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Scientists Identify Gene That Strongly Affects Risk for Most Common Form of Melanoma
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Brief Description:
In a recent study, researchers at the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health have identified an inherited gene that strongly affects the risk for developing the most common form of melanoma, a potentially deadly form of skin cancer.
Transcript:
Thornton: In a recent study, researchers at the National Cancer Institute at the National Institutes of Health have identified an inherited gene that strongly affects the risk for developing the most common form of melanoma, a potentially deadly form of skin cancer. Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni, Director of the National Institutes of Health, said knowing who is at a greater risk for melanoma due to heredity and understanding the pathways leading to cancer are important steps in addressing a disease which is expected to be diagnosed in over 62-thousand Americans this year. Dr. Maria Teresa Landi, lead investigator of the study said that, typically, fair-skinned people have a greater risk for developing melanoma.
Landi: More ultraviolet radiation from sunlight exposure reaches them deeply into the skin because their pigment, there melanin cannot filter well the ultraviolet radiation. So when the radiation enters into the cell it can indirectly or directly damage the genetic material, the DNA of the cell and when the DNA is damaged cancer may develop.
Thornton: Yet, Dr. Landi said, the study showed that subjects who inherit one or two variant forms of a gene called the melanocortin-1 receptor had a modest increase in risk of developing melanoma, even if they had darker skin pigmentation. She said that the gene, called MC1R for short, dramatically predisposes people with no excessive sun exposure and varied pigments to developing melanoma. The information appeared in the online version of Science on June 29, 2006. For more info about the study, log on to www.cancer.gov. From the National Institutes of Health, I’m Matt Thornton in Bethesda, Maryland.
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| Date: 07/07/2006 |
Reporter:
Matt Thornton |
Sound Bite:
Dr. Maria Teresa Landi |
Topic:
Melanoma |
| Institute(s): NCI |
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