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Inactivation of TGFβ receptors in stem cells drives cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma - 30 whole exomes

Melanoma patients treated with oncogenic BRAF inhibitors can develop cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) within weeks of treatment, driven by paradoxical RAS/RAF/MAPK pathway activation. Here, we identify frequent TGFBR1 and TGFBR2 mutations in human vemurafenib-induced skin lesions and in sporadic cSCC. Functional analysis reveals these mutations ablate canonical TGFβ Smad signaling which is localised to bulge stem cells in both normal human and murine skin. MAPK pathway hyperactivation (through BrafV600E or KrasG12D knockin) and TGFβ signaling ablation (through Tgfbr1 deletion) in LGR5+ve stem cells enables rapid cSCC development in the mouse. Mutation of Tp53 (which is commonly mutated in sporadic cSCC) coupled with Tgfbr1 deletion in LGR5+ve cells also results in cSCC development. These findings indicate that LGR5+ve stem cells can act as cells of origin for cSCC and that RAS/RAF/MAPK pathway hyperactivation or Tp53 mutation, coupled with loss of TGFβ signaling, are driving events of skin tumorigenesis.

Click on a Dataset ID in the table below to learn more, and to find out who to contact about access to these data

Dataset ID Description Technology Samples
EGAD00001002253 Illumina HiSeq 2500 60
EGAD00001003555 Illumina HiSeq 2500 80
Publications Citations
Inactivation of TGFβ receptors in stem cells drives cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.
Nat Commun 7: 2016 12493
58
The landscape of driver mutations in cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma.
NPJ Genom Med 6: 2021 61
43