title: BRAF and MC1R in melanoma: different in head and neck tumors?
abstract: In this issue, Hacker et al. (2012) report the largest study to date on the association between MC1R variants and BRAF mutant melanoma. Although they did not observe a significant overall correlation, there was a significant negative association between BRAF and MC1R mutations for head/neck melanomas. This suggests a fundamental difference in pathogenesis between head/neck and truncal melanomas, which could contribute to their divergent prognoses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Emma C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Fink
authors.forename: David E
authors.initials: DE
authors.lastname: Fisher
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D020558:GTP Phosphohydrolases / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000235:genetics*; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D048493:Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf / Q000235:genetics*; D044102:Receptor, Melanocortin, Type 1 / Q000235:genetics*; D012878:Skin Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D000096142:Cutaneous Malignant Melanoma
chemical_list: D008565:Membrane Proteins; D044102:Receptor, Melanocortin, Type 1; C482119:BRAF protein, human; D048493:Proto-Oncogene Proteins B-raf; D020558:GTP Phosphohydrolases; C579846:NRAS protein, human