Schiantarelli, Julia, Benamar, Mouadh, Park, Jihye, Hodi, Stephen F., Johnson, Douglas B., Bosma-Moody, Alice, Liu, David, Campbell, Katie, Ribas, Antoni, Van Allen, Eliezer and Haq, Rizwan (2025) Genomic mediators of acquired resistance to immunotherapy in metastatic melanoma. Cancer cell, 43 (2). 308-316.e6. ISSN 1878-3686

Abstract

Although some patients with metastatic melanoma experience durable responses to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), most exhibit intrinsic or acquired resistance to these therapies. Here, we compare somatic genomic profiles from matched pre-treatment and post-resistance tumor biopsies in patients (n = 25) with metastatic melanoma who exhibited heterogeneous ICI responses to nominate additional mediators of acquired resistance. We find that several acquired resistance tumors exhibit defects in B2M or JAK1/2, consistent with prior findings. We also discover resistance-associated mutations in SEC24C and SEC24D in 3 patients. SEC24 has an essential role in the trafficking of the dsDNA sensor STING and has been linked to interferonopathies. Melanoma cells engineered to express the SEC24C mutations observed in patients exhibit diminished STING signaling, including decreased type I interferon production, antigen presentation, and a reduced capacity to activate cytotoxic T cells. This study nominates a role for aberrant STING trafficking in acquired resistance to ICIs.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Humans Melanoma Drug Resistance, Neoplasm Membrane Proteins Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors Immunotherapy Mutation Cell Line, Tumor Interferon Type I Animals Signal Transduction
Date Deposited:	27 Feb 2025 00:46
Last Modified:	27 Feb 2025 00:46
URI:	https://oak.novartis.com/id/eprint/52050