A team of scientists from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine has found the missing puzzle piece in the mystery of how melanoma tumors control their mortality. In a paper published in Science, they describe how they identified the specific genetic changes that allow tumors to grow rap
Melanoma is a type of skin cancer that develops in the cells that produce pigment in the skin. It is a more aggressive form of skin cancer and can spread to other parts of the body if not detected and treated early.
Jonathan Alder, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Division of Pulmonary, Allergy and Critical Care Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. Credit: University of Pittsburgh “There’s some special link between melanoma and telomere maintenance,” said Alder. “For a melanocyte to transform into cancer, one of the biggest hurdles is to immortalize itself. Once it can do that, it’s well on its way to cancer.”
With a background in cancer biology and a new interest in telomeres, Pattra Chun-on, M.D., an internist earning her Ph.D. in Alder’s lab, was determined to find the missing link between melanoma, TERT promoter mutations, and long telomeres. While combing through cancer mutation databases, Alder’s lab team had previously discovered a region in a telomere-binding protein called TPP1, which was often mutated in melanoma tumors.
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