Pediatric Melanomas Profiled: Sequencing Reveals Commonalities with Adult Melanomas

Like adult melanoma, pediatric cutaneous melanoma shows mutations associated with ultraviolet exposure.

Adult melanoma has undergone extensive genomic analysis, but pediatric melanoma has not received such scrutiny. Although rare (incidence rates of malignant melanoma per 1 million children: 1.8 in age ≤14; 11.7 in age 15–19) pediatric melanoma is highly lethal. Lu and colleagues used whole-genome sequencing, RNA sequencing, and molecular inversion probe analysis to identify copy number variations (CNVs) in 23 pediatric melanomas (13 conventional [CM], 5 congenital nevi-associated [CMN], 5 spitzoid [SM]) in patients 20 and younger. Like adult melanomas, the pediatric CMs had a tremendous mutational load (14.36 mutations per Mb). Over 80% of these tumors had changes consistent with UVB-signature C→T transition mutations.

Thirteen of 15 CMs had …

Reviewing Author

Kenneth Y. Tsai, MD, PhD

Disclosures

Grant / Research support American Association for Cancer Research – Landon Foundation; National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute; Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas

Editorial BoardsJournal of the American Academy of Dermatology

Kenneth Y. Tsai, MD, PhD

Disclosures

Grant / Research support American Association for Cancer Research – Landon Foundation; National Institutes of Health/National Cancer Institute; Cancer Prevention Research Institute of Texas

Editorial BoardsJournal of the American Academy of Dermatology

Pediatric Melanomas Profiled: Sequencing Reveals Commonalities with Adult Melanomas

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Reviewing Author