Subtypes of cervical cancer identified

Cervical cancer remains one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide. A recent publication in nature reported the extensive molecular characterization of 228 primary cervical cancers, and has been dubbed as the largest comprehensive genomic study of cervical cancer to date. The authors observed striking APOBEC mutagenesis patterns and identified SHKBP1, ERBB3, CASP8, HLA-A, and TGFBR2 as novel significantly mutated genes in cervical cancer. They also discovered novel amplifications in immune targets CD274/PD-L1 and PDCD1LG2/PD-L2, and the BCAR4 lncRNA that has been associated with response to lapatinib. The authors were also able to identify a unique set of endometrial-like cervical cancers, comprised predominantly of HPV-negative tumors with high frequencies of KRAS, ARID1A, and PTEN mutations. Integrative clustering of 178 samples identified Keratin-low Squamous, Keratin-high Squamous, and Adenocarcinoma-rich subgroups. These molecular analyses, thus, revealed new potential therapeutic targets for cervical cancers.

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