Of the hundreds of genes that can be mutated in a single case of melanoma, only a handful may be true “drivers" of cancer. In research that appeared last week in Nature Genetics, a Weizmann Institute of Science team has now revealed one of the drivers of a particularly deadly subset of melanomas – one that is still seeing a rise in new cases. This gene is a newly identified member of a group of genes called tumor suppressor genes. It is mutated in some 5.4% of melanomas. Furthermore, its expression was found to be lost in over 30% of human melanomas; and this loss, according to the finding, was associated with reduced patient survival. This discovery might open new doors to understanding how this cancer grows and spreads, and it may lead in the future to new directions in treating this disease.
Scientific Publications
Rheumatoid Arthritis Treatment May Raise Second Non-melanoma Skin Cancer Risk
For patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) with prior nonmelanoma skin cancer (NMSC), the risk of second NMSC varies with different treatments, according to a study published in JAMA Dermatology.
Scientific Journals for September & October2015
________________________________________________ DNA methylation subgroups in melanoma are associated with proliferative and immunological processes Martin Lauss1, Markus Ringnér1, Anna Karlsson1, Katja Harbst1, Christian Busch23,Jürgen Geisler234, Per Eystein Lønning235, Johan Staaf1 and Göran Jönsson1* BMC Medical Genomics 2015, 8:73 doi:10.1186/s12920-015-0147-4 Prickett et…
Read More Vitamin B3 can lower risk of skin cancer, researchers find
A simple oral dose of an active form of vitamin B3 may be the secret to stopping people with significant sun damage from developing some forms of skin cancer.
New research from the University of Sydney has found that a high dose of vitamin B derivative nicotinamide can prevent up to a quarter of non-melanoma skin cancers.