MET mutations in cancers of unknown primary origin (CUPs).
Cancer of unknown primary origin (CUP) defines metastatic disease of unknown origin, accounting for 3-5% of all cancers. Growing evidence demonstrates that inappropriate execution of a genetic program named "invasive growth," driven by the MET oncogene, is implicated in the metastatic process. MET activation in cancers is mainly consequent to overexpression, whereas mutations are rarely found. We reasoned that the occurrence of MET somatic mutations might sustain premature occult dissemination of cancer cells, such as that observed in CUPs. We sequenced MET in genomic DNA obtained from 47 early metastatic cancers. By extensive immunohistochemical analysis a primary site was afterward postulated in 24 patients, whereas 23 cases remained of unknown primary (CUPs). MET somatic mutations were found in seven cases, all belonging to the CUP cohort. Mutational incidence (30%) was thus significantly higher than the expected one (4%), in the absence of high mutational background. Several nucleotide changes were novel and clustered either in the kinase domain or in the extracellular semaphorin domain. Mutated receptors were functional and sustained the transformed phenotype, suggesting that MET activating mutations are genetic markers associated with the CUP syndrome.
Department of Clinical Molecular Oncology, Institute for Cancer Research, University of Turin Med. School, Candiolo, Italy.
Giulia M
GM
Stella
Silvia
S
Benvenuti
Daniela
D
Gramaglia
Aldo
A
Scarpa
Anna
A
Tomezzoli
Paola
P
Cassoni
Rebecca
R
Senetta
Tiziana
T
Venesio
Ernesto
E
Pozzi
Alberto
A
Bardelli
Paolo M
PM
Comoglio
D000368:Aged; D000818:Animals; D019556:COS Cells; D045744:Cell Line, Tumor; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009154:Mutation; D009361:Neoplasm Invasiveness; D009382:Neoplasms, Unknown Primary / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D010766:Phosphorylation / Q000502:physiology; D019859:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*
D019859:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met