TERT copy gain predicts the outcome of high-dose interferon α-2b therapy in acral melanoma

Background Asian populations are more likely to develop acral melanoma (AM) than Caucasians. The high-dose interferon (HD-IFN) α-2b regimen is the main adjuvant treatment for AM. TERT encodes the catalytic subunit of telomerase reverse transcriptase, which plays an important role in melanoma. Frequent TERT mutation and increased TERT gene expression have been described in AM. Our study aimed to investigate the status and the clinical significance of TERT copy number in a large cohort of patients with AM and to analyze the relationship between TERT copy number gain and the efficiency of HD-IFN.