Researchers Map Melanoma Damage.

• Position: SKIN CANCER

A critical link in mapping recurrent mutations of melanoma--the most-serious form of skin cancer in humans--has been discovered by researchers at Washington State University, Pullman, in collaboration with researchers at Georgia State University, Atlanta.

Researchers established that DNA binding by a specific set of transcription factors, called ETS, is inherently mutagenic in UV-exposed cells. With new genome mapping technology, these findings provide a crucial understanding of mutations that result at ETS binding sites located in specific genes that are known to be drivers in the onset of melanoma in humans.

Moreover, researchers have developed a next-generation sequencing-based technology that allows them to map precisely the locations of UV-induced DNA damage throughout the entire human genome. Using this advanced technology, they generated a high-resolution UV damage map in human...