JOHN INNES
FOUR hundred blond, brunette and red-headed volunteers are being called on to take part in the most extensive skin-cancer study in the UK.
Edinburgh University scientists are seeking the record number of young adults to carry out their major new research programme, aiming to improve the understanding of the links between sun and disease.
The three-year project will explore the relationship between skin, hair and eye colour, and look at the ways the body responds to a normal dose of sunlight.
Malignant melanoma of the skin was the 12th most common cancer in males and the eighth most common in females in Scotland in 2000, while in 2003, there were 132 deaths from the disease.
People aged 18 to 30 are wanted for the study, as they are most likely to have their original hair colour, but volunteers who are balding or who dye their hair will not be excluded, as they can provide valuable help to scientists focusing on the tanning side of the project.
Researchers will measure the skin, hair and eye colour of volunteers and take small samples of their hair, skin and blood.
Further tests will involve shining unltraviolet light onto small areas of skin to measure tanning.
Dr Terence Wong, the dermatologist recruiting for the study, said: "Understanding these differences is important because sunshine is the main cause of skin cancers, and also because ultraviolet radiation - the active component of sunlight - is nowadays commonly used to treat diseases such as psoriasis.
"Nowadays, there is also greater scientific interest in understanding why humans vary so much in terms of hair, eye and skin colour. These wide variations in pigmentation have developed during the past 10,000 to 15,000 years and we want to find out more."
http://www.news.scotsman.com/health.cfm?id=19152004
