IRISH scientists have made a DNA breakthrough that could help those fighting skin cancer to survive the disease.
An international research collaboration led by University College Dublin and Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute in Barcelona, has identified a set of biomarkers that may help doctors to treat people more successfully.
The study has also identified what makes tumours develop and progress in cutaneous melanoma - the most common and life-threatening form of skin cancer, particularly in men over 55 years and women of all ages.
There are presently limited tools available to doctors to pinpoint what stage of skin cancer a patient might be at when first diagnosed.
Often diagnosis is based on things such as the thickness of the tumour.
This latest study, however, involved a comprehensive mapping of DNA at three distinct stages of this type of skin cancer - from benign nevi to malignant melanoma to metastatic melanoma.
It will potentially allow doctors to create tailor-made treatments for those battling the disease.
“This research highlights that this type of comprehensive, genome-wide DNA methylation mapping can provide insight to the transformation and aggressiveness of tumour cells,” said Professor William Gallagher, UCD Professor of Cancer Biology.
Describing the significance of this study, he added: “It has allowed us to identify a DNA methylation signature associated with patient survival and we are excited by the potential clinical utility of these biomarkers.
Dr Jasper Wouters, first author of the study, said: “In this epigenomic melanoma study, we establish novel biomarkers to identify patients with good prognosis that do not necessarily need to undergo aggressive and expensive therapies.
"Importantly, some of these biomarkers can potentially be assessed non-invasively, using cell-free DNA in the serum of patients.”
The study, published in the Journal BMC Medicine, is available here.
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