Cancer is thought to arise through the accumulation of genomic aberrations evolving under Darwinian selection.,However, it remains unclear when the aberrations associated with metastasis emerge during tumor evolution.,Uveal melanoma (UM) is the most common primary eye cancer and frequently leads to metastatic death, which is strongly linked to BAP1 mutations.,Accordingly, UM is ideally suited for studying the clonal evolution of metastatic competence.,Here we analyze sequencing data from 151 primary UM samples using a customized bioinformatic pipeline, to improve detection of BAP1 mutations and infer the clonal relationships among genomic aberrations.,Strikingly, we find BAP1 mutations and other canonical genomic aberrations usually arise in an early punctuated burst, followed by neutral evolution extending to the time of clinical detection.,This implies that the metastatic proclivity of UM is “set in stone” early in tumor evolution and may explain why advances in primary treatment have not improved survival.,Uveal melanoma (UM), the most common primary eye cancer, is strongly linked to mutations in the tumor suppressor BAP1.,Here, the authors analyze 151 primary UM samples to find that BAP1 and other canonical genomic aberrations arise in an early punctuated burst followed by neutral tumor evolution.
Thirteen common susceptibility loci have been reproducibly associated with cutaneous malignant melanoma (CMM).,We report the results of an international two-stage meta-analysis of 11 genome-wide association studies (GWAS, five unpublished) of CMM and Stage two datasets, totaling 15,990 cases and 26,409 controls.,Five loci not previously associated with CMM risk reached genome-wide significance (P < 5×10−8) as did two previously-reported but un-replicated loci and all thirteen established loci.,Novel SNPs fall within putative melanocyte regulatory elements, and bioinformatic and eQTL data highlight candidate genes including one involved in telomere biology.