MITF, New Skin Cancer Gene

At the height of a hot, sunny California summer the year before my freshman year of high school, I read something about skin cancer that inspired me. I wrote a letter to our local newspaper expounding the importance of sun protection.

Sun protection via sun screen and protective clothing is still the number one way to prevent skin cancer, but some people are so sensitive that even missing a small spot starts them on the road to developing skin cancer. Researchers have identified a cancer gene (oncogene), MITF, that appears an abnormal number of times in metastatic melanoma cells. (BBC News, July 10, 2005)

Metastatic melanoma is skin cancer that spreads (metastasizes) to other areas of the body. Four percent of the more than one million cases of skin cancer is melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. According to The Cleveland Clinic, one person dies of melanoma every hour in the U.S.

In addition to an increased copy of MITF, other genetic abnormalities were found in patients with malignant melanoma – mutation in the BRAF oncogene, and silencing of the p16 gene. A tumor suppressor gene, p16 usually controls the rate at which normal cells divide into more cells. In cancerous cells, however, its function is turned off and the cells proliferate uncontrollably.

Scientists hope that identifying more cancer-causing genes will lead to better treatment. For example, therapy could involve stopping the excess replication of the MITF gene or blocking MITF protein. In addition, knowing that MITF may act in concert with BRAF and/or p16, combination therapies may be even more effective.

My letter to the editor about skin cancer prevention was never published. But now I have the opportunity via this blog to remind everyone to slather it on and cover it up*.

*Within reason, of course, sunlight is still important to our health in many ways, including the manufacture of vitamin D.

One woman’s struggle with metastatic melanoma: teb’s page