Abstract Treatment resistance and metastases occur in 10–20% of patients with invasive lobular carcinoma (ILC), the most common special histological subtype of breast cancer. ILC metastasizes to the ovary more frequently than no special type (NST) tumors, also known as invasive ductal carcinoma (IDC). To characterize the genomic landscape of breast cancer ovarian metastases, we analyzed 15,613 local breast cancers, 22,010 non-ovarian metastases, and 246 ovarian metastases sequenced using FoundationOne®CDx or FoundationOne® assays. Ovarian metastases had enriched CDH1 , PIK3CA , and TBX3 mutations and depleted TP53 and MYC alterations relative to local breast cancers, with additional depletion of ESR1 mutations compared to non-ovarian metastases. CDH1 mutations were less frequent in ovarian metastases (47%) than local ILC (81.3%), with reduced 16q loss (64% vs 84%), indicating that ovarian metastases also arise from non-ILC tumors. We extended these findings to a UPMC cohort of 27 ovarian metastases (13 ILC, 8 IDC, 6 mixed ductal-lobular carcinoma) with patient-matched primary tumors in most cases. In both cohorts, patients with ovarian metastases were significantly younger than those with other metastatic sites. In the UPMC cohort, the most frequent mutations were in PIK3CA , CDH1 , KMT2C , FOXA1 , and RUNX1 . Transcriptomic analysis identified upregulated G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) pathways, including metabotropic glutamate receptor signaling. Functional studies showed that calcium-sensing receptor (CaSR), a GPCR overexpressed in ovarian metastases, drives MEK/ERK-dependent migration and F-actin reorganization in ILC cell lines, enhanced by estrogen and blocked by calcilytic, MEK, or anti- estrogen treatment. Our findings inform future therapeutic targeting of ovarian metastasis.
Landscape of reversion alterations in homologous recombination genes reveals evolutionary constraints
ABSTRACT Reversion mutations (REVs) restore homologous recombination repair (HRR) and confer resistance to PARP inhibitors (PARPi) in HR-deficient cancers. Yet, their prevalence, mechanisms, and biological constraints remain undefined. We analyzed genomic profiling of 609,464 tissue and liquid biopsy samples across multiple cancer types to delineate the pan-cancer landscape of REVs. REVs were identified in eight HRR genes, most frequently BRCA2 and BRCA1 and notably never in ATM or CHEK2 . REVs exclusively impacted truncating pathogenic variants, predominantly through large in-frame and exon-level deletions, associated with repetitive sequences. Conserved functional domains are relatively depleted of REVs. Structural modeling and functional studies support that exon-level deletions preserve critical domain architecture and confer PARPi resistance. The study establishes HRR reversion as a structurally permissive, yet evolutionarily constrained, resistance mechanism with implications on response, monitoring, and therapeutic strategy. One Sentence Summary Homologous recombination reversion evolves through structurally tolerated, microhomology-driven alterations that restore DNA repair under therapeutic selection across cancers.