Gene expression signature of vemurafenib resistance in WM989 and WM983B melanoma cells

Therapies targeting signaling molecules mutated in cancers can often have striking short-term effects, but the emergence of resistant cancer cells is a major barrier to full cures. Resistance can sometimes result from a secondary mutations in rare cells, but other times, there is no clear genetic cause, raising leaving the possibility of non-genetic rare cell variability. Here, we show that melanoma cells can display profound transcriptional variability at the single cell level that predicts which cells will ultimately resist drug treatment. This variability involves semi-coordinated transcription of a number of resistance markers at high levels in a very small percentage of cells. The addition of drug then induces an epigenetic reprogramming in these cells, converting the transient transcriptional state to a stably resistant state. This reprogramming begins withis a progressive process consisting of a loss of SOX10-mediated differentiation followed by activation of new signaling pathways, partially mediated by activity of Jun-AP-1 and TEAD. Our work reveals the multistage nature of the acquisition of drug resistance and provides a framework for understanding resistance dynamics. We find that other cell types also exhibit sporadic expression of many of these same marker genes, suggesting the existence of a general rare-cell expression program.