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Researchers at Washington State University School of Molecular Biosciences, in collaboration with researchers at Georgia State University have discovered a critical link in mapping recurrent mutations of melanoma. DNA binding by a specific set of transcription factors- ETS, is inherently mutagenic in UV-exposed cells.
New genome mapping technology provides 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. Researchers have developed a next-generation sequencing-based technology that allows them to precisely map the locations of UV-induced DNA damage throughout the whole human genome. Using this advanced technology, they generated a high-resolution UV damage map in human cells.
By correlating the UV damage map with melanoma mutations, they discovered significantly elevated UV damage levels at ETS binding sites, which massively increased mutation rates at the same sites in sequenced melanoma genomes. Ultraviolet UV-induced DNA damage is the major risk factor for melanoma, DNA repair is a vital line of defense against DNA damage to prevent mutations and cancer.