Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 25, 2026
Generation and Expansion of Primary, Malignant Pleural Mesothelioma Tumor Lines
Published on: April 21, 2022
Identification of actionable mutations in malignant pleural mesothelioma
Takehito Shukuya1, Masakuni Serizawa2, Masaru Watanabe3
1Division of Thoracic Oncology, Shizuoka Cancer Center, 1007 Shimonagakubo, Nagaizumi-cho, Suntou-gun, Shizuoka 411-8777, Japan; Drug Discovery and Development Division, Shizuoka Cancer Center Research Institute, 1007 Shimonagakubo, Nagaizumi-cho, Suntou-gun, Shizuoka 411-8777, Japan; Department of Respiratory Medicine, Juntendo University, 2-1-1 Hongo, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8421, Japan.
Background:
Genetic alterations in malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) patients are not well-understood.
Patients And Methods:
Surgical specimens and tumor biopsies from 42 patients with MPM were collected from 2003 to 2012. The samples were analyzed for mutations in EGFR, KRAS, BRAF, PIK3CA, NRAS, MEK1, AKT1, PTEN, and HER2 and amplifications in EGFR, MET, PIK3CA, FGFR1, and FGFR2. In addition, 21 patients' samples were analyzed using amplicon-based massively parallel sequencing for actionable mutations in 48 cancer-related genes.
Results:
Genetic alterations were detected in 4 patients (one KRAS mutation and 3 PIK3CA amplifications). Patients harboring genetic alterations showed significantly poorer survival than patients with no genetic alterations. Moreover, significance was maintained if the patients only harbored PIK3CA amplification. A total 16 genetic mutations were identified in the 9 patients' samples (4 TP53 mutations, 3 APC mutations, 3 PIK3CA mutations, and 2 VHL mutations, etc.) by deep sequencing.
Conclusions:
Genetic alterations that are potential targets for molecular targeted therapy were detected in MPM. Amplicon-based massively parallel sequencing was shown to have the advantage of more comprehensive genetic analysis. Further investigation in a larger cohort is necessary to uncover more targetable genetic alterations in MPM and to validate their clinical significance.
