Origins of Cancer Revisited: cSCC Arising from Donor Kidney Cells

It has been well established that cancers, including melanoma, can be transmitted in the course of organ transplantation, resulting in potentially devastating clinical consequences. Immunosuppression is a key aggravating factor.

Here, Verneuil and colleagues have taken studies of donor-associated malignancies a step further. They studied 21 renal transplant recipients who developed cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC). TP53, a tumor suppressor gene, is often highly expressed in cancers by virtue of mutations that render it stable but nonfunctional. The researchers isolated p53-expressing cells in the cSCCs of these patients, and they found that these cells were of donor origin. In one patient, surprisingly, they also found a mutation in …