(Press-News.org) BETHESDA, MD – DECEMBER 4, 2012 -- It's common knowledge that excessive UV exposure from sunlight raises your chances for skin cancer, but predicting whether someone will actually develop skin cancer remains difficult. In a new research report, scientists from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) and the University of Wisconsin–Madison show that the risk for skin cancer involves numerous genetic factors including family history, ethnicity, and genetic variations specific to each individual. Using these factors, the researchers developed a more precise model for assessing risk, which is published in the December 2012 issue of the journal Genetics.
"We hope this study will ultimately contribute toward a better understanding of the genetics of complex traits and diseases," said Ana Inés Vázquez, PhD, lead author of the study from UAB's Department of Biostatistics. "Such an understanding is essential for the development of methods that can be used for early and improved prediction of genetic predisposition to diseases."
To make this discovery, the scientists used phenotypic and genetic information from more than 5,000 familial participants in the Framingham Heart Study to develop various models for assessing skin cancer risk. The researchers' most basic risk evaluation model included standard risk factors such as sex. Additional predictive models were developed by adding information on family history, ethnicity, and data from 41,000 genetic markers across the human genome. The predictive power of each model was evaluated, with the best prediction accuracy obtained from models that include all predictive risk factors -- those standard risk factors plus family history, ethnicity and genetic markers.
"Although there is no doubt that sun exposure increases your risk for skin cancer," said Mark Johnston, Editor-in-Chief of the journal Genetics, "it isn't clear how much of a risk it poses to each individual. This new model for assessing risk should prove useful to health care providers and public health officials, who play a crucial role in educating people about preventing skin cancer."
INFORMATION:
CITATION: Ana I. Vazquez, Gustavo de los Campos, Yann C. Klimentidis, Guilherme J. M. Rosa, Daniel Gianola, Nengjun Yi, and David B. Allison
A Comprehensive Genetic Approach for Improving Prediction of Skin Cancer Risk in Humans
Genetics December 2012 192:1493-1502
FUNDING: The authors acknowledge NIH grants R01GM077490, R01GM099992, R01GM101219 the Kraft grant, as well as the Wisconsin Agriculture Experiment Station for their financial support.
ABOUT GENETICS: Since 1916, Genetics has covered high quality, original research on a range of topics bearing on inheritance, including population and evolutionary genetics, complex traits, developmental and behavioral genetics, cellular genetics, gene expression, genome integrity and transmission, and genome and systems biology. Genetics, a peer-reviewed, peer-edited journal of the Genetics Society of America is one of the world's most cited journals in genetics and heredity.
ABOUT GSA: Founded in 1931, the Genetics Society of America (GSA) is the professional membership organization for scientific researchers, educators, bioengineers, bioinformaticians and others interested in the field of genetics. Its nearly 5,000 members work to advance knowledge in the basic mechanisms of inheritance, from the molecular to the population level. The GSA is dedicated to promoting research in genetics and to facilitating communication among geneticists worldwide through its conferences, including the biennial conference on Model Organisms to Human Biology, an interdisciplinary meeting on current and cutting edge topics in genetics research, as well as annual and biennial meetings that focus on the genetics of particular organisms, including C. elegans, Drosophila, fungi, mice, yeast, and zebrafish. GSA publishes Genetics, a leading journal in the field and an online, open-access journal, G3: Genes|Genomes|Genetics. For more information about GSA, please visit www.genetics-gsa.org. Also follow GSA on Facebook at facebook.com/GeneticsGSA and on Twitter @GeneticsGSA.
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Bethesda, MD—December 4, 2012 – Listed below are the selected highlights for the December 2012 issue of the Genetics Society of America's journal, Genetics. The December issue is available online at www.genetics.org/content/current. Please credit Genetics, Vol. 192, December 2012, Copyright © 2012.
Please feel free to forward to colleagues who may be interested in these articles.
ISSUE HIGHLIGHTS
Genetic variation in Saccharomyces cerevisiae: Circuit diversification in a signal transduction network, pp. 1523-1532
Brian L. Chin, Owen Ryan, Fran Lewitter, Charles ...
When we eat too much, obesity may develop as a result of chronically high insulin levels, not the other way around. That's according to new evidence in mice reported in the December 4th Cell Metabolism, a Cell Press publication, which challenges the widespread view that rising insulin is a secondary consequence of obesity and insulin resistance.
The new study helps to solve this chicken-or-the-egg dilemma by showing that animals with persistently lower insulin stay trim even as they indulge themselves on a high-fat, all-you-can-eat buffet. The findings come as some of ...
Emory researchers announced results of a new study that has proven successful in the prevention of depression in people diagnosed with epilepsy.
Depression is one of the most common psychiatric disorders in people with epilepsy. It affects between 32 and 48 percent of people with the disease. Depression is known to have more of an impact on quality of life than frequent seizures.
A team of researchers at the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University led a study that applied a revised version of a web- and phone-based method focused on preventing, rather ...
Arthrobotrys oligospora doesn't live a charmed life; it survives on a diet of roundworm.
But a discovery by a team led by Mingjun Zhang, an associate professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, could give the fungus's life more purpose—as a cancer fighter.
Zhang and his team have discovered that nanoparticles produced by A. oligospora hold promise for stimulating the immune system and killing tumors. The findings are published in this month's edition of Advanced Functional Materials.
Zhang commonly looks to nature for solutions ...
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — The more states spend on home-delivered meals under the Older Americans Act, the more likely they are to help people who don't need nursing home care to stay in their homes, according to a newly published Brown University statistical analysis of a decade of spending and nursing home resident data.
"Despite efforts to rebalance long-term care, there are still many nursing home residents who have the functional capacity to live in a less restrictive environment," wrote gerontology researchers Kali Thomas and Vincent Mor in the article ...
The new generation of bio-based plastic packaging is not only eco-friendly but also has several superior qualities compared to traditional plastic packaging. The plastic packaging industry is moving towards completely bio-based products. The volume of oil used every year in the production of plastics equates to approximately five per cent of the world's total oil consumption. Approximately 40 per cent of all plastics are used in packaging, which puts special pressure on the packaging industry to reduce dependence on oil.
The use of renewable natural resources in industrial ...
Scientists have taken inspiration from one of the oldest natural materials to exploit the extraordinary qualities of graphene, a material set to revolutionise fields from computers and batteries to composite materials.
Published today in Nature Communications, a Monash University study led by Professor Dan Li has established, for the first time, an effective way of forming graphene, which normally exists in very thin layers, into useful three-dimensional forms by mirroring the structure of cork.
Graphene is formed when graphite is broken down into layers one atom thick. ...
"There is a critical need for scientists to address basic questions that have hindered the development of emerging energy resources, including geothermal, wind, solar and natural gas, from underground shale formations," said Mark Zoback, a professor of geophysics at Stanford University. "In this talk we present, from a university perspective, a few examples of fundamental research needs related to improved energy and resource recovery."
Zoback, an authority on shale gas development and hydraulic fracturing, served on the U.S. Secretary of Energy's Committee on Shale Gas ...
A new analysis of topographic and gravity data from Titan, the largest of Saturn's moons, indicates that Titan's icy outer crust is twice as thick as has generally been thought.
Scientists have long suspected that a vast ocean of liquid water lies under the crust. The new study suggests that the internally generated heat that keeps that ocean from freezing solid depends far more on Titan's interactions with Saturn and its other moons than had been suspected.
Howard Zebker, a professor of geophysics and of electrical engineering at Stanford University, will present the ...
Stanford geophysicists are well represented at the meeting of the American Geophysical Union this week in San Francisco. Included among the many presentations will be several studies that relate to predicting – and preparing for – major earthquakes in the Himalaya Mountains and the Pacific Northwest.
The AGU Fall Meeting is the largest worldwide conference in the geophysical sciences, attracting more than 20,000 Earth and space scientists, educators, students, and other leaders. This 45th annual fall meeting is taking place through Dec. 7 at the Moscone Convention Center ...
