Skin and Connective Tissue Diseases Commons^™

Defining The Role Of Nras In Melanoma Maintenance, Sravya T. Challa, Sheri L. Holmen

Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)

The incidence of melanoma has increased 600 percent over the last four decades; it is the most rapidly increasing malignancy among young people in the United States and is currently the leading cause of cancer death in women aged 25- 29. If detected early, the disease is easily treated; however, once the disease has metastasized it is largely refractory to conventional therapies and is associated with a high mortality rate. The development of cancer from a pre-malignant primary tumor to a metastatic cancer that develops at secondary sites is a multi-step process, thought to require many genetic and epigenetic events …