122 Poster - Targeting BRAF WT metastatic melanomas: Identifying ERBB4 mutant alleles as biomarkers for novel combinatorial treatment strategies

Abstract

Background: The treatment of metastatic melanoma (MM) has been dramatically improved through the use of BRAF and MEK inhibitors in patients whose tumors harbor activating mutations in BRAF. However, these mutations occur in only ∼50% of MMs and a targeted therapy(ies) has yet to be identified for those MMs that contain wild-type (WT) BRAF. Using The Cancer Genome Atlas melanoma (TCGA-SKCM) dataset, we discovered that 20% of BRAF WT melanomas harbor a missense mutation in ERBB4, which encodes a member of the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR/ ErbB1) family of receptor tyrosine kinases. Hence, our goal is to evaluate whether ERBB4 mutant alleles function as biomarkers and targets for therapeutic intervention in BRAF WT MMs.