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Updated: Oct 26, 2026

In Vivo CRISPR/Cas9 Screening to Simultaneously Evaluate Gene Function in Mouse Skin and Oral Cavity
Published on: November 2, 2020
Leveraging Skin Mutagenesis to Uncover Genetic Cancer Susceptibilities
Abstract:
Identifying inherited cancer predisposition genes remains challenging. We leveraged the skin's high UV-mutagenic burden to discover susceptibility genes by studying patients with high frequency of basal cell carcinomas (hfBCC). We found that hfBCC patients had three-fold higher internal malignancy prevalence and identified a novel candidate EPHB2 cancer susceptibility mutation associated with BCC and prostate cancer. These findings demonstrate the skin's potential as a powerful platform for discovering cancer predisposition variants.
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