Dr Sriramareddy on the Relationship Between Uveal Melanoma and the Liver Metastases

Sathya Neelature Sriramareddy, MD, PhD, postdoctoral fellow, Moffitt Cancer Center, discusses how the interaction between uveal melanoma cells and the liver microenvironment could influence metastasis growth and therapeutic response.

A preclinical study presented at the 2023 AACR Annual Meeting utilized mouse models to evaluate the communication between uveal melanoma cells and liver metastases. Sriramareddy and colleagues concluded that the bidirectional communication between liver cells and uveal melanoma cells induces angiogenic pathways, leading to vascular network formation and tumor progression in the liver.

Following the development of liver metastases in mice, the uveal melanoma tumors were subsequently removed. Examination showed that targeted therapies, such as MEK inhibition, did not lead to the complete death of these tumor cells, Sriramareddy begins.

Findings also showed that there was cross communication between uveal melanoma cells and liver cells, which secreted growth factors. Growth factors including FGF2 and GDF15 are important for the growth of uveal melanoma cells, and they were being provided in cross communication with liver cells, Sriramareddy explains. GDF15 is involved in stemness of cells, which affects the development of metastatic disease and drug resistance, Sriramareddy continues.

Further research into these types of growth factors could help lead to the development of targeted therapies that could disrupt the spread of metastatic disease, Sriramareddy concludes.