Evidence map›Paper›PMID 38942020›Full record

ArticleCell reports. Medicine2024

Monitoring melanoma patients on treatment reveals a distinct macrophage population driving targeted therapy resistance.

Jelena Vasilevska, Phil Fang Cheng, Julia Lehmann, Egle Ramelyte, Julia Martínez Gómez, Florentia Dimitriou, Federica Sella, TuPro Consortium, Daria Ferretti, Adrian Salas-Bastos and 4 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Cell reports. Medicine, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
11citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

11 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Exploratory Analysis of Biomarkers and Treatment Outcomes from the COLUMBUS Study in BRAF V600E/K-Mutant Advanced or Metastatic Melanoma.Clinical cancer research : an official journal of the American Association for Cancer Research · 2026
    Trial
  2. Trial
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Macrophage Plasticity in Cancer Therapy: Function, Timing, and Tradeoffs.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026
    Review
  6. Article
  7. Article
  8. Review
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. CST7Translational cancer research · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

14 authors.

Jelena VasilevskaInstitute of Anatomy, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
Phil Fang ChengDepartment of Dermatology, University of Zurich Hospital and Faculty of Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Julia LehmannInstitute of Anatomy, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
Egle RamelyteDepartment of Dermatology, University of Zurich Hospital and Faculty of Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Julia Martínez GómezDepartment of Dermatology, University of Zurich Hospital and Faculty of Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Florentia DimitriouDepartment of Dermatology, University of Zurich Hospital and Faculty of Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Federica SellaDepartment of Dermatology, University of Zurich Hospital and Faculty of Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
TuPro ConsortiumDepartment of Dermatology, University of Zurich Hospital and Faculty of Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Daria FerrettiInstitute of Anatomy, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
Adrian Salas-BastosInstitute of Anatomy, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
Whitney Shannon JordaanInstitute of Anatomy, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland.
Mitchell Paul LevesqueDepartment of Dermatology, University of Zurich Hospital and Faculty of Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Reinhard DummerDepartment of Dermatology, University of Zurich Hospital and Faculty of Medicine, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
Lukas SommerInstitute of Anatomy, University of Zurich, 8057 Zurich, Switzerland. Electronic address: lukas.sommer@anatomy.uzh.ch.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Resistance to targeted therapy remains a major clinical challenge in melanoma. To uncover resistance mechanisms, we perform single-cell RNA sequencing on fine-needle aspirates from resistant and responding tumors of patients undergoing BRAFi/MEKi treatment. Among the genes most prominently expressed in resistant tumors is POSTN, predicted to signal to a macrophage population associated with targeted therapy resistance (TTR). Accordingly, tumors from patients with fast disease progression after therapy exhibit high POSTN expression levels and high numbers of TTR macrophages. POSTN polarizes human macrophages toward a TTR phenotype and promotes resistance to targeted therapy in a melanoma mouse model, which is associated with a phenotype change in intratumoral macrophages. Finally, polarized TTR macrophages directly protect human melanoma cells from MEKi-induced killing via CD44 receptor expression on melanoma cells. Thus, interfering with the protective activity of TTR macrophages may offer a strategy to overcome resistance to targeted therapy in melanoma.

Indexed as

Drug Resistance, NeoplasmMacrophagesMelanomaAnimalsCell Line, TumorHumansHyaluronan ReceptorsMiceMolecular Targeted TherapyProtein Kinase InhibitorsHyaluronan ReceptorsProtein Kinase InhibitorsCD44 pathwayimmune landscapemelanomaPeriostinresistancesingle-cell transcriptome analysistargeted therapytumor-associated macrophagestumor microenvironment

Identifiers

PMID38942020
PMCPMC11293307

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.