Identification of Sets of Cytoskeletal Related and Adhesion-related Coding Region Mutations in the TCGA Melanoma Dataset that Correlate with a Negative Outcome

Background: Relatively little cancer genome atlas data has been associated with clinically relevant stratifications of individual cancers. Results: Mutations in two subsets of a cytoskeletal related and adhesion-related protein coding region set (CAPCRs) were determined to have strong associations with a negative outcome for melanoma, including a subset constituted by: DSCAM, FAT3, MUC17 and PCDHGC5 (p < 0.0001). Conclusion: Roles for CAPCR mutations in cancer progression raise a question about the potential dominant negative impact of these mutations for multi-meric subcellular and extra-cellular protein structures.