Mutant BRAF: A Novel Mediator of Microenvironmental Escape in Melanoma?

The acquisition of mutant BRAF is an important initiating event for melanoma development, although the process by which transformed melanocytes escape from keratinocyte control and disseminate to other organs is not well understood. Boyd et al. (2012) provide evidence that oncogenic BRAF contributes to the microenvironmental escape of melanocytes through the downregulation of E-cadherin expression via the transcriptional suppressor Tbx3