位于波士顿的哈佛大学医学院的Jiali Han博士与其同事们研究发现，在高加索妇女当中，如果妇女携带的一种所谓的“红发基因”并有着和头发的颜色相反的适度或者橄榄色的皮肤，就会有着患有皮肤癌很高的风险。
??一项研究表明，皮肤色素基因对人患有皮肤癌的影响超过了对人头发和皮肤颜色的影响。Han和他的同事们研究了各种melanocortin1受体（MC1R）基因，其影响着皮肤中的色素沉积，并决定皮肤的肤色。这个M1CR基因在肤色浅的人群中高度不同。
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??研究人员观察了红发，肤色白色，褐色相反的肤色这三种和红发基因（RHC）相关的基因，以及四种和红发基因有很少联系的基因（NRHC）。他们研究了包括219名黑色素瘤病人，286名鳞状上皮细胞皮肤癌女性患者，300名基室细胞癌和873名没有皮肤癌的对照。
??在研究人员考虑了肤色和其他皮肤癌的因素后，他们发现各种RHC基因形式增加了患皮肤癌的风险，特别是在151位半胱氨酸变异的基因形式。
??那些在151位半胱氨酸变异的女性增加了5％的黑色素瘤风险，其为最致命的皮肤癌。相对的，鳞状上皮细胞皮肤癌和基室细胞癌的患病风险相对增加了67％和56％。
??研究人员发现在有一个RHC基因，一个NRHC基因和适度的橄榄色肤色的妇女中，患黑色素瘤的风险是最大的。
??有着151位半胱氨酸变异的红发基因的妇女增加了患黑色素瘤的风险，但是这种基因变异不会影响那些没有红发的妇女的。
英文原文：
Red Hair Genes up Skin Cancer Risk
Genes involved in skin pigmentation have an effect on a person's skin cancer risk beyond their influence on a person's hair or skin colour, a new study shows.
Women who carried one so-called "red hair colour" gene but had medium or olive skin, as opposed to fair skin, actually had the highest skin cancer risk among a group of Caucasian women, Doctor Jiali Han of Harvard Medical School in Boston and colleagues found.
Han and colleagues studied variants of the melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R) gene, which influences how the pigment melanin is processed in the skin and helps determine skin colour. The MC1R gene is highly variable among light-skinned populations.
The researchers looked at three variations of the gene strongly linked to red hair, fair skin, and resistance to tanning, which are known as red hair colour (RHC) variants, as well as four variants less strongly linked to red hair, termed non-red hair colour (NRHC) variants, in a subgroup of women participating in the Nurse's Health Study.
Their analysis included 219 melanoma patients, 286 women with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), 300 with basal cell carcinoma (BCC), and 873 skin-cancer-free controls.
After the researchers controlled for the effects of skin colour and other skin cancer risk factors, they found that the RHC variants still increased risk, especially a variant dubbed 151Cys.
Women with the 151Cys variant had a 65 per cent increased risk of melanoma, the most deadly type of skin cancer, while their risk of SCC and BCC were 67 per cent and 56 per cent greater, respectively.
Melanoma risk was greatest, the researchers found, among women with one RHC gene, one NRHC gene, and medium to olive skin.
Women with red hair who carried the 151Cys variant were at an increased risk of melanoma, but the gene variant did not confer greater risk for women without red hair.
