THE first genome-wide search for genes involved in cancer has scored an early triumph. It has revealed that mutations in a single gene are to blame for most malignant melanomas, the deadliest form of skin cancer.
“The most exciting thing about this discovery is that it could be a direct lead to new treatments,” says Mike Stratton, co-director of the Cancer Genome Project at the Sanger Institute in Cambridge. The project was set up in 2000 and so far researchers have analysed only 1 per cent of the estimated 30,000 human genes, comparing their sequences in cancerous and healthy cells. But they’ve already discovered that the…
