Sleep link for skin genes
Monday October 10th, 2011
British and European researchers have made a major breakthrough in the search for genetic causes of the deadliest skin cancer, melanoma, it was announced last night.
Together
three newly discovered gene faults increase the risk of developing the
cancer by 30 per cent, researchers said.
The genes highlight new factors involved in development of the cancer - as they are not related to hair, skin or eye colour nor to factors leading to the development of moles on the skin.
One of the faults is in the same region of a gene called MX2 as has been linked to the sleep condition narcolepsy. The second is in the ATM gene involved in DNA repair and the third in the CASP8 gene, which controls cell spread.
The findings, reported in Nature Genetics, come from a study of nearly 3,000 Europeans with melanoma. Scientists at Leeds University, UK, worked with researchers from the Hospital Clínic of Barcelona, Spain, on the project.
Researcher Professor Tim Bishop, of Leeds University, said: "We know that overexposure to ultra-violet light increases the risk of developing melanoma – but this evidence shows that there are new additional genetic faults which can push up the risk further.
"It is fascinating to discover these new melanoma risk factors – and we expect that the results of similar studies under way will reveal even more."
Genome-wide association study identifies three new melanoma susceptibility loci. Barrett et al. Nature Genetics. October 9 2011 doi:10.1038/10.1038/ng.959
Tags: Cancer | Dermatology | Europe | Genetics | UK News
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