A NEW TEST that can identify people at risk of developing skin cancer has been devised by an international team of scientists led by an Irish doctor.
Dr Gillian Murphy, a skin cancer expert from Beaumont Hospital in Dublin told a press conference in Dublin yesterday the new predictive test could be in clinical use in about five years, and that up to 50 per cent of the population might be susceptible to developing the disease.
Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer, according to Dr Murphy, being three times as common as any other cancer. Its incidences on the increase, primarily because people are taking more sun now than before. But there is also growing concern worldwide that, with the so called "hole in the ozone layer", more ultraviolet radiation will reach the earth's surface leading to an even greater increase in skin cancer.
Until now, the only way of telling who was most at risk from skin cancer was to look at skin colour: fair skinned people with freckles are most at risk, and that includes many Irish people.
However, people whose immune system is suppressed are also at a high risk, being 300 times more likely to develop skin cancer than healthy people. This includes all transplant patients - who must take immunosuppressive drugs - and for whom skin cancer is a long term possible side effect, but also people whose immune system has been damaged.
The test developed by Dr Murphy, with colleagues in Denmark, Germany and London, uses a special chemical which reacts with artificial sunlight to identify sensitive people. Initial tests with patients at Beaumont Hospital suggest that up to 50 per cent of people are at risk, possibly because of their genetic makeup, though other factors may also be involved, including skin colour and thickness.
The new test is most likely to be of use with transplant patients, she said, enabling doctors to determine whether certain types of treatment should be avoided.
Her research was one of five projects presented at the press conference, which was organised by the Irish Science Journalists' Association to highlight scientific research that is being led by Irish researchers.
The other projects were a study of how European coastal zones are threatened by climate change; a tiny new instrument that can measure glucose levels in intensive care patients; a study of how to encourage companies to reduce waste by taking back used products and recycling the components, and a project to study the levels of liver fluke infection among rural populations in Bolivia.
The press conference was broadcast to journalists in Copenhagen, London, Madrid and Zurich.