Isn't science grand? This will be a new hope for suffers of this disease. Below the discovery report is an explanation of the disease.
If this leads to better treatments it is definately good news, especially for light skinned people like me who also got many severe sunburns as a child.
While it is easily treated in its earliest stages, if the cancer has spread this type doesn't then respond very well at all to treatment so this development is definitely needed.
Melanoma is a dreadful killer, and seems so benign when you first find out you have "a little" of it. However, if unrecognized and left untreated, it moves fast and can be so devastating. I worked for a man who actually had melanoma from the skin of his skull metastasize into his lungs!
My first husband and several members of his family had quite a lot of trouble with small skin cancers -- little lesions, the size of a dime or smaller, would appear in different areas that were exposed to sunlight a lot. For instance, his arms, ears, face, neck, etc. Usually, the cure was to remove the patch of skin with the lesion and then treat with topical medications. I recall his aunt who came to holiday dinners with us quite often showed up with bandages on her face (she was an avid golfer and spent many hours in the sun).
It is fantastic to hear that they have identified genetic "footprints" to follow toward a cure -- or at least better treatment!
Roz