Genetic Background Predicts Uveal Melanoma Patients' Outcomes

  • Thibault Verrier
  • , Alexandre Houy
  • , Erwin Brosens
  • , Emine Kilic
  • , Wishal D. Ramdas
  • , Tolga Bicer
  • , Agathe Garcia
  • , Anne-Charlotte Lefranc
  • , Sandra Vanhuele
  • , Amanda F. Kahn
  • , Gaelle Pierron
  • , Alexandre Matet
  • , Nathalie Cassoux
  • , Chrystelle Colas
  • , Manuel Rodrigues
  • , Josselin Noirel
  • , Marc-Henri Stern

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Objective:

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in IRF4 and HERC2 are associated with risk for disomy or monosomy of chromosome 3 (D3 or M3) uveal melanoma (UM), respectively. The aim of this study was to assess the association between germline genetics and UM outcome and the potential use of a derived prognostic signature for UM.

Design:

Cohort study from Institut Curie, Paris (France) and Erasmus University Medical Center, Rotterdam (The Netherlands).

Participants:

Patients diagnosed with UM at Institut Curie (N = 2059) and Erasmus University Medical Center (N =576).

Methods:

Impact of IRF4 and HERC2 SNPs on survival was assessed in a cohort of 1339 patients with UM by Kaplan-Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazard regression. Uveal melanoma subtype-specific risk associations with SNPs and iris color were assessed by generalized linear model regression analyses. Classifier of UM subtypes was trained on 560 patients with UM and validated in 2 independent cohorts.

Main Outcome Measures:

We analyzed risk SNPs in the series of patients with UM in relation to tumor and patient characteristics, including eye color, tumor subtype and diameter, and patient outcomes.

Results:

IRF4 rs12203592-T and HERC2 rs12913832-G SNPs were associated with improved and worsened progression-free-survival and overall survival, respectively, mainly through their association with chromosome 3 status. Associations between IRF4 and HERC2 risk SNPs and D3 or M3 subtypes, respectively, were largely independent of their role in determining iris pigmentation. A genetic classifier showed significant results in predicting chromosome 3 status and survival but did not outperform established clinical prognostic features.

Conclusions:

Our study demonstrates that inherited polymorphisms in IRF4 and HERC2 are independently associated with UM subtype and prognosis, although a SNP-based classifier does not yet outperform the established prognostic model.
Original languageEnglish
Article number100972
Number of pages10
JournalOphthalmology Science
Volume6
Issue number1
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jan 2026

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2025 American Academy of Ophthalmology

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