The exact players and mechanisms that enable a tumor to activate the tumor microenvironment are not completely understood, but it is well known that melanoma cells engineered to express the BRAF-mutated form, BRAFV600E, expressed higher levels of the secreted proteins, IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8 and MMP-1, than wild-type cellular counterparts.61 This evidence concerns the gene MMP1 and melanoma.