Some cancer-associated genetic changes are not easily detected with standard technologies. Researchers have now found mutations linked to melanoma using RNA sequencing.
Levi Garraway of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Massachusetts, and his colleagues used a high-speed sequencing technology to sequence RNA from ten patients' melanoma samples. They identified 11 abnormal RNAs resulting from genes that had fused in the genome — the first reported gene fusions for melanoma. They also found 12 instances in which two separate genes were transcribed, or 'read', together to produce a mutated RNA, seven of which occurred in more than one sample. In addition, the researchers confirmed previous findings that melanoma has a higher mutation rate than other cancers, reflecting DNA damage caused by exposure to ultraviolet light.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cancer genomics: Melanoma's mutations. Nature 464, 145 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/464145b
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/464145b