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. © 2013 The Society for Investigative Dermatology.