Do not underestimate nucleotide excision repair: it predicts not only melanoma risk but also survival outcome.

Nucleotide excision repair (NER) removes UV-induced DNA damage and other bulky DNA lesions, thereby maintaining genomic integrity. Dr Qingyi Wei's group demonstrated over the last decade that NER fidelity and single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in NER genes constitute melanoma risk biomarkers. In this issue, Li et al. provide evidence that SNPs in NER genes may also predict melanoma survival.