Thymine DNA Glycosylase as a novel target for melanoma: effect of TDG silencing on gene expression in SK-mel-28 melanoma cells

Melanoma is an aggressive neoplasm with increasing incidence that is classified by the NCI as a recalcitrant cancer, i.e., a cancer with poor prognosis, lacking progress in diagnosis and treatment. In addition to conventional therapy, melanoma treatment is currently based on targeting the BRAF/MEK/ERK signaling pathway and immune checkpoints. As drug resistance remains a major obstacle to treatment success, advanced therapeutic approaches based on novel targets are still urgently needed. We reasoned that the base excision repair enzyme Thymine DNA Glycosylase (TDG) could be such a target for its dual role in safeguarding the genome and the epigenome, by performing the last of the multiple steps in DNA demethylation. Six samples : cells treated with shTDG and cells treated with shControl both in triplicates.