Scientists decode key melanoma gene mutations.

Melanoma is the most aggressive form of skin cancer, and in a society where many are focused on baking their skin to a golden brown, melanoma’s incidence is increasing at a faster rate than any other cancer. Unfortunately, melanoma is a difficult cancer to treat, which is largely because the cancer has a high rate of mutation. Researchers at the Nation Institutes of Health (NIH), however, have sequenced and decoded the protein-coding genes of melanoma patients in an effort to discover a pattern. They discovered that the TRAAP gene was repeatedly mutated in the same location, which suggests the gene as key in melanoma development. Scientists can use findings such as these to develop new therapies that target key players in cancer growth and development.