Melanoma Brain Metastases Have Ribosomal Protein-Based Signature

Source: Inside Precision Medicine, March 2023

A gene signature for ribosomal protein large/small subunits (RPL/RPS) has been linked to circulating tumor cells (CTCs) that cause brain metastasis in melanoma, the most aggressive and lethal skin cancer. Brain metastases are a common and devastating effect of this type of malignancy, although it also spreads to other organs, such as the lungs and liver.

Besides shedding light on how this cancer spreads to the brain, this finding, from University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center, could lead to better understanding of metastasis in general, and offer new targets for drugs that could slow or halt this process, first author Dario Marchetti told Inside Precision Medicine. One report says that over 10% to 26% of all patients who die from their cancer will develop brain metastases.

“Brain metastases are increasing,” Marchetti pointed out. “As tumor cells become resistant to therapy, they are more common. They come back and colonize the organs.”
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