Monday, April 11, 2011

Cancer world


I learned today that my odds of having a squamous cell carcinoma - the second most common skin cancer, that usually develops on sun-exposed areas, namely on the face and hands - could be substantially higher than average. A study involving 537 persons afflicted by the disease and 1504 healthy controls, all of European descent, was published in Cancer Research , suggesting that a certain point mutation in a gene called IRF4 is associated with this cancer. And since I inherited the risky mutation from both my parents, my risk could be three times higher (2.89 to be exact). I know what I'm going to talk about with my dermatologist next time I see him.

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