Researchers at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridge, UK, have sequenced the genomes of malignant melanoma and lung cancer. Their results, published in the journal Nature , offer insight into the interaction between DNA mutation and repair mechanisms that occur as the disease progresses.
All cancer cells carry genetic mutations that are not inherited but accumulate as the cell progresses to disease. The scientists, led by Mike Stratton, sequenced the genome of a melanoma cell line that was originally derived from the tumor of a 43-year-old man in order to gain a better understanding of the mutations associated with this type of skin cancer. . According to the researchers, many of the mutations identified carry the characteristics of DNA damage produced as a result of exposure to ultraviolet light, a known risk factor for melanoma.
In a second investigation, the same team of scientists sequenced the genome of a lung cancer cell line. The analysis suggests that a typical smoker acquires one mutation for every 15 cigarettes smoked .
In both studies, the scientists found evidence that DNA repair mechanisms had been working, but were ultimately unsuccessful.
