Molecular Landscape of TP53/RB1 Co-Altered Tumors Uncovers Emerging Therapeutic Vulnerabilities

Although TP53 and RB1 co-alterations play critical roles in promoting malignant development and progression, specific inhibitors targeting this co-alteration are lacking. We performed a pan-cancer analysis to characterize the biology of TP53/RB1 co-alterations and identify therapeutic strategies.

We analyzed mutation data and copy number variation (CNV) data from 42 371 pan-cancer samples across 26 cancer types from the cBioPortal database. Among them, 2417 tumors with TP53/RB1 co-alterations were used for further analysis. We characterized their epidemiology and molecular biology. Therapeutic vulnerabilities of co-altered tumors were examined using Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia drug screening datasets.

TP53/RB1 co-alterations occurred in 5.70% of pan-cancer cases but exhibit striking heterogeneity across cancer types. Patients harboring co-alterations had significantly shorter overall survival (OS) in both primary and metastatic settings and poorer response to immune checkpoint inhibitors. Co-altered tumors displayed frequent alterations in chromatin remodeling genes (CREBBP, ARID1A, and KMT2D) and PI3K pathway (PIK3CA and PTEN), but with distinct tissue-specific mutational patterns: EGFR mutations dominated in lung adenocarcinoma (52%), KRAS in pancreatic cancer (88%), and APC in colorectal cancer (77%). Moreover, upregulated genes in co-altered tumors enriched in cell cycle pathways, DNA repair, and neuronal development, whereas immune/inflammatory signaling was suppressed. Critically, drug screening revealed that co-altered tumors showed increased sensitivity to CDK, AURKA, and PI3K/mTOR inhibitors, but resistance to MAPK/ERK pathway inhibitors.

TP53/RB1 co-alterations define an aggressive cancer subset with dysregulated cell cycle/chromatin pathways and reduced immunotherapy response. Targeting CDK, AURKA, or PI3K signaling offers promising therapeutic strategies.