New study suggests that skin color not the main determinant of skin cancer risk

It is commonly believed that people with dark hair, skin and eyes are less likely to get skin cancer - but a new study by Penn's School of Medicine suggests that neither this darker coloring nor tanning are what determine a person's risk of getting skin cancer.

Led by Epidemiology professor Peter Kanetsky, the study found that a particular gene can raise the risk of melanoma, - one of the rare and deadly types of skin cancer - not a person's skin color.

"Melanoma, while only accounting for a small proportion of total skin cancers, can be lethal if not detected at an early stage," Kanetsky wrote in an e-mail. "Determining who is at elevated risk for developing melanoma can help in the global fight against this cancer."

Kanetsky explained that research over the past decade has shown that inherited variation in the melanocortin 1 receptor gene (MC1R) is a robust marker of risk for melanoma.

He added that in certain publications, there have been indications that the observed association between MC1R and melanoma was stronger in those with darker skin.

For this study, Kanetsky's team enrolled melanoma patients from the Pigmented Lesion Clinic at the University of Pennsylvania. Each individual completed a brief questionnaire about their pigmentation characteristics, sun exposure, and family history of melanoma.

Subjects also received a skin examination and gave a cheek swab sample to help researchers examine their DNA. As a comparison group, the team enrolled people close to the patients, such as spouses or partners. Controls completed the same study components as the cases.

Then Kanetsky's team compared the results to see whether the prevalence of specific measures - for example, hair color or gene variants - was different between the groups.

Kanetsky's team confirmed that measured associations of the gene and melanoma were stronger or limited to persons with darker hair, darker eyes, little or no freckling, who tanned well after exposure to repeated sunlight, who did not burn after exposure to strong sunlight, and who reported few painful sunburns, regardless of what measures they looked at.

Though genes largely contribute to melanoma, there are still ways to prevent the disease in advance, Kanetsky said.

"For persons at increased risk, better prevention and early-detection measures such as altering sun seeking behaviors and implementing skin-self examination or ritual visits to a clinician can be adapted," he wrote.

The study was funded by the National Cancer Institute.

He said he hopes the study's results will help make more people aware of their high risks for melanoma.

"We are hoping that the findings from this study can help better identify individuals who are at high risk for melanoma from among those who might be considered at lower risk for melanoma," Kanetsky wrote in an e-mail.

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