Can predict the risk of cancer through genes that govern skin color

Most people with pale skin, red hair and many freckles know that they should apply a thick layer of sunscreen to avoid skin cancer. A set of three new studies has strengthened this view, but adds that the genes themselves, not the pigment system, can provide a basic indication of who is easy. likely to develop skin cancer after exposure to sunlight.

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Researchers in Iceland and Australia have studied thousands of people with melanoma and other types of skin cancer and have shown a gene that affects skin tone and the ability to get skin cancer in one amount of people.

But heavy sun exposure and pale skin tone may not be the only explanation for genetic association to skin cancer, according to Kari Stefannson, director of DeCODE Genetics in Reykjavik, Iceland. His team has identified a mutation in a gene called ASIP that doubles the risk of skin pigmentation in Icelanders who lack sunshine.

Dermatologists have long known that people born with pale skin and light-colored hair are at increased risk of developing skin cancers, such as melanoma and guessing it is due to having less pigment should be less protected against the effects of ultraviolet rays. Genetic studies reinforce this, for example, the discovery of similar mutations in a gene called MCIR that causes red hair and freckles significantly increases the chance of getting melanoma.

To find more genes that affect skin color and cancer, Stefannson's team reviewed the genomes of tens of thousands of people with blond hair, redness, cancer patients, and healthy people from Iceland, Sweden and Eastern Europe.

His research team found that two mutations in the ASIP gene are closely related to red hair, freckles and sun sensitivity. These mutations also double the ability to develop melanoma, the most dangerous form of skin cancer.

However, the exposure of the sun seems to be only part of the explanation. The MCIR gene is strongly related to white skin and cancer in the Caucasians, but Stefannson's team found it has little impact in the Arctic region.

Jonathan Rees, a skin cancer specialist at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, says any gene that affects the color of the skin will almost certainly play a role in skin cancer. These genes may provide standard indicators of cancer risk.