Melanoma cutaneo, è tutta colpa del sole? E' convinto di no Simone Mocellin, ricercatore del Dipartimento di Scienze oncologiche e chirurgiche dell'università di Padova. In una metanalisi pubblicata su 'Cancer', Mocellin e colleghi dimostrano infatti che in oltre 9% of cases of melanoma, there is a direct correspondence between a particular polymorphism of the gene for the vitamin D receptor and the development of melanoma. The Padua team examined five variants of the vitamin D receptor (VDR), and showed that the polymorphism BSML is responsible for 9.2% of cases of melanoma. This figure takes into account the incidence of this cancer in the Caucasian population and the frequency of that particular polymorphism in the same population. "Certainly, the environmental factor most at risk for developing melanoma is sunburn - Mocellin precise - but as the sun activates the vitamin D, if this occurs without sunburn is even protective against melanoma." At present, it is possible to identify the population carries the polymorphism BSML only through sophisticated analysis in a laboratory equipped for sequencing DNA, for which a genetic test for screening the general population is not yet feasible.
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