Melanoma, the most aggressive form of skin cancer, is caused by either excessive sun exposure or an inherited genetic mutation -- or both. There has been reams of research in the last ten years about the various genetic mutations that contribute to, are associated with, or are the result of the development of melanoma.
A veritable alphabet soup of such genes has been discovered so far: CDKN2A, MC1R, MDM2, BRAF, P16, EGF, FAS. New research just published in the medical journal Nature Genetics has added another gene to the list: ERBB4. What's especially exciting about these results is that this mutation is the target of an already-approved drug called lapatinib (or Tykerb), which is used to treat breast and other cancers. The potential is there to effectively treat the 19% of people with this mutation. . . if the drug gets through the ridiculously long (10+ years) and expensive (up to $900 million) clinical trial process, that is.
Although research in this complicated area is still in its infancy, hopes are high that in the near future, genetic tests for mutations like ERBB4 will help guide melanoma screening, diagnosis and treatment. Thus would dawn the long-awaited age of "personalized medicine."
