A study by the UJI identifies the main genes involved in solar sensitivity and risk of skin cancer



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## A study by the UJI identifies the main genes involved in solar sensitivity and risk of skin cancer Melanogén research group has analysed cutaneous sensitivity to ultraviolet radiation in the Spanish population and has detected important genetic differences with northern Europe

01/11/2018 |
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A research developed in the Faculty of Health Sciences of the Universitat Jaume I (UJI) has identified the genes responsible for solar sensitivity and vulnerability to skin cancer. The research group Genetics of Skin Cancer and Human Pigmentation (Melanogén) has analysed the cutaneous response to sun and the ability to tan, and has detected genetic variants different from the northern populations of Europe. Conclusions of this work have been published in the journal *Photodermatology, Photoimmunology & Photomedicine*.

The work directed by the researchers Conrado Martínez-Cadenas and Bárbara Hernando has studied, through genetic techniques, the genes related to the cutaneous response to sun exposure in Spain, with the aim of knowing in depth the genetic determinants that can favour a bad response from the skin to ultraviolet radiation. The UJI study analysed eight genetic variants related to pigmentation and solar sensitivity in saliva samples of 456 Spanish volunteers, 184 of whom were highly vulnerable to sunburn, an indication of skin cell damage.

Melanogén researchers point out that the four genes that have a significant role in skin sensitivity to the sun in the Spanish population are these four: MC1R, IRF4, HERC2 and SLC45A2. Conrado Martínez-Cadenas explains: “We know that there is a genetic predisposition to suffer sunburn. The cutaneous response to the sun and the ability to tan are mainly related to a type of genetic variants in the MC1R gene, the R variants. These make the gene not work well and synthesize pheomelanin, instead of eumelanin, which makes people have lighter skin, blond or red hair and freckles”. However, this study indicates that “the synergistic combination of several variants that determine solar sensitivity results in an extra risk or a larger phenotype”, says the genetics professor. Thus, “having protective variants in our genome can attenuate the negative effect of the R variants of the MC1R gene”, concludes Bárbara Hernando. The professors of the UJI remind that prevention and early detection, as well as a special surveillance of the population with more susceptibility to developing skin cancer, are key in the cure of skin cancer.

Genetic variants associated with skin photosensitivity in a southern European population from Spain. Hernando B, Sanz-Page E, Pitarch G, Mahiques L, Valcuende-Cavero F, Martinez-Cadenas C. Photodermatol Photoimmunol Photomed. 2018 Jul 5. doi:10.1111/phpp.12412.

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