First Evidence that Obesity Gene is Risk Factor for Melanoma

Variations in a different part of the FTO gene, called intron 1, are already known to be the most important genetic risk factor for obesity and overeating. These variants are linked to Body Mass Index (BMI) – a measure of a person’s shape based on their weight and height. Having a high BMI can increase the risk of various diseases including type 2 diabetes, kidney disease, womb (endometrial) cancer and more. Examining tumor sampkes in more than 13,000 melanona patients (as well as 50,000 unaffected people worldwide), Mark Iles, from the University of Leeds (United Kingdom), and colleagues report that people with particular variations in a stretch of DNA within the FTO gene, called intron 8, could be at greater risk of developing melanoma – the most dangerous type of skin cancer.  Identifying that FTO has a more wide-ranging role than previously suspected, with different sections of the gene being involved in various diseases, the study authors write that: “FTO’s function may be broader than the existing paradigm that FTO variants influence multiple traits only through their associations with BMI and obesity.”