{"entity":{"id":"paper-curtin-kit-melanoma-jco-2006","kind":"paper","name":"Somatic activation of KIT in distinct subtypes of melanoma","aka":[],"tldr":"This study found KIT mutations and amplifications in a substantial minority of mucosal, acral and chronically sun-damaged skin melanomas but almost never in ordinary skin melanoma, identifying a targetable driver for these rarer subtypes.","summary":"Analysis of 102 primary melanomas from mucosal, acral, chronically sun-damaged and non-sun-damaged sites for KIT copy number and mutations, finding KIT alterations in 39 percent of mucosal, 36 percent of acral and 28 percent of chronically sun-damaged melanomas, and none in non-sun-damaged skin melanomas.","asOf":"2026-09-17","links":[{"label":"J Clin Oncol 2006","url":"https://doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2006.06.2984"},{"label":"PubMed","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16908931/"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":["mucosal-melanoma","acral-melanoma"],"sections":[],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":[],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":["jco"],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"journal":"Journal of Clinical Oncology","year":2006,"doi":"10.1200/JCO.2006.06.2984","pmid":"16908931","authors":"Curtin JA, Busam K, Pinkel D, et al.","paperType":"translational","findings":["KIT aberrations in 39 percent of mucosal, 36 percent of acral and 28 percent of chronically sun-damaged melanomas.","Absent in melanomas on skin without chronic sun damage."],"whatItMeans":"KIT joined BRAF and NRAS as a melanoma driver and became the rationale for imatinib and nilotinib in mucosal and acral melanoma.","caveats":["Later series found lower mutation frequencies (about 10 to 15 percent) in mucosal and acral melanoma."],"changedPractice":true,"participants":102},"route":"/key-papers/paper-curtin-kit-melanoma-jco-2006/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"acral-melanoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Acral melanoma","route":"/cancers/acral-melanoma/"},{"id":"mucosal-melanoma","kind":"cancer","name":"Mucosal melanoma","route":"/cancers/mucosal-melanoma/"}],"journal":[{"id":"jco","kind":"journal","name":"Journal of Clinical Oncology","route":"/journals/jco/"}]}}