Inherited genetic variations can alter progression of melanoma, indicates study

Source: News, Medical Life Sciences, May 2020

Sometimes cancer stays put, but often it metastasizes, spreading to new locations in the body. It has long been suspected that genetic mutations arising inside tumor cells drive this potentially devastating turn of events.

Now researchers have shown for the first time that our own pre-existing genetics can promote metastasis.

A new study, published May 25 in Nature Medicine, suggests that differences in a single gene, carried within someone’s genome from birth, can alter progression of melanoma, a type of skin cancer. The researchers suspect these inherited variations may have the same effect on other types of cancer as well.

READ THE ORIGINAL FULL ARTICLE