Greenoak and Moran are now working on the implications of this discovery with researchers in Boston and at the National Institute of Medical Research in London. The retroviral insertion allows the researchers to locate the hairless gene and find out what it is coding for and this may tell them something about why hairless mice are more susceptible to skin cancer than shaved hairy mice. The reason may be a physical one to do with the development of hair follicles or it may be that the hairless gene causes a deficiency in the production of a protein or secretion that is necessary for the hair to grow. Greenoak postulates that if there is a gene in the hairy mouse that is producing something protective then there may be a possibility of inserting it, using genetic engineering, into farm animals to give them protection. UV irradiation and the resultant skin cancer are a problem with sheep, especially with tail docking when the vulva is exposed to sunlight.
Cattle also get skin cancers and carcinomas of the eye.
The udders of cows and goats are also susceptible. All these problems cause significant economic costs to Australia s agricultural industry as well as suffering to the animals. This question of how valid it is to extrapolate results found in mice to humans is one of the major problems facing those using animal models. We can only guess, that is all we can do. She points out that ability of sunscreens to protect humans from sunburn matches their ability to protect mice from sunburn.