Premium
Melanocortin 1 receptor variants, pigmentation, and skin cancer susceptibility
Author(s) -
Healy Eugene
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
photodermatology, photoimmunology and photomedicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.736
H-Index - 60
eISSN - 1600-0781
pISSN - 0905-4383
DOI - 10.1111/j.1600-0781.2004.00132.x
Subject(s) - melanocortin 1 receptor , melanocortin , melanocortin 3 receptor , skin cancer , biology , receptor , cancer , genetics , medicine , melanocortin receptor , phenotype , gene
The melanocortin 1 receptor is a key regulator of variation in normal human pigmentation. Genetic variants of this receptor cause red hair and fair skin, and several case–control studies have demonstrated that these genetic variants increase the risk of skin cancer development in humans. The mechanism whereby the risks of skin cancer are increased is not entirely clear, and may be because of a combination of effects on pigmentation and non‐pigmentary pathways.