A gene linked to the spread of eye melanoma has been identified by researchers.

The team found mutations in a gene called BAP1 in 84 percent of the metastatic eye tumors they studied. In contrast, the mutation was rare in tumors that did not metastasize.
Metastasis is the most common cause of death in cancer patients, yet little is known about how cancer cells evolve the ability to spread to other parts of the body. There is growing evidence that mutations in so-called metastasis suppressor genes may promote the spread of cancer, while having little to do with earlier stages in the life of a tumor. Very few such genes have been identified, but this finding strongly implicates BAP1 as a new member of that small group.
Ocular melanoma, also called uveal melanoma, is the most common eye cancer and the second-most common form of melanoma, striking about 2,000 adults in the United States each year. It can affect people at any age but is most common in patients over 50. The tumors arise from pigment cells, called melanocytes, that reside in the layer below the retina called the uveal tract. Up to half of those with the cancer eventually develop metastatic disease, which is universally fatal.
In this study, the team looked for differences in genes on chromosome 3 between the cells in class 1 and class 2 tumors. They started with tissue taken from a pair of class 2 tumors.
"We looked for common genetic differences, called polymorphisms, that would unlikely have much of an effect," Bowcock says.
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BAP1 is short for BRCA1-associated protein 1. As it happens, BRCA1 is linked to breast cancer in some women. "It points, possibly, to a common theme in cancer genetics," Bowcock says.
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In a second series of experiments, the researchers found that if they put ocular melanoma cells in culture and depleted their supply of BAP1, the cells began to change in appearance and to resemble class 2 tumors in just five days.
"Now we're trying to knock down BAP1 levels for weeks to months and find out whether we start to see some of the chromosomal changes that are present in class 2 tumors," Harbour says.
The report has been published online in the journal Science Express.
Source-ANI