Identification of novel mutations of TP53, ALK and RET gene in metastatic thymic squamous cell carcinoma and its therapeutic implication

Thymic tumors are epithelial tumors of the thymus for which multimodal therapies are often ineffective because of a lack of standardized regimens. Due to the low incidence, the molecular pathology and genomic abnormalities of thymic epithelial tumors are largely unknown. In this study, we report our comprehensively genomic study on a case of metastatic thymic tumor. Using next generation deep DNA sequencing technology, we sequenced 190 segments of 46 cancer genes of the cancer genome to cover 739 COSMIC mutations in 604 loci. Among these sequenced cancer genes, we identified that three low frequency (~10% of cells) mutations in the TP53 gene (c.782+1G > T), ALK gene (c.3551C > T), and RET gene (c.2651A > T). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to show those mutations in thymic tumor. Of note, our study further indicates comprehensive molecular analysis may facilitate development of novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for thymic tumors.