Promising target for the development of novel drugs
With the X-ray vision of DESY's light source DORIS, a
research team from Hamburg and Iceland has uncovered the molecular structure of
a master regulator central to the most deadly form of skin cancer, melanoma.
The results, published in the scientific journal "Genes &
Development", throw new light on the workings of the so-called
Microphthalmia-associated Transcription Factor MITF, that is not only connected
to skin cancer, but also to a variety of hereditary diseases where the
production of the skin pigment melanin is disturbed, and to certain aspects of
ageing. "Our data could provide a rational basis for the development of
tailor-made drugs targeting MITF", explains first author Vivian Pogenberg
from the Hamburg branch of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL).