Researchers discover important skin cancer molecule

A discovery by researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), to be published in the July 8th issue of Nature Medicine, could play a serious role in the future of melanoma treatment.

The team, led by BWH dermatology department chair Thomas S Kupper and Rahul Purwar, found that high expression of a cell-signaling molecule known as interleukin-9 in immune cells helps prevent skin cancer.

Mr Purwar described the results as "unexpected" and explained that the team had initially noted that mice with high levels of interleukin-9 were less likely to develop melanoma tumours.

"Immunotherapy of cancer is coming of age and there have been exciting recent results in patients with melanoma treated with drugs that stimulate the immune system," added Mr Kupper.

However, he warned that there is still a great deal of work to be done.

According to figures from Cancer Research UK, there were over 11,000 cases of melanoma in Britain in 2009.