Melanoma Genes In "Junk"?
It's said that Melanoma genes is found in "junk" DNA. In the article, it describes how two new mutations non-coding DNA is said to occur in 71% of malignant melanomas. This is believed to be the deadliest form of skin cancer. At the Dana-Farber Cancer institute and Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, the researchers there discovered this, reported their discovery in the journal of Science Express. This was published on papers online. This is something to be very aware of. However, does everyone contain this type of DNA? Realistically speaking, the article mentions how approximately 99% of the human genome contained what was once "junk" DNA. This lacks the ability to produce proteins as well. Also, the article mentions that the scientists are starting to discover in the genome are non-coding genes that can control the ways of the protein-coding genes.
In the article written by Catharine Paddock, who obtained her PhD, part of Medical News Today, there claimed to be researchers also in their latest studies that show that there are the first cancer-related mutations to be found in non-coding DNA, though what was thought to be all the cancer genes discovered that had protein-coding ones until now. "This new finding represents an initial foray in the 'dark matter' of the cancer genome," says Senior author Levi Garraway of Dana-Farber in a statement. It's crucial to know this information so doctors can have new information that can possibly lead to a cure for melanoma at sometime. There is also the researchers saying that the TERT promoter mutations are in the stretch of DNA. This DNA is next to a gene that is responsible for creating an enzyme known as telomerase reverse transcriptase, or "TERT", and the function of this enzyme is to increase cell life close to indefinitely. Something to note about the TERT gene is that it's usually overexpressed in cancer cells, which makes them virtually immortal. This type of research can be very vital in our conquest to study and hopefully find a cure for cancer.
From background knowledge, I know that families can be prone to getting melanoma. Heredity is to blame for passing down the defective gene. However, it can also develop from too much UV ray exposure. Thinking back, many diseases originate in the junk DNA. If the junk DNA doesn't code for anything, why does it make up 99% of the human genome? Is there a way to decrease this so that chances of mutations are cut down too? Hopefully, researchers can find a way to do this successfully.
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