UV rays-induced mutation behind millions of human skin cancers

A new research has revealed that genetic mutation caused by ultraviolet light could be the driving force behind millions of human skin cancers.

According to researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine, the mutation occurs in a gene called KNSTRN, which is involved in helping cells divide their DNA equally during cell division, and may be one of the most commonly mutated oncogenes in the world.

The research has found that a particular region of KNSTRN, which is the third most commonly mutated gene, is mutated in about 20 percent of cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas and in about 5 percent of melanomas.

Paul Khavari, the Carl J. Herzog Professor in Dermatology in the School of Medicine and chair of the Department of Dermatology said that this previously unknown oncogene is activated by sunlight and drives the development of cutaneous squamous cell carcinomas, which is the second most common cancer in humans.

Khavari added that skin cancers arise differently from other cancers, and that a single mutation can cause genomic catastrophe.

The mutation in the KNSTRN gene was caused by the replacement of a single nucleotide, called a cytosine, with another, called a thymine, within a specific, short stretch of DNA, which is indicative of a cell's attempt to repair damage from high-energy ultraviolet rays, such as those found in sunlight, and they occur only in skin cancers.

The findings, which connect the dots between sun exposure and skin cancer, will be published online in Nature Genetics.