DNA Analysis Might Reveal Melanoma Risk

Source: U. S. News, October 2020

DNA mutations in skin cells may signal a risk for melanoma long before it’s visible to the eye, a new study suggests.

Exposure to sun damages skin and DNA, and this damage can be measured. Using a new method for analyzing DNA harm, researchers say they can estimate the risk of developing melanoma.

“It turns out that a multitude of individual cells in so-called normal skin are riddled with mutations associated with melanoma, which are a result of sun exposure," said researcher A. Hunter Shain, an assistant professor in the department of dermatology at the University of California, San Francisco.

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