Genomic Characterization of Brain Metastases Reveals Branched Evolution and Potential Therapeutic Targets.

In this month’s featured publication, Drs. Santagata, Ligon, and Beroukhim and colleagues published a study where they analyzed brain metastases for alterations in their genetic profiles.   In about half of the cases they found different genetic alterations in the brain metastases when compared with the primary tumor site.  This study showed that the genetically different brain metastases were not detected when a patient undergoes a primary tumor biopsy, suggesting that sequencing the primary tumor alone may miss substantial opportunities for targeted therapy.