More than exposure to sun, family history or inherited genes play a larger role in the risk of developing melanoma -- skin cancer -- than previously thought, finds a study on Wednesday.
Researchers from Cleveland Clinic in
the US noted that genetic screens to assess risk factors for patients with a
family history of melanoma are rare as previous, limited studies showed that
only 2-2.5 per cent of all cases are genetic.
Up to 15 per cent (1 in 7) of
patients who received melanoma diagnoses between 2017 and 2020 showed mutations
in cancer susceptibility genes, revealed their results, published in the
Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.
Joshua Arbesman from the Clinic said
that genetic testing can help physicians to "proactively identify, screen
and even treat the families" with inherited genes.
He urged physicians and insurance
companies "to expand their criteria when it comes to offering genetic
testing to individuals with family histories of melanoma".
It is "because inherited
predisposition to it isn't nearly as rare as we think it is", he added.
The findings also support an
increasingly popular opinion amongst cancer biologists: there are risk factors
beyond sun exposure that can influence an individual's chances of developing
melanoma.
"Not all of my patients had
inherited mutations that made them more susceptible to the sun," Joshua
said.
"There's clearly something more
going on here and more research is needed," he said.
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