Link found between gene and melanoma growth

Source: Yale News, March 2016

Yale researchers have identified a link between a gene associated with melanoma and the disease’s growth that may signal an avenue for new treatments.

The researchers found that DNMT3B — a DNA methyltransferase, which is an enzyme essential to mammalian development and associated with several types of tumors — plays a regulatory role in the growth and spread of melanoma. The overexpression of DNA methyltransferases — which can contribute to tumor formation and growth by controlling whether genes are “on” or “off” and end up being expressed — is common in melanoma and other cancers, but little is understood about the role of individual enzymes like DNMT3B. The researchers published their findings early online in the journal Cell Reports on Feb. 25.

If [DNMT3B is] not present in melanoma, the melanomas really don’t grow very much or at all,” said School of Medicine professor and senior author Marcus Bosenberg. “That’s interesting for a couple of reasons. It’s interesting because it tells us about how melanoma works a little bit more than we knew … [and because it] also identifies this gene as a potential target for drug development.”