The majority of human melanomas contain mutations in a gene promoter, suggesting mutations in regulatory regions may spur some cancers.Human metastatic melanoma cellsWIKIMEDIA, NATIONAL CANCER INSTITUTEMutations in the regulatory, or non-coding, regions of the telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) gene—a cancer-associated gene that encodes a component of telomerase, an enzyme known to help protect the ends of chromosomes and support cell longevity—may be at the root of most melanomas, according to two papers published today (January 24) in Science. In both studies, researchers identified mutations that created new binding sites in the TERT promoter for particular transcription factors and resulted in...