Using machine learning of 17 genomic signatures, researchers from IIIT Delhi and CSIR-IMTECH have developed a webserver called CancerSPP that will help clinicians in classifying cutaneous melanoma as either primary or metastatic. The accuracy is over 89%, and both sensitivity and specificity are high. Using the expression of 17 key genes (messenger RNAs) it is … Continue reading Machine learning-based model can determine if skin cancer can spread
Skin cancer
Social factors too determine skin colour of Indians
Researchers from CCMB and other international institutions have found that socio-cultural factors had a bigger influence on skin colour variation in Indians than genetics (6.4%) and environmental factors (16%). While the SLC24A5 gene variant rs1426654-A is usually associated with lighter skin colour in most Indian populations, an intriguing pattern was seen in two specific populations studied. … Continue reading Social factors too determine skin colour of Indians
A new blood test could detect early stage melanoma in more than 80% of patients
Mel Ziman, Edith Cowan University Melanoma kills more than 1,700 Australians every year, which is more than the national road toll. According to a 2017 study, the global incidence of melanoma in 2015 was 3,51,880 cases and mortality was 59,782. But the good news is it’s treatable if caught early enough. And a new … Continue reading A new blood test could detect early stage melanoma in more than 80% of patients
IGIB discovers a protein regulating melanoma growth, pigmentation
IGIB researchers have for the first time identified a calcium sensor protein (STIM1) that independently regulates both skin cancer and pigmentation. Since different parts of the STIM1 protein activate two independent signalling pathways that control melanoma growth and pigmentation, drug can be developed to target specific sites in the STIM1 protein to control tumour growth or regulate … Continue reading IGIB discovers a protein regulating melanoma growth, pigmentation
IIT teams use plant extract, heat to kill skin cancer cells
On being irradiated with near infrared light the dye gets heated up and facilitates the release of the extract from polymer membrane. After 4-5 minutes of irradiation about 80% of cancer cells were killed by both enhanced ROS generation inside cancer cells and by photothermal ablation. Nanoparticle formulation of a chlorophyll-rich biomolecular extract of an … Continue reading IIT teams use plant extract, heat to kill skin cancer cells
IGIB researchers reverse cancer drug resistance
Small molecules used along with anticancer drug makes cancer cells sensitive to the drug. Resistance to anticancer drugs is a major problem in oncology affecting a large number of cancer patients. Now, researchers at the CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology (CSIR-IGIB), New Delhi have found a way to make cancer cells that are resistant to two commonly used anticancer … Continue reading IGIB researchers reverse cancer drug resistance
Indian researchers use a novel drug to inhibit skin cancer in mice
Researchers at the Pune-based National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS) have been successful in isolating cancer stem cells that cause skin cancer. They have also been able to demonstrate that a compound (Andrographolide) isolated and purified from a herb (Andrographis paniculata) that is found in India to be effective in inhibiting tumour growth — both … Continue reading Indian researchers use a novel drug to inhibit skin cancer in mice
Less risk of skin cancer if exposed to UV radiation in the morning: Nobel Laureate Aziz Sancar
“If you really must go to a tanning booth, do it in the morning,” Aziz Sancar, from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, U.S., who shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with two others — Tomas Lindahl of Francis Crick Institute and Clare Hall Laboratory, Hertfordshire, U.K. and Paul Modrich of Howard Hughes Medical … Continue reading Less risk of skin cancer if exposed to UV radiation in the morning: Nobel Laureate Aziz Sancar
Black skin, a response to skin cancer risk
The ability of ultraviolet radiation to cause skin cancer is well established. Yet, it is only “generally believed” that the development of dark skin by people in Africa was an adaptive response to protect them from the damaging effects of UV rays. Also, the harmful impact of UV rays in the survival and/or reproductive fitness … Continue reading Black skin, a response to skin cancer risk