2051 Background: Neurofibromatosis type 2 is a heritable tumor predisposition syndrome characterized by the growth of multiple tumor types in the nervous system, including bilateral vestibular schwannomas, meningiomas and ependymomas. Recent genomic sequencing studies have revealed that NF2 inactivation is the most frequent genetic event in sporadic meningiomas. In line with Knudson’s hypothesis, it is accepted that somatic inactivation of the wildtype NF2 allele initiates tumor growth in NF2 patients, but little is known of what other genes or pathways influence meningioma tumorigenesis. Methods: To investigate this question, we performed whole exome sequencing (WES) (Illumina Hi-Seq 2500 platform, 96 Mb SeqCap EZ Exome + UTR Library, NimbleGen) and SNP-array analysis (HumanOmniExpressExome-8, v1.2 arrays, Illumina) of twenty spinal and cranial meningioma samples from seven NF2 patients. Mutation validation was completed via orthogonal sequencing (IonTorrent, ThermoFisher). Results: We identified NF2 germline mutations in all patients, including five nonsense, one splice site and one likely pathogenic intronic mutation. We found that the predominant mechanism of somatic NF2 inactivation in the tumors was loss of heterozygosity (LOH): we identified large chromosome 22 deletions containing NF2 in nineteen out of twenty meningiomas. The second most frequent chromosomal aberration was a deletion within chromosome 1p, followed by entire chromosome X deletion and rearrangements in chromosome 17q. The remaining samples exhibited normal diploid genomic architecture. Somatic mutations included about twenty point substitutions and small indels. Conclusions: Our study revealed that somatic inactivation of NF2 is the most frequent and only recurrent genetic event in NF2-associated meningiomas. Large LOH events are the most prevalent second hit mechanism and may also represent a common path of meningioma progression. Somatic single nucleotide substitutions and small indels are rare in these tumors. Interestingly, we did not identify mutations in TRAF7, KLF4, AKT1, or SMO, which have been found to be critical for non-NF2 meningioma growth.