Variations in the BRAF Gene Linked to Melanoma Risk

Cancer researchers in Germany have identified a variable gene that in men is associated with an increased risk of developing skin cancer, specifically melanoma.

Investigators at Tuebingen University Hospital (Germany) obtained blood samples from 450 healthy volunteers and from 500 melanoma patients. The samples were screened for genetic variation across more than 25,000 sites. Results of the study, published in the November 2003 issue of the Journal of Carcinogenesis, revealed that the BRAF gene, which encodes a protein involved in cell growth and multiplication, was found more often in men with melanoma than in the general population or in women with melanoma.

Since men have a one in 58 chance and women a one in 82 chance of developing malignant melanoma during their lifetime, it was postulated that BRAF may be one explanation of why males have an increased lifetime incidence of melanoma compared to females.

Senior author Professor Claus Garbe from Tuebingen University Hospital explained, "Moles are a major risk factor for the development of malignant melanoma. BRAF mutations occur in the majority of melanomas but also in moles. We are therefore interested in addressing the question of whether carrying certain variants of the BRAF gene could predispose people to having or developing more moles, and thus to an increased risk of developing melanoma.”





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