epigenetic changes still cause sufficient damage to cells. When SYK silencing is coupled with other alterations, both genetically and epigenetically, cancer can form. Role of histone modification in melanoma Histone modifications play a large role in epigenetics because of their widely varied methods of occurrence and affect. Modifications to histones come about in many forms, with many still not being clearly understood. Methylation, acetylation, phosphorylation, and ubiquitination are the main categories of histone modification, with combinations of changes resulting in a range of genetic expression. Histone methylation generally causes genes to turn off. Methylation of histones is also important for maintaining heterochromatin boundaries and a misregulation can lead to over expression or under expression of genes. This over expression or under expression can lead to the formation of cancer cells within an organism. On the other end of the spectrum, demethylation causes genes to turn on. This activation can be just as detrimental to cells, as their processes are disrupted by unnecessary gene products. Most histone methylation occurs in the promoter region, and is similar to cytosine methylation in process and function. Histone acetylation is generally associated with transcription activation, which can cause certain proteins to be coded for and expressed when they shouldn't be. This can potentially lead to cancer. Conversely, deacetylation of genes causes transcription to be inhibited, shutting down important biological processes within the cell. In melanoma, Ku70 and Ku86 genes involved in DNA repair, were found to be inactivated when a histone deacetylase, or HDAC, was exposed to the gene (Munshi et al., 2005). Histone phosphorylation is the process by which a phosphate group is added to histone tails. This process drastically changes histone structure and shape. It has been discovered that phosphorylation causes post translational changes, with binding domains having been found, in addition to regulations in DNA repair, transcription regulation, and chromatin condensation. One of the major phosphorylations in DNA repair is the H2AX location. When H2AX is phosphorylated, it spreads throughout the DNA break and is thought to recruit acetyltransferases to relax the DNA and allow repair proteins to access the damaged portion (Rossetto et al., 2012). Phosphorylation of histones begins the process of DNA repair, and it is important for signaling other processes to begin, including cell division . H2AX is an indicator of melanoma because of its high correlation to chromosomal instability (Warters et al., 2005). When high levels of H2AX