphoid structures in promoting therapy response.
- Beth A. Helmink
- , Sangeetha M. Reddy
- & Jennifer A. Wargo
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Article |
Metabolic heterogeneity confers differences in melanoma metastatic potential
Differences in MCT1 function among melanoma cells confer differences in oxidative stress resistance and metastatic potential.
- Alpaslan Tasdogan
- , Brandon Faubert
- & Sean J. Morrison
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Article |
Immunity to commensal papillomaviruses protects against skin cancer
A mouse model of papillomavirus infection reveals that skin colonization with commensal papillomaviruses protects the immunocompetent host against chemical- and UV-induced skin cancer through CD8+ T cell immunity.
- John D. Strickley
- , Jonathan L. Messerschmidt
- & Shadmehr Demehri
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Letter |
Spliceosomal disruption of the non-canonical BAF complex in cancer
A range of SF3B1 mutations promote tumorigenesis through the repression of BRD9, a core component of the non-canonical BAF complex, and correcting BRD9 mis-splicing in these SF3B1-mutant cells suppresses tumour growth.
- Daichi Inoue
- , Guo-Liang Chew
- & Robert K. Bradley
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Letter |
Tissue-resident memory CD8+ T cells promote melanoma–immune equilibrium in skin
A transplantable mouse model of persistent cutaneous melanoma shows that immune-mediated tumour suppression can result in a state of melanoma–immune equilibrium, and that tissue-resident memory T cells are essential drivers of this equilibrium state.
- Simone L. Park
- , Anthony Buzzai
- & Thomas Gebhardt
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Letter |
A cell identity switch allows residual BCC to survive Hedgehog pathway inhibition
When basal cell carcinoma is treated with a Smoothened inhibitor, a subset of cancer cells evades treatment by switching identity, allowing residual tumours to regrow when treatment is discontinued.
- Brian Biehs
- , Gerrit J. P. Dijkgraaf
- & Frederic J. de Sauvage
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Letter |
A slow-cycling LGR5 tumour population mediates basal cell carcinoma relapse after therapy
Treatment of basal cell carcinoma with Smoothened inhibitors leaves a small population of quiescent cells that can drive relapse but can be eliminated by additional treatment with a Wnt signalling inhibitor.
- Adriana Sánchez-Danés
- , Jean-Christophe Larsimont
- & Cédric Blanpain
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Letter |
Exosomal PD-L1 contributes to immunosuppression and is associated with anti-PD-1 response
Melanoma cells release programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) on the surface of circulating exosomes, suggesting a mechanism by which tumours could evade the immunesystem, and the potential application of exosomal PD-L1 to monitor patient responses to checkpoint therapies.
- Gang Chen
- , Alexander C. Huang
- & Wei Guo
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Letter |
Codon-specific translation reprogramming promotes resistance to targeted therapy
Enzymes that catalyse modifications of wobble uridine 34 tRNA are essential for the survival of melanoma cells that rely on HIF1α-dependent metabolism through codon-dependent regulation of the translation of HIF1A mRNA.
- Francesca Rapino
- , Sylvain Delaunay
- & Pierre Close
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Letter |
High response rate to PD-1 blockade in desmoplastic melanomas
Immune checkpoint blockade with anti-PD-1 or anti-PD-L1 agents produces a high response rate in patients with desmoplastic melanoma.
- Zeynep Eroglu
- , Jesse M. Zaretsky
- & Antoni Ribas
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Letter |
Cancer drug addiction is relayed by an ERK2-dependent phenotype switch
The identification of an ERK2–JUNB–FRA1 signalling pathway that drives addiction to therapeutic drugs in cancer cells, and an ERK2-dependent phenotype switch that precedes cell death after drug withdrawal, may help to guide therapies that exploit the addiction phenotype.
- Xiangjun Kong
- , Thomas Kuilman
- & Daniel S. Peeper
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Letter |
Palmitoylation-dependent activation of MC1R prevents melanomagenesis
The protein modification palmitoylation increases the ability of variant forms of the melanocortin-1 receptor (MC1R) to induce pigmentation, and this is linked to reduced development of melanomas.
- Shuyang Chen
- , Bo Zhu
- & Rutao Cui
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Article |
Whole-genome landscapes of major melanoma subtypes
The first large, high-coverage whole-genome sequencing study of melanomas from cutaneous, acral and mucosal sites.
- Nicholas K. Hayward
- , James S. Wilmott
- & Graham J. Mann
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Article |
T-cell invigoration to tumour burden ratio associated with anti-PD-1 response
The clinical benefit of anti-PD-1 antibody treatment is dependent on the extent to which exhausted CD8 T cells are reinvigorated in relation to the tumour burden of the patient.
- Alexander C. Huang
- , Michael A. Postow
- & E. John Wherry
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Letter |
Dermatologist-level classification of skin cancer with deep neural networks
An artificial intelligence trained to classify images of skin lesions as benign lesions or malignant skin cancers achieves the accuracy of board-certified dermatologists.
- Andre Esteva
- , Brett Kuprel
- & Sebastian Thrun
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Letter |
A PGC1α-mediated transcriptional axis suppresses melanoma metastasis
PGC1α suppresses melanoma metastasis and promotes growth and survival in primary tumours, whilst inhibition of PGC1α induces increased invasion and metastasis.
- Chi Luo
- , Ji-Hong Lim
- & Pere Puigserver
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Article |
Defining the clonal dynamics leading to mouse skin tumour initiation
Skin stem cells, but not their progenitors, are able to form tumours owing to the ability of oncogene-targeted stem cells to increase symmetric self-renewing division and a higher p53-dependent resistance to apoptosis.
- Adriana Sánchez-Danés
- , Edouard Hannezo
- & Cédric Blanpain
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Letter |
Neoantigen landscape dynamics during human melanoma–T cell interactions
Analyses of tumour samples and tumour-infiltrating lymphocytes from two patients with melanoma who were treated with adoptive T-cell therapy provide evidence for tumour escape by loss and downregulation of immunogenic antigens.
- Els M. E. Verdegaal
- , Noel F. C. C. de Miranda
- & Sjoerd H. van der Burg
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Article |
Stem cell function and stress response are controlled by protein synthesis
The protein translation rate is low in tissue stem cells and tumour-initiating cells, and genetically preventing cytosine-5 methylation on transfer RNA in skin tumours is shown to favour the maintenance of a state of translational inhibition in mice, with tumour-initiating cells in this state becoming more sensitive to cytotoxic stress.
- Sandra Blanco
- , Roberto Bandiera
- & Michaela Frye
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Letter |
Nucleotide excision repair is impaired by binding of transcription factors to DNA
An analysis of cancer genomic data reveals an increased rate of somatic mutations at active transcription factor binding sites located both within promoter regions and distal from genes; the increased mutation rate at these genomic regions can be explained by reduced accessibility of the protein-bound DNA to nucleotide excision repair machinery.
- Radhakrishnan Sabarinathan
- , Loris Mularoni
- & Núria López-Bigas
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Letter |
sFRP2 in the aged microenvironment drives melanoma metastasis and therapy resistance
Aged fibroblasts release a Wnt antagonist, sFRP2, which drives a signalling cascade in melanoma cells, leading to increased metastasis and reduced effectiveness of targeted therapy.
- Amanpreet Kaur
- , Marie R. Webster
- & Ashani T. Weeraratna
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Letter |
Melanoma addiction to the long non-coding RNA SAMMSON
A known oncogene, MITF, resides in a region of chromosome 3 that is amplified in melanomas and associated with poor prognosis; now, a long non-coding RNA gene, SAMMSON, is shown to also lie in this region, to also act as a melanoma-specific survival oncogene, and to be a promising therapeutic target for anti-melanoma therapy.
- Eleonora Leucci
- , Roberto Vendramin
- & Jean-Christophe Marine
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Article |
Oxidative stress inhibits distant metastasis by human melanoma cells
Human melanoma cells grown in mice experience high levels of oxidative stress in the bloodstream such that few metastasizing cells survive to form tumours; the rare melanoma cells that successfully metastasize undergo metabolic changes that increase their capacity to withstand this stress, and antioxidant treatments increase metastasis formation by human melanoma cells, while inhibiting antioxidant pathways had the reverse effect.
- Elena Piskounova
- , Michalis Agathocleous
- & Sean J. Morrison
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Letter |
Alternative transcription initiation leads to expression of a novel ALK isoform in cancer
A novel ALK transcript expressed in a subset of human cancers, arising from a de novo alternative transcription initiation site within the ALK gene, is described; the ALK transcript encodes three protein isoforms that stimulate tumorigenesis in vivo in mouse models; resultant tumours are sensitive to treatments with ALK inhibitors, indicating a possible therapeutic avenue for patients expressing these isoforms.
- Thomas Wiesner
- , William Lee
- & Ping Chi
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Letter |
eIF4F is a nexus of resistance to anti-BRAF and anti-MEK cancer therapies
BRAF mutations occur frequently in melanomas, but patients generally develop resistance to agents targeting mutant BRAF; now, the persistent formation of the translation initiation complex eIF4F has been described as an indicator of multiple mechanisms of resistance that arise in BRAF-mutated tumours and as a promising therapeutic target.
- Lise Boussemart
- , Hélène Malka-Mahieu
- & Stéphan Vagner
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Letter |
Ultraviolet radiation accelerates BRAF-driven melanomagenesis by targeting TP53
Exposing mice with the BRAF (V600E) mutation to levels of ultraviolet radiation that mimic mild sunburn in humans is shown to induce mutations in the tumour suppressor Trp53 (TP53 in humans), accelerating the development of melanoma; these results support the use of sunscreen in individuals at risk of this cancer.
- Amaya Viros
- , Berta Sanchez-Laorden
- & Richard Marais
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Letter |
Reversible and adaptive resistance to BRAF(V600E) inhibition in melanoma
Patients with melanomas carrying an activating BRAF mutation respond to treatment with BRAF inhibitors although resistance to the inhibitor usually emerges; this resistance is shown to arise through increased expression of receptor tyrosine kinases such as EGFR; however, these changes decrease cell fitness and during a break from inhibitor treatment these cells are selected against, revealing that some patients who acquire EGFR expression may benefit from inhibitor re-treatment after a drug holiday.
- Chong Sun
- , Liqin Wang
- & Rene Bernards
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Letter |
Ultraviolet-radiation-induced inflammation promotes angiotropism and metastasis in melanoma
Mouse experiments show that ultraviolet radiation can promote tumour metastasis in melanoma by enhancing the expansion of tumour cells on blood vessel surfaces in a process linked to inflammation and requiring neutrophils and the proteins HMGB1 and TLR4.
- Tobias Bald
- , Thomas Quast
- & Thomas Tüting
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Outlook |
Drug development: Releasing the brakes
Tumours can put a brake on the immune system, but new therapies work by removing these brakes. Now, researchers have to figure out how to use them most effectively.
- Karen Weintraub
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Letter |
GLI activation by atypical protein kinase C ι/λ regulates the growth of basal cell carcinomas
Atypical protein kinase C ι/λ is shown to be critical, through its regulation of the transcription factor GLI, for hedgehog-dependent processes, such as the growth of basal cell carcinomas.
- Scott X. Atwood
- , Mischa Li
- & Anthony E. Oro
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Letter |
Modelling vemurafenib resistance in melanoma reveals a strategy to forestall drug resistance
BRAF inhibitors such as vemurafenib have shown promising effects in patients with BRAF-mutant melanomas, but the tumours generally develop resistance; vemurafenib-resistant melanomas are now shown to be drug dependent, and an intermittent dosing schedule can help prevent drug resistance.
- Meghna Das Thakur
- , Fernando Salangsang
- & Darrin D. Stuart
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News & Views |
Complexion matters
Sun exposure indisputably increases the risk of skin cancer. Mouse studies suggest that, in red-haired individuals, genetic factors also contribute through a mechanism that acts independently of exposure to sunlight. See Letter p.449
- Mizuho Fukunaga-Kalabis
- & Meenhard Herlyn