Scientists find the gene that lets melanoma cells become immortal
University of Pittsburgh researchers, writing in the journal Science, identified a gene called TPP1 as the long missing piece behind melanoma's ability to keep dividing. When mutated, it works with the known TERT gene to build the extra long telomeres that let tumor cells escape
Melanoma is the deadliest form of skin cancer, and one of its defining tricks is near limitless cell division. Researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, reporting in the journal Science, say they have identified the genetic piece that makes this possible: a gene called TPP1. Mutations in its control region, hiding in plain sight, closely resemble changes already known in the TERT gene. On their own each does little, but together they push tumor cells to build unusually long telomeres, the protective caps on chromosome ends. Because normal cells lose a little of that cap with every division and eventually stop, keeping telomeres long is how cancer cells keep dividing without limit. Finding the missing factor hands researchers a fresh target: a therapy that blocks how melanoma maintains its telomeres could strip the cancer of a core survival strategy. The next step is testing whether that vulnerability holds up in the lab.