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Cyclin D1 plays an important role in the life cycle of the cell, for example in the timing of cell division known as mitosis. And it is well known that tumours form when the cullular regulatory processes go out of control.
This new work looking at melanoma and genes, was presented to the 33rd Congress of the European Society for Medical Oncology in Sweden.
Researchers had studied the DNA from blood samples of over a thousand individuals. 161 people had melanoma, and 892 were healthy. They found that those who carried two copies of the cyclin D1 variant were 80% more likely to develop melanoma. The variant, in other words a previously identified difference in the structure of the gene, was more common in those people with melanoma. The suggestion being that it was somehow responsible for the genesis of the condition. Though how that happens is still unknown.
Speaking to Science Daily about their work PhD student Raquel Catarino from the Portuguese Institute of Oncology said, "Our study demonstrates that cyclin D1 polymorphism is associated with a higher risk of melanoma development, indicating that this genetic advantage may confer growth advantage to cancer cells."
