RESEARCH: Rebecca Grealy is studying influence of genes in skin cancer. Picture: Jerad Williams Source: The Courier-Mail

NEW research, set to be unveiled on the Gold Coast today, has revealed a person's genes contribute to the development and severity of non-melanoma skin cancer.

Griffith University PhD student Rebecca Grealy has led the five-year study that shows a person's genes can influence whether they get skin cancer and how susceptible they are to damage. Targeting these genes, researchers hope to develop a cream that could treat or cure skin cancer.

The findings go against previous warnings that the sun was solely to blame for a person developing skin cancer.

Griffith Health Institute director Lyn Griffiths, who is supervising Ms Grealy's research, said the cream would be developed on the Coast where skin damage was high.

"Queensland has the highest rates of skin cancer in the world," Ms Griffiths said.

"Non-melanoma is actually the most common, so there's a real need to try and work out the drivers behind people developing skin cancers. If we know there's certain genes that are playing a role, we can work out which genes (to target)."

Prof Griffiths said the cream would also overcome damage once people were diagnosed with it.

Ms Grealy is studying non-melanoma skin cancer - solar keratosis - that are not invasive cancers, but can develop into non-melanoma skin cancers.

In 2007, there were 448 deaths from non-melanoma skin cancer in Australia.

Excerpt from:
Gene scan can detect cancer risk

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