Mutational profile of skin lesions in hepatocellular carcinoma patients under tyrosine kinase inhibition: a repercussion of a wide-spectrum activity

Background/aim: Dermatological adverse events (DAE) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients treated with sorafenib predicts better outcome. Some turn into skin lesions (SL) requiring pathology examination. We describe incidence, characteristics and molecular profile of SL in HCC patients treated with sorafenib.

Materials and methods: SL were prospectively collected in 311 HCC patients who started sorafenib. SL from sorafenib cohort were compared to those from a control patient group selected to match SL type and demographics. HRAS, KRAS and BRAF mutations were analyzed by CAST-PCR, mutated p53 and MAPK pathway activation by immunohistochemistry and immune infiltration by hematoxylin-eosin staining.

Results: Eighty-eight out of 311 patients developed DAE and 7.4% SL required histological assessment. Most frequent lesions were keratoacanthomas (n = 4), squamous-cell carcinomas (SCC)(n = 5), basal-cell carcinomas (BCC)(n = 3) and seborrheic keratosis (n = 5). HRAS and KRAS mutations were detected in 4 SL, while no mutations showed in control SL. Nuclear pERK immunostaining was identified in 33.3% of cases versus 5.3% of controls. Most SL (90%) from patients with DAE were proliferative with intense immune infiltration (73%).

Conclusions: The onset of SL and their molecular profile did not impact negatively on patient's prognosis, but intense proliferation of SL may reflect compensatory activation of MAPK pathway and warrants their close monitoring.