Key to why melanoma is so potent

Scientists have discovered why a form of skin cancer called melanoma can be so malignant.

If not caught early the disease can spread through the body with an efficiency few other tumours possess.

Latest research suggests that, unlike other cancer cells, melanoma does not have to learn how to spread - it has that ability innately.

Lead researcher Professor Robert Weinberg said: "Other cancers need to learn how to spread, but not melanoma.

Researchers have wondered why melanoma in particular is able to do this not only more efficiently than other cancers, but at a far earlier stage.

The latest study shows that as melanocytes - cells that protect the skin from sun damage by producing pigmentation - morph into cancer cells, they immediately reawaken a dormant cellular process that lets them travel swiftly throughout the body.