UCSF

Oncogenic fusions in TRK family receptor tyrosine kinases have been identified in several cancers and can serve as therapeutic targets. We identified ETV6-NTRK3, MYO5A-NTRK3 and MYH9-NTRK3 fusions in Spitz tumours, and demonstrated that NTRK3 fusions constitutively activate the mitogen-activated protein kinase, phosphoinositide 3-kinase and phospholipase Cγ1 pathways in melanocytes. This signalling was inhibited by DS-6051a, a small-molecule inhibitor of NTRK1/2/3 and ROS1. NTRK3 fusions expand the range of oncogenic kinase fusions in melanocytic neoplasms and offer targets for a small subset of melanomas for which no targeted options currently exist. Copyright © 2016 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.