In a breakthrough study, researchers at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR) have spotted new melanoma markers, including genetic variants which result in a person's increased risk of developing skin cancer!

On the basis of a comparison between 2,000 Australians suffering from skin cancer and 4,000 healthy people, the QIMR researchers found that there apparently were DNA variations between the two groups that were observed. As per the researchers, these DNA differences chiefly underscored the risk that a person faces in terms of developing the potentially fatal melanoma.

According to the details shared by Professor Nick Hayward, the study has revealed that while one of the genetic variants has a notable impact on the repair mechanism of DNA after damage from UV radiation, the other seemingly plays a part in how the tumour is formed.

Highlighting the conclusions drawn from the study - which has recently been published in Nature Genetics -, Prof Hayward said that, in the next five years or so, a genetic test for ascertaining a person's chances of developing melanoma might become a routine practice in the next five years or so.

Prof Hayward further added that the genetic test will not merely be based on the two newly-discovered markers - that is, the two new gene variants - of melanoma, but "on the whole panel of gene variants that have been identified to date"!